Growing Up to Be a Rock Star (Rant Warning)

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Barbara Frank

Does this photo from a Christmas ad bug you the way it bugs me? I just hate that our society promotes being a rock star to little children.

I mean, think about what we’re saying to our little people when we push this stuff on them:

It’s important to be the center of attention.

It’s important to be cool.

It’s important to gain the adulation of others.

(And we wonder why kids are so spoiled and demanding these days.)

As if that wasn’t bad enough, don’t parents care that they’re encouraging their children to emulate people who dress like bums and hookers, smoke pot (and worse) until their brain cells are fried, and pickle their livers because they’re drunk so much of the time?

Seriously, do these parents look at their little darlings and think, “Maybe she’ll be the next Lady Gaga!”?

So few people seem to care about developing good character in their children anymore. It’s all about fame and fortune and having a good time. How sad.

(Rant over.)

The High School Learning Experience: How Do Homeschoolers Compare?

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Barbara Frank

So, homeschooling parent, think your teens are learning as much at home as they would learn in high school?

We know from our own childhood experience that the school day is full of interruptions and inconsistencies. Whenever you put 30 kids in a room, you create an environment that’s not exactly conducive to concentration.

But something’s changed since we were young, something that makes it even harder to learn: cell phones. Where I live, the high schools banned cell phones until 2007, when they allowed students to carry them as long as they were turned off and put away during class.

Guess what? It was too hard to enforce that rule, so now kids text throughout class. Teachers are worried that students could be texting test answers to each other. Perhaps, but at the very least, I think we can assume they aren’t paying attention to the teacher if they’re busy texting:

“Cell phone use continues to grow. Texting is more common, and many students are adept at sending silent text messages from their pockets. They don’t even look at the keypad.”

One teacher said, “Every kid has one, and they’re used covertly, regularly.”

I understand that today’s kids are good at multitasking, but I doubt that they can absorb much information while they’re busy corresponding with other people via texting.

Homeschooling parents needn’t worry whether their kids are learning as much as their publicly schooled friends. I’d say they’re way ahead of them if their home life affords them regular uninterrupted periods of time for reading, writing and doing math. Seriously, if kids can text during class, public high school has become a joke.

Our Kids’ Competition for Future Jobs

Posted on December 6, 2010 by Barbara Frank

When I hear that the unemployment rate is still going up, my immediate thought is for our kids and their future. We’ve been told that many of the jobs that were lost aren’t coming back due to technological change and offshoring. So how will our kids make a living? Will they have to deal with long periods of unemployment in their lives?

Those concerns are why I’ve written my new book, but talking to two of my children who are working adults has given me hope that things won’t be as bad as they seem. Both of them tell me that despite the high unemployment rate, it’s still hard to find good workers. They’ve expressed frustration with job applicants who barely speak during interviews and lazy new employees who spend their time texting instead of working. (These aren’t isolated incidences; they say it’s a pattern they see every day.)

These young employees have some ethical issues beyond laziness. One new employee borrowed a customer’s coupon during a transaction to get an additional discount on her own purchase. A self-identified Christian young man hired as a manager flunked his drug test.

As a result of experiences like these, my kids (who live in different states, by the way) think the high unemployment rate reflects a large number of incompetent people who can’t hold a job. That wouldn’t apply to several people over 40 I know who are among the long-term (2 years +) unemployed. But I think they’re having a hard time getting hired because they’re used to higher pay, and their age makes offering them health insurance a more expensive proposition. As for the younger people, maybe my kids are right.

In that case, we don’t have to worry as much about tough competition for our kids. If we raise them with moral character and a good work ethic along with the skills needed to compete in the 21^st century, they should be ahead of most of their peers from the start.

A Great Advent/Christmas Idea for Young Children

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Barbara Frank

Yesterday was the first Sunday in Advent. It was so nice to see the Advent candle burning brightly on the altar at church. With all the busy-ness of getting ready for and hosting Thanksgiving dinner, I’d almost forgotten that Advent was about to begin.

A few years back I read a clever mom’s blog post describing how she helped her young children celebrate Christmas.* It would be a great way to mark the beginning of Advent.

This mom set up part of the family’s nativity set under the Christmas tree early in December. All that was missing was Mary, Joseph, their donkey and baby Jesus. She then put Mary, Joseph and the donkey at the other end of the house. Each day her little children moved those three figures a foot or two closer towards the Christmas tree, marking the young couple’s sojourn to Bethlehem.

On Christmas Eve, Mary, Joseph and the donkey “arrived” at the manger under the tree, and that’s when the family placed baby Jesus in the manger. What a wonderful way to help the children prepare their hearts for Christ’s coming! I wish I’d thought of doing this when my children were young.

* If you know the blog/blogger I’m talking about, please send me the link so I can give credit where it’s due—thanks!