Christmas dogs and a re-hash.

This was my blog post four years ago, today.  I like this post, so I thought I'd share it.

Months ago, one of Carrie's friends called us California Granola Hippies, when she found out how Carrie and Sharon had been parented. You see, I was the main parent, and I decided, since we were not-affluent (in the extreme), I really didn't need television commercials selling my kids "stuff". Mainly, "stuff" they didn't need and/or was poor quality. If they didn't see it on TV, they wouldn't know to beg for it. My solution was PBS. No commercials. Educational. Fun. Age appropriate.

Another thing I controlled was toys, as any parent should. I thought that if my girls were going to stand a chance to grow up and be good caring Moms, they needed baby dolls to play with at a young age; not Barbie’s! So, they had no hard-body, skanky Barbie dolls.

Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't raise them to only be Moms. They were raised to be anything they wanted, but if they decided to be a Mom, I wanted them to be a good one, and Barbie’s just don't foster parenting skills. So no regular TV, no Barbie’s.

What else? I think that's about it.

I want to tell you, my plan worked. My daughters not only are beautiful and successful, they are both great mothers.

(You may wonder why I called myself "the main parent". Bob and I had 4 parents between us, we each had a Mom and a Dad; but when we had our own children we realized, that out of our 4 parents, we really only had one "good" one, my Dad. Bob was at a distinct disadvantage; he didn't bow out, but he stepped back on a lot of things. He felt he had a lot to learn with no role models at all.)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life with me,