Dear parents,
Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend. Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy.
As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard. It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones. It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter. And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in – and the world in which our children will grow up.
In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many...
Lifestyle
Dear Representative Kulp:
I am writing to emphasize WPA’s position on homeschooling freedoms, and specifically on ways that these freedoms would be undermined by any legislation to allow homeschoolers to participate in public school sports. You appear to have a different understanding of homeschooling freedoms than the vast majority of Wisconsin homeschoolers do.
Several homeschoolers who are part of the Central Wisconsin Homeschoolers Facebook Group emailed WPA concerning your Facebook posts beginning on Tuesday, February 10, in which you identify yourself as a State Representative and ask how many of them would like to have their homeschooled high school age kids participate in public school sports. You misrepresented WPA’s position by stating “I understand their [WPA’s] hesitancy...
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Dear Dr. Mom and Dr. Dad,
As you know, stereotypically, preachers are viewed as stringent parents who typically shield their children from the outside world. And more often than not, it is to prevent the ideals of society from corrupting their engrained morals and to navigate them towards their desired path of life. Mom, as you reminisced and shared with me your experiences as a young girl with two sets of parents involved in ministry, I couldn’t help but think of myself. Replacing my grandparents with you and dad to better represent my scenario, I came to the realization that both teachers’ and preachers’ kids live a fairly identical life.
As a 16 year-old high school teen, I am gradually developing into adulthood. I have reached the age where I feel compelled to pursue all areas...
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Dear Parent,
First of all, thank you for being here. Speaking on behalf of your future kiddo, thank you for taking the time, showing the concern, and doing the hard thing in being here for them. I know that 9 times out of 10, your kid DOES NOT WANT to be in my office. That’s okay. It’s hard doing things that are good for us a lot of the time, and people don’t come to needs assessments when everything is going great. So, on behalf of your kid who will make it to the other side of this, thank you for being here for being here now.
The main reason I’m writing is because I want you to know that you’re doing a good job. I know that no one plans on parenting a kid who has mental health challenges. I know that these diseases can hide our kids from us, they can make our kids do things that...
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Dear swimming parent,
Your child is not a swimmer. They are a person who swims. As such, who they are impacts every aspect of their swimming. Real progress in swimming comes not only from size, strength, speed, endurance, hard training, etc., but from the development of the whole person…their character, their values, their personality. Training alone is not enough, the development of the person is far more important and far more enduring.
Speed, strength, endurance, power, flexibility and technique are all important, however, nothing is as important as integrity, honesty, sincerity, humility, courage, a strong work ethic, the ability to accept responsibility for one’s own actions, the ability to work cohesive with others to achieve a common goal, self-discipline and the ability to...
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Dear fellow exhausted parents,
First of all, I want to commend you for taking a few minutes to read this post. If you happen to fall asleep mid-read, I will not be offended. I promise.
Before my daughter was born, I received all sorts of advice regarding how she would sleep. I am sure many of you experienced the same. I was told she would probably nap X times a day and for X amount of time. She would probably wake up X times a night. She would probably start sleeping through the night at X months. And so on. Books and blogs that I read outlined the same theme.
I have to admit, most of what I heard or read sounded relatively promising. While the first few months of parenthood would be exhausting due to middle-of-the-night feedings, my baby would take long naps during the day and...
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An open letter to Maine Mendoza
First of all, I’m one of your avid fans since day one. I remember when I saw you, you very were masungit. I can still remember you and Jose manalo were always fighting, then Alden came into the picture and changed your life at the moment. But what if Alden never came into the picture?
I know that showbiz can be predestined at times and scripted, but between destiny and free will are two concepts of reality to live by.
Personally I don’t believe in the word “forever” or “destiny”, but I believe in freedom and free will to choose what’s best for you.
Nothing lasts forever, take it from me, my friend, and everything will change. That is the cycle of life. People will change, let’s be realistic and honest with ourselves. With the fandom that aldub has...
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TL:DR I realised I let procrastination and money stop me from pursuing my passions when I was younger, and now I am dead inside, old and tired.
Hi, I my name's John. I've been lurking for a while, but I've finally made an account to post this. I need to get my life off my chest. About me. I'm a 46 year old banker and I have been living my whole life the opposite of how I wanted. All my dreams, my passion, gone. In a steady 9-7 job. 6 days a week. For 26 years. I repeatedly chose the safe path for everything, which eventually changed who I was.
Today I found out my wife has been cheating on me for the last 10 years. My son feels nothing for me. I realised I missed my father's funeral FOR NOTHING. I didn't complete my novel, travelling the world, helping the homeless. All these things...
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OPEN LETTER TO TAYLOR SWIFT #taylorswift
Dear Taylor,
I’m writing to you with the high hopes that this letter will somehow reach your kind soul.
My name is Dominique, I’m 19 years old and a cancer survivor. In a nutshell, I’m a dance lover, a true love believer, and a positive thinker. I was diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer called ‘sarcoma’ in my leg almost a decade ago, aged 10. Like most cases, I underwent intense chemotherapy for nine months, lost my hair, stopped practicing gymnastics and ballet, and basically moved into a children’s cancer ward back in my beautiful home country, Switzerland.
Today, 9 years later, I’m writing to you from my favourite coffee shop on Orchard Road in Singapore. Having heard that your mother grew up here, and considering you’ve...
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Dear Board of Education Members:
Usually someone like me is writing to you at the end of the year, pleading for no cuts to be made to our arts programs. But I decided to be proactive and write this at the beginning of the year — instead focusing on discussing with you ways in which our programs should grow and prosper, not just survive.
orchestra
Image via The Music Parents’ Guide
Too often, our community is forced to defend the arts in the face of budget season, but we can do better than this. We need to utilize this “quieter” time of year to not only celebrate the arts in education, but to discuss ways to fully incorporate it into the lives of our children so that we rarely need to discuss dismantling our programs ever again.
I believe it’s important to start this year by...
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