Who should raise the children when parents divorce?

Who should raise the children when parents divorce?

From my personal experience, when parents divorce, children should live with the best parent to raise them. I know some people may wonder what I mean by the best parent. I mean the parent that can provide the type of nurturing environment needed to provide the children with the skills they will need to survive in the world. But I also believe that the parent who does not have custody should remain as involved with their children as possible. Just because the parents do not get along, does not mean that the parent who does not have custody can just take off and abandon the children. This can affect how the children grow up.

For example, I have two children who grew up in a divorced household. The children have not seen their dad for a very long time. My son has not seen his father for approximately 8 years now. My daughter has not seen him
in about 2 years. Two of the grandchildren have only
seen their grandfather once,
and another grandchild has never met him. Although
my children are grown and have children of their own, I still see how they really miss him deep down inside their hearts. Through their behavior over the years, I have seen how his absence affects them each day. For example: when my son was about 16 years old his father called the house and did not ask to speak with him, even though my son was the one who answered the phone. I watched my son cry in my arms like a baby because he really wanted his dad to talk to him. I know that there are many families out there who go through the same things. We need to remember that even though we may not stay in a marriage we need to always keep in touch and be involved in our children's lives. Having the family connection and a good support system from both parents can help raise the children to become the best that they can be in life.

Children need the love and care from both parents. It does not matter whether or not if the children see
their other parent once a week, once a month, or once a year.
The children need to feel that they are loved and cared for from both parents. I have talked with children young and old who say that they wished that they could see their mother or father more often. They want to have a family as a whole instead of a half. But when that is not entirely possible, the parents need to make sure that the child's life is as complete as possible by staying involved in their upbringing.
Parents let's always stay in touch with our children. Let's love and care for them so they feel that they are special to us. Our love for our children can help them grow to become the best that they can be, and live happy and fulfilling lives.

 

Written by M. Ann Machen Pritchard

Please visit my web site at:

www.cafepress.com/mampcreations

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www.shoutlife.com/mamp13

What can the Government do to help people get out of Poverty?

Tom,

Sorry, you have me on a roll now talking about what the Government can do to help people get out of poverty.

 
 

#1. I think the school teachers should be paid more to motivate them to teach our children that they can be whatever they want to be as long as they get a good education.

 
 

(a) I think the kids should be taught at a young age to be thinking about what they would like to be when they grow up and what they need to do to make that dream become a reality.

 
 

(b) The Teachers and parents should give the children the tools to prepare them to grow up and be the best that they can be. There are so many kids that even when they graduate from high school don't even know what to do when they get out of school.

 
 

(c) If the kids have a good education and know what is right, what is wrong and learn how to be financially successful in life, when they grow up maybe many will not be in poverty as we see it today. Believe me, from my own life I would have done things a little differently.

 
 

(d) I think the Government should pay for more classes on Building High Self-Esteem for kids. There are so many kids with low self-esteem. Having low self-esteem can and does cause kids to over eat, experiment with Drugs and Alcohol, get into Gangs to make them feel that they are bigger than they are, have kids out of wedlock,etc. etc.

 
 

 Even when kids live in poverty today they should be taught that they can get out of it with a good education. Also, they should be able to ask their counselor at school or parent what they can do to help make their lives better. I see families from generation to generation doing the same things time after time. I see families depending on Welfare hand outs because it seems to be easier than trying to learn a skill to make a living for themselves. I don't have a lot of money myself but I have found a skill that I can do that hopefully will help me to get into a better situation. If I would have done it years ago my own life would be in a different place right now.

 
 

I think kids and people should be motivated more to believe in themselves that they can make life better. If you think more positively in life your life will be better in the long run.

 
 

(e) I think the Government should pay to have the Physical Education Classes, Art, Music, Choir classes back into the schools. When the schools had classes like these in the past we had less Obesity in kids, less Crimes and less kids wanting to join Gangs, less teenage pregnancies,etc.  These types of classes helped the kids relate to who they are and helped in what they really wanted to be as adults.

 
 

#2 I think the Government should think of some way to have better Healthcare and make it affordable for everyone.

 
 

 (a) I think our elderly people should be able to have Free or what they can afford medicines that they need to live.

(b) I think our elderly people should be able to still live in their own homes if they can not afford to pay the property taxes. I think it is sad when people have to sell their homes just because they can not afford to pay the taxes.

 
 

#3 I think the Government should pay to provide help to the homeless people to get and keep jobs so they would not have to be homeless anymore. With so many jobs being transferred overseas there is a wonder why we don't have even more homeless people in the United States. I guess if I were to loose my own job today I would be homeless unless someone wanted to hire an over 50 year old woman. Most new jobs employers want younger people and young ones just out of College these days.

 
 

#4 I think the Government should do something to control too much outsourcing with Jobs. We need to keep jobs in the USA. If we keep outsourcing so much we will all eventually be homeless or in the food lines like back in the depression days. We don't want our Country to go backwards do we? We need a President in office to push us forward to a better place in this world.

 
 

Thanks for listening,

Ann Pritchard, Author

Phil the Pill Says

Phil the Pill says...Get plenty of rest so you can be your best!

How much sleep do we need to have a healthy life? Some people may need only 4 or 5 hours and some may need 7 or 8 hours of rest. The goal is to get plenty of rest so you can be your best! But, everyone is different and may not need as much as others. Let your body and your healthcare provider help you find out what you really need for your body type.

Phil the Pill says...Get plenty of rest so you can be your best! What does he know anyway? Phil is a cartoon character who helps encourage young children and grownups to make positive choices. One of the choices is to get enough rest so you can function at your best each day.

When we don't get the rest that our body requires, we tend to be grumpy and have an "attitude". People who get enough rest tend to function much more properly and don't have bad attitudes. I know for myself that if I don't get at least 4 or 5 hours of rest; I tend to not function well, and I will feel over tired. But if I get more than the 4 or 5 hours of sleep then I tend to also feel overly tired and not ready to do anything except be lazy all day. When I do that; half of the day is wasted and I did not get any of the things done that I was supposed to do for that day.

So what is the right amount of hours of rest one should get? You should check with your healthcare provider to help you determine this. I am not a healthcare person, but I do know that everyone is different and what is good for one may not be good for the other. I like only getting 4 to 5 hours of rest each night because I can function better with just that amount. As Phil the Pill says… Get plenty of rest so you can be your best! But what is plenty for you may not be enough for me, or vice versa.

Please visit my web site at www.cafepress.com/mampcreations. Until next time, take care of yourself and get your rest.

 

Written by M. Ann ( Machen) Pritchard 11-15-07

What is Happening to our children of today?

What is happening to our children of today? We need to get back to what family really means. The world is getting more corrupt as each day goes by. When I was growing up, you could play outside of your home, go to the ball field to play basketball, or whatever sport you were into, or just hang out and talk with friends. Nowadays, some young children and teenagers cannot go outside or even to school without worrying if someone has a gun or other weapon to shoot and possibly kill them. It is a wonder why so many kids have depression, anxiety, or eating disorders because of all of the stress that they have to go through each day. Children should be able to run and play and just have lots of fun being a child. They should be able to go to school and concentrate on getting their education. When they are under so much stress, I feel that it is hard for them to concentrate on school and some children just decide to drop out and give up. Others become angry individuals, and continuously get suspended, or go on rampages like what happened today in Cleveland, Ohio.

Young people need someone to talk to and to feel that they are loved and that they are somebody. I had to fall to my knees today and pray for the people in Cleveland who are going through the tragic events that occurred today. It is hard on my heart to hear of another shooting, and the fact that the shooter who took his own life was only 14 years old. Suicide is not the answer at any age. What is this world coming to? I feel that we need to get back to families being families, and spending real time talking to each other. That's why I do what I call the "Phil the Pill Round Table".

The Phil the Pill Round Table means taking time out to talk to your children about how they are feeling or what is on their mind that they would like to talk about. After dinner or whichever meal you are having, you would go around to each child one at a time and let them say what they have to talk about at that time. If they would rather talk with you without the other siblings around you can go into another room and talk. Then just come back and have the other child take his/her turn to speak. This works great with my grandchildren and you would be surprised at how much you can connect with kids just by having a simple conversation. It is best to start while they are still little children; even before they are old enough to start school. That way, they will grow up learning good communication skills. When kids feel safe to talk about things with their parents, they may grow up without feeling like they have hit a dead end and are out of options. They can develop higher self-esteem and feel really good about themselves and life when there is a positive interaction between friends and family members. It only takes 5 to 10 minutes out of your busy day or week. However busy you think you may be, it is always best to take time out for your family, especially for your children. We are always taught and told that “the children are our future,” so we must make sure they feel that we love them and how much we care about them, and that they always have someone to turn to. We want our children to grow up and be the best that they can be.

Another tool that you could use with your young Children is my Children’s book, Phil the Pill and Friends: Making Positive Choices. It helps to encourage young children to stay in school to get their education, make positive choices and it also teaches them good communication skills. You may visit my web site at www.cafepress.com/mampcreations .

One thing that I wish could be back in all schools is the morning devotions. Even though we have so many different religions, we should still have devotion time where the children can worship with whatever faith they have in their family cultures. I am of the Christian faith, and I was raised in a Christian family. My Dad was a Baptist minister and I am so proud that he and my Mom taught us good family values and taught us to always keep our faith in God. If it was not for my family and my faith, I would not have gotten through many trials and tribulations in my own life. Let us all pray for our children and our schools. Let us pray for the injured, the family who lost their child, and all of the families in the community in Cleveland who are going through this very difficult time.


Written by: Author, M. Ann (Machen) Pritchard