Rantings of a Creole Princess

Scenario...

You are finally sick and tired of your 13 year old's room.

While they are away from the house, you clean their room completely and flip the mattress.

Under the mattress you find half a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

What do you do?

From My Inbox:

My daughter is 10 years old and she is extremely smart.  Her father and I
love her very much and we have a very close knit family that loves her too.
The problem we are having is that she isn't not pretty by the standards our
culture know as pretty and all of her beauty is inside.  We've stressed this
is most important all of her life but the children in school are constantly
calling her names and it hurts her.  She has stopped talking and being
outgoing.  She doesn't have any friends and none of the children invite her
to their parties.  It breaks my heart because, as her mother, I will always
believe she is beautiful.  I don't know what to do because she has shared
with her Aunt that she wishes she was dead because she is so ugly.  I'm not
supposed to let her know I know this but my sister told me because she
believes we need to take drastic measures to make sure she gets past this.
I'm hoping someone in the tribe has some information that will help me help
her through this.  We've tried everything.

Cold Sore Scenario...

Your child has a playmate they spend a lot of time with playing.

The playmate had some type of rash on their mouth and you ask what it is.

The playmate says it's cold sores and they get them every Winter.

You don't want to say anything else because it is obvious the playmate felt some kinda way when telling you what it was.

So...you drop it.

HOWEVER...you kinda want to say something to your child but not in a way that comes across as making it seem as if something bad was wrong with their playmate but you want them to be careful about certain things.

How do you approach?  What do you say?  Do you say ANYTHING?

Braid Scenario Video

Son Scenario Part 2

So you're one of those old school parents and didn't even THINK about it before you popped his lil smart mouth azz in front of the teacher.  Why?  Because you are NOT raising a son who speaks that way to a person of authority whom you have entrusted his care to.

You're a GOOD MOTHER.

You finish your conference and you gave him the "Wait till you get home look..."

Your son THEN tells the teacher he's afraid to go home because of the impending "abuse."

The teacher calls CPS.

The po-po comes to get you.

Your child has to be removed from your LOVING HOME THAT HAS DISCIPLINE IN IT while CPS investigates the "abuse."

Who do you tell them to drop his lil azz off to?

(His father is deceased.)

Scenario...

Your 7 year daughter has braids in her hair with beads on the end.

She plays with them and they make noise.

The teacher asks her to stop.

She doesn't.

The teacher calls her up to the front of the class and cuts off one of her braids.

The class laughs at her and she returns to her desk crying.

She comes home to you and tells you what went down.

What do YOU do?

Scenario...

Your son is at the age where he's "testing" you.

He's acting a fool at school.

You're summoned to the school.

He pops off at the mouth to the teacher while you're there in a VERY disrespectful manner.

What do you do?

Willow Smith's Hair

Would YOU grant permission for this to be done to your child's hair?

How old is too old?

...for a kid to stop bathing with an adult?

Scenario: Coniption Worthy?

Your three year old daughter's father lives with another woman who has a three year old daughter as well.

Your daughter spent the holiday with them recently.

You're in the tub and your daughter walks in and says your boobies are different that her father's girlfriend's boobies.

You raise an eyebrow and gently question your daughter.

Turns out the girlfriend was in a rush and put both girls in the shower and stepped in with them to scrub everyone down quickly so they wouldn't be too late.

What say you?  Coniption worthy?

Texting / Sexting Public Service Announcement for Teens by James Lipton

From My Inbox:

I have a doozey of a question that I wanted to see if you could ask your readers. I'll just give you the background on it, but the question I would want to ask is "Would parents allow their kids to go to the home of someone who has HIV?"

My son has a friend who he met through cub scouts. The mom lives near us and through that, we started talking. We don't hang out as friends b/c she has two kids and prefers to be a homebody and that's not me. We do take the kids to activities together, like the museum, parks, dinner, movies, etc. We used to do these things together, but lately she has been sick so she just drops her son off with me and I take them both. 

Okay, so I called her Saturday night to ask if she's feeling okay since she told me she had been diagnosed with a lung disease. She said she was feeling better, etc., and we ended the conversation.

I went to church Sunday morning and she left me a voicemail. I returned her call and she answers and starts "speaking in tongues" and in the midst of me staring at the phone wondering WTF, she says "I just want you to know I've been healed by faith from HIV." 

This person never in life ever told me she had HIV and I've known her going on two years. The conversation went so fast that I really didn’t say anything because I was sitting there thinking "My son was at your house and you didn't think this was important to tell me?"

I hung up and haven't spoken to her since but now I don't want my son to go over there and I'm going to have to explain it to him, but I'm just wondering what other parents would do in this situation?

Scenario...

Your son has a best friend at school.

You've met his father at a school event briefly.

Your son and his friend are in the 4th grade.

You invite your son's friend over for a party.

His father drops him off.

Your son's friend is a sweet kid.  Kinda shy and quiet...but sweet.

Your son's friend invites him over for a playdate.

You go to drop him off.

You meet your son's friend's OTHER dad.

Yes.  He has TWO dads.

Do you have a problem with this?

What do you do?

NOT MY SON!!!!!!!

Think of the man who hurt you bad.  Would his mother be surprised at all the ish he put you through?  Did his mother know?  Did you tell her?  What did she say?

Would you ever think YOUR son could be capable of doing a woman dirty once he's become a man?

Scenario...

Your daughter wants to be an actress.

She applies to Yale and gets in.

She didn't get scholarships so you and her father are footing all the bills.

She goes to college and throws herself into drama.

She gets offered a bit part in a major movie.

The movie is shooting in Los Angeles.

She enjoyed it so much and knows this is what she wants to do for life.

She tells you that she is dropping out of college and moving to LA.

You disapprove.

Your ex-husband, her father, approves and says you are being too strict as always and that you should allow her to follow her dreams without judgment from you.

You believe that Black actresses in Hollywood are a dime a dozen and that she will need that college education if only to get a teaching position between jobs.

What do you do?

From Facebook: What say you?

______ is feeling some kinda way after having a convo about race with my 4 year old twins. It started with them telling me that I was not the same kind of black that they and their daddy are. Then they went on to tell me who in their class was black, who was white, and who was black and white. What happened to just learning pre-reading and pre-math skills in Pre-K?

13 Year Olds and Makeup

Are you good with a 13 year old wearing makeup?  What kind of makeup would you approve of your 13 year old using?  Were YOU allowed to wear makeup when you were 13?

Scenario...

Your daughter went to a party you told her she couldn't go to because it's a school night.

You go to the party to snatch her azz up and find her in a closet kissing and high/drunk.

You take her home and you and your spouse tell her she's grounded until you say she's not.

She goes to school the next day.

And doesn't return after school.

Her cell phone is going straight to voice mail. 

She comes home around 9:00 pm talking about she went to the library to study.

What do you do?

Question...

Is it ever okay to stay married because of the kids?  In what scenario?

From Tanyetta:

What would YOU do if your 5 year old child throws a fit in the grocery store line?

Scenario...

You and your ex-husband are parents as well as friends.

He lost his job.

He hasn't been able to find another one so he decides to take out a loan and return to college to finish.

He doesn't have money to pay as much child support as he used to.

But he's enjoying the hell out of college and is telling you just how very much.

You're proud that he's going to school but you're struggling to make ends meet without the money he USED to be able to give you.

What kind of conversation do you have regarding?

Maclaren Stroller Recall!

Maclaren Stroller Recall!

Children & Nicknames

Do you have nicknames for the children in your life?  What are they?  How'd they get the nickname?

Question...

If your kid got suspended from school today would you let them go Trick or Treating tomorrow?

Question...

Murderesses Velma Kelly (a chanteuse and tease who killed her husband and sister after finding them in bed together) and Roxie Hart (who killed her boyfriend when she discovered he wasn't going to make her a star) find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago.

That's the synopsis of the musical "Chicago."

Would you have a problem if your child's high school decided to do this musical?  Would you have a problem with your child being in the musical?

Holiday Celebrations

Should a school stop Holiday celebrations just because one student's family doesn't allow them to participate or should the student have something out of class planned for them by the school so that the rest of the children may enjoy the Holiday their parents allow them to celebrate?

Ghost Dad

A major part of who I am today comes from knowing who I "come from."  I know my people WELL and understand how a lot of the way I am comes from watching them and it makes me go hmmmmm...

Cuz I know I'm a LOT like my father. 

But what if I didn't know that?  What if I never knew who my father was?  What if I never interacted with him enough to know that with personalities and brain power like ours there needs to be balance with kindness, love and empathy.

I was blog hopping in another dimension recently and I found a blog by a guy who'd just met his father for the first time.  He always knew who the guy was because they lived in the same city.  He knew of a few of his half siblings and he knew his paternal Grandmother.  But he never "knew" the guy.

I read that he'd see glimpses of his father moving about the city throughout his life and that once his father passed right by him in the grocery store and didn't make eye contact with him.  He knew who he was immediately and states that he felt an electric current being that close to the man who helped give him life.  When he came out of the store he knew his father was still in the parking lot waiting on him to come out but he didn't approach him and...being a man...the young man got angry and left.

Wow.  That ish was deep.

I know people who didn't "know" or know their fathers and I never really GOT it until I read that.  I never really GOT how you could live your life with a WHAT IF just that huge in your life.

What if my father had been in my life.

Tell the truth and shame the devil but I feel like yeah...it's a very good excuse for lots of things.

Knowing who you are and where you come from are very important and I hope more of the future generations will have this.  In the nature versus nurture debate I'll always believe that it's BOTH.  A bit of nature AND a bit of nurture.

Do you know YOUR father or was he always moving around on the peripherals?  Do you know how to FIND your father if you don't know him?  Have you ever looked for him?  WOULD you ever?  Do you ever wonder...WHAT IF?  

Did your father live in your home and yet...you STILL didn't KNOW him?

Do your children know their father?  How do you explain to a child where their father is and when do you have this TALK?

Do you ever really GET IT when someone talks about never having their father in their life?

Question...

Do you remember Garanimals?  Did you used to wear?  They're back with a huge PR blitz.  Would you buy for your kids?

Still got those Baby Einstein DVDs?

You knew it didn't you?  You watched your precious bundle take off it's diaper and empty the contents in a corner on your new Persian rug and then run around nekkid squealing "No boom boom no!" and you thought to yourself...Those Baby Einstein DVDs might not work huh?  TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL!  

No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund

Question...

Do you drink around kids?  Did you parents drink around you?

Parental Units Sans Ropas

Have you ever walked in on your parents? 

Have YOUR kids ever walked in on YOU?

How did you handle?

From My Inbox Question...

You have a middle school aged child.

Your child has been having behavioral problems at school.

Your child doesn't have these problems anywhere else BUT at school and is showing their ENTIRE azz.

You've punished, threatened and even spanked.

Nothing seems to help.

What do you do next?

*BLINK*

Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends' kids

What say you?

Question...

Would your 24 year old daughter have to hide the fact that she's living with a man from you?

Typing Lessons for the Kiddies!

Dance Mat Typing - Level 1

Single Mothers and Their Men

Should a single mother EVER live with a man she isn't married to? 

Kids: No to OBAMA..Yes to BUSH?

Kids Didn't Hear Obama, But Will Be Bussed for Bush

B'WHAT????????????????? 

**UPDATED** Here is the link with the email addresses of all the members of the Board of Trustees.  Please send them an email to voice what this means to you.  Don't start it with B'WHAT?????

WHEN I SAW THIS ISH VIA BELLADOMANI I WAS FLOORED...JUST FLOORED!  THEY ARE KIDDING ME WITH THIS SHIT RIGHT?  RIGHT?  THIS SHIT CANNOT BE GOING DOWN RIGHT?  RIGHT?

GOTDAMMIT I'M SO PISSED RIGHT NOW I'M SPITTING!

THOSE OF YOU IN ARLINGTON I HOPE YOU ARE ABOUT TO DIG INTO SOME AZZES WITH THE SWIFTNESS!

WOW.

JUST...WOW.

Monica "FLOORED, STUNNED" Ming

From PMichael: Sneaking Up on Daddy

Do your kids sneak up on you?  Did you ever do this to your parents?

Scenario...

Your girl is 43 years old.

Yall are out having sushi and saki.

She's single and has been for a while.

She tells you she's thinking about having a baby on her own and wants your opinion.

What do you tell her?

Scenario...

Your daughter turned 16.

For her birthday you purchased her a pair of diamond studs of good quality, and color.  Total weight is about a carat and a half.

You present them to her all proud of what you've done.

She doesn't like them. 

Why? 

They are round and set in gold when she wanted princess cut set in white gold or platinum.

What do you do?

What would YOUR parents have done?

Kiddie Mob

When you were a kid were you husky, slim or regular?  (I didn't know they still had husky clothes until yesterday and it brought back memories of my brothers and I school shopping with our mommy.  :))

What about your kids?  What's the difficulty you have in shopping for their clothes?  Are they tall but slim?  Short but husky?  Or are they pretty much true to sizes?

Mama Friend

Growing up...were you "friends" with your mother or was it a definite MAMA thing going on?

When did you get to be "friends" with your mother?

Are you "friends" with your children?

How do you successfully do this without it becoming a liability?

Question...

How do you handle when someone comes to your door to tell you that your child was misbehaving in public?  Has this ever gone wrong?

Scenario...

You and your ex are divorced.

You share custody of your 12 year old child.

The divorce was because of emotional and verbal abuse to you from your ex.

Your ex has your child on the weekends and every other  holiday.

Your holiday is coming up and you have made plans to take the child on a Disney cruise for the two of you and have paid for everything.

Your ex calls to ask you could they take the child for the upcoming holiday to go to Cancun with their entire family (lots of cousins of the same age) and you explain why you can't swap holidays.

You get into it and you end the call.

Your child is with your ex.

Your ex  brings your child home that evening on time.

Your child is upset.

You ask your child why and they tell you they wanted to go on vacation with your ex.

You explain to your child that arrangements have already been made and the money has already been spent and that, furthermore, something should have been said about this long ago for it to have been a viable option anyway.

Your child tells you that your ex said the only reason you are doing this is that you are a mean and vindictive bitch who doesn't want anyone to ever have fun or be happy.

Your child told you this VERBATIM.  WORD.BY.WORD.

What do you do?

Homeschooling

Could you do it?  What would be your reasons for doing so?  What would be your reasons for not doing it?

Acrylic Nails

What is the youngest you've seen with acrylic nails?  How old do YOU think a child should be before being allowed to get them?  Did your mother let YOU get acrylic nails?

Question...

If you were a retired grandparent and your child and their spouse had to both work out of the home...would you provide childcare for your grandchild during the day?  Or would you only do it sometimes because there is nothing wrong with daycare?  

Scenario...

You drop YOUR 15 year old off at the pool for open swim time.

You return at 5:30 pm when open swim time is over to pick your child up.

Your child is standing outside liplocked and groping with another teenager in front of EVERYONE!

What would YOU do?  Would you reaction vary if your child was a girl vs. a boy?

Scenario...

Your teenage daughter used to be outgoing.

Now all she wants to do is stay in her room.

She doesn't go anywhere.  She doesn't do anything.

She tells you nothing is wrong.

Her grades aren't suffering.

She doesn't want to talk to you.

She doesn't want to talk to her father.

She doesn't want to talk to a therapist.

This has been going on since February.

It's now June.

Do you take her to see someone against her will?

Daddy's Boy

 

Say your relationship with your son's father didn't make it.

He moved out of State for work after a while and was very upset because the move would take him away from his son.

You agreed that there will come a time when you will send your son to live with his father. 

His father is a good man and an excellent father so you know it will be a blessing for your son to have his father show him how to be a man by daily constant parenting/interaction.

At what age do you send your son to his father?