Happy Birthday!

Wow, the DS is 9 today. Alas, tonight is the night I teach
('til 8) and then I'm in a rehearsal so I won't be home 'til
long after he's asleep. This weekend he and I go out to eat
while DW and DD are out of town. Scheduling does get easier,
right?

We got him HP and the Chamber of Secrets on DVD, and I've
been teasing him that it's a big secret for the past couple
days. So when he opened it, I said I told you it was a
secret, and he looked at the title and said "Ha Ha". He
also got many Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and gift cards to the book
store.

I can't believe he's 9. DD is doing a good job of
yielding the floor for the day.

Scott DD 11.5 and DS 9

Scott,

You haven't mentioned how it's going with DD and her friends in school. Has
the situation improved?

animzmirot wrote:
Scott,

You haven't mentioned how it's going with DD and her friends in school. Has
the situation improved?




I'd say it has. A chief source of angst/conflict -- IMing --
is out of DD's life. She still has more interactions
with Bratinella (they ride the same bus) than I would like,
but overall, de-IMing the child has helped enormously. DD
has also made some friends with kids who came to her middle
school from other feeder schools, which is nice to see.

Thanks for asking!

scott DD 11.5 and DS 9

"Scott" wrote in message
...
animzmirot wrote:
Scott,

You haven't mentioned how it's going with DD and her friends in school.
Has
the situation improved?




I'd say it has. A chief source of angst/conflict -- IMing --
is out of DD's life. She still has more interactions
with Bratinella (they ride the same bus) than I would like,
but overall, de-IMing the child has helped enormously. DD
has also made some friends with kids who came to her middle
school from other feeder schools, which is nice to see.

Wow, another parent of a middle school kid who has banned IMing. I found my
kid wasting huge amounts of time on the computer when she was supposed to be
doing homework, and some of the people on her buddy list were suspect. Her
list kept growing and growing and one day I had had it and shut it down. She
really doesn't miss it anymore but she is on the phone so much I wonder if
she's going to grow a cauliflower ear.

Marjorie

Thanks for asking!

scott DD 11.5 and DS 9

animzmirot wrote:
"Scott" wrote in message
...

animzmirot wrote:

Scott,

You haven't mentioned how it's going with DD and her friends in school.

Has

the situation improved?




I'd say it has. A chief source of angst/conflict -- IMing --
is out of DD's life. She still has more interactions
with Bratinella (they ride the same bus) than I would like,
but overall, de-IMing the child has helped enormously. DD
has also made some friends with kids who came to her middle
school from other feeder schools, which is nice to see.


Wow, another parent of a middle school kid who has banned IMing. I found my
kid wasting huge amounts of time on the computer when she was supposed to be
doing homework, and some of the people on her buddy list were suspect. Her
list kept growing and growing and one day I had had it and shut it down. She
really doesn't miss it anymore but she is on the phone so much I wonder if
she's going to grow a cauliflower ear.



IM -- and the tendency for kids on it to try to out-cool
each other -- was following the same path in our house too.
DD was on it too much, running multiple IM sessions with
different people. The kids also lose the almost built-in
ability in talking to filter what they're about to say
when they're typing, so we saw some things typed to IM
that made me want to call up the parent and ask if they
realized what was going on. Then when I realized DD was
doing the same thing, well the plug was pulled pretty
quickly, and we are all living happier ever after.

DD does still have a yahoo messenger account -- her
closest friend does too. But they are much more inclined
to phone.

Scott DD 11.5 and DS 9