Friday Fragments

Thanks to Ms. 4444's for hosting Friday Fragments...

• This is my second go on the Fragments because I accidentally erased the first version.   
• On a related note: Grrrrrrr....
• I love coming to Toronto but the downside is that Robyn, Liam and I stay at my parents house and Erik and Heather stay at her parents.  
• On a related note: We had a date night Monday that really did feel like one of our first ones.  She picked me up from my parents place, we had a nice romantic evening out and then couldn't do anything about it because we had no where to continue our romance.  Yep, living out of your parents house sucks...
• I took the kids camping for a couple of days to Killbear Provincial Park.  My family had gone there every year until I turned 17. 

• On a related note: Working in recreation and tourism, I have not had a chance to get back since.  Having the kids hike the same rocks I did when I was a kid was an absolute pleasure to see.  Hopefully I restarted a tradition.
• On a related related note:  I learned to use the Stow and Go seating to convert the back of the van into a bed.  Hummmm...Heather better be getting ready for our next date night.
• Robyn learned a critical rule of camping.  Always zip your tent to the top.  A raccoon smelling her ketchup chips midnight snack managed to open the zipper of her tent and let itself in.  To her credit she did not freak out but told the raccoon to scram and it left with the chip bag as its reward for its boldness.
• On a related note: The whole point of the trip was to spend time with Robyn.  At 14 she is getting to the age where 'daddy time' is starting to become scarce.  It was nice to spend some time connecting with her.  It felt all circle of lifey.
• I started writing blog posts for Heather on www.ActingBalanced.com last week.  It is fun writing on Heather's blog.  She is already starting to line up products for me to test from the male perspective.
• On a related note: I have a post on tips for camping kids that is going up on Tuesday.  Check it out!
• I am headed to Baltimore for the HSMAI Conference on Sunday.  This is a conference for people in revenue management.  It will be a very interesting to learn about the trends in hotel sales especially in relation to mobile technologies.  
• On a related note: Last summer on our drive to Canada we were not sure ow far were get going to get with a then baby Erik.  We drove and started getting tired and figured it was time to find a hotel.  So what did we do?  We pulled over at a McDonalds and while the kids played in the PlayPlace we surfed the web on the iPad for a hotel room.  We booked from the McDonalds and was checking in10 minutes later.  
• On a related, related note: Who says tourism is not a tech industry?

Four Fill-In Fun

Thanks to Hilary @ Feeling Beachie for hosting Four Fill in Fun.

First, the Friday Four Fill In Fun:


1. I love a rainy night too...I guess me and Hilary have a case of two great minds thinking alike.

2. If I could XXX anywhere I would XXX

3. When I grow up, I want to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony.

4. The best baseball game  I ever saw was the Jays second World Series win where Joe Carter hit the game winning home run.

I Can Think On Thursday

Thanks to Brenda for hosting, Pondering with a Purpose.  This week's theme is Punishment.  How does one maintain discipline within the household.
This is a tough one for us as our two youngest, Liam and Erik are as different as night and day. We therefore typically have to discipline them taking various approaches as a result.  
Liam is a great kid but he has his challenges associated with Austism. Liam is generally well behaved until he doesn't - then he goes off.  One has to think about his world though.  Consider how frustrated you feel when you get you have something on the 'tip of your tongue' that you just can not get out of your mouth.  Now, just imagine that being your world and you now have an idea of Liam's existence.  So one could imagine that sometimes the inability to communicate really boils over with him.  He can get quite violent at times, so you have to protect yourself and him from himself.  The idea with Liam is that you have to pin him down and get him soothed.  This is easier said than done and I have the bruises to prove it.  The main challenge with Liam is to get him before things boil over and teach him coping mechanisms.  The problem is that while there are some warning signs that something is about to happen, they are quite subtle.  

While Liam is occasional and his outbursts are large Erik on the other hand is constant.  He is hard headed and a tester.  He is into everything and does the silliest things just because he can.  You can use more traditional 'punishments' with Erik.  He is a 'timeout' pro at this point.  The challenge with Erik is that he does not do anything too bad - he just does things that are annoying.  It is because he craves constant attention  The basic strategy with Erik therefore is to redirect him into doing something he can have part of your attention for or will grab his complete attention.

I think the key to discipline and punishment has to consider the individual, the circumstances and the situation.  For instance, you can not punish Erik for something he did an hour ago.  He has already forgotten what he did (and probably had three more infractions since then).  I think you have to approach discipline with a strategic focus on what you want to teach the child.  First priority is to keep them safe but afterwards it is about teaching them how to make good choices.  
Overall, I think the best you can do is demonstrate good character yourself, help them to make good choices and guide them with love and caring.  I really dislike the word punishment because it assumes a negative outcome.  I prefer to think of it as teaching my children to make good choices and to deal with consequences of their actions.  It is about providing them the tools to be able to one day mature into healthy, happy adults who make a positive contribution to the world as a whole.  

Wordless Wednesday - Boys @ Play

Gone Camping...

Gone camping with the kids for a few days.  See you Friday!

Monday Quiz About Me

It is quiz time again!  Thanks to Heather at ActingBalanced for hosting this marvelous weekly quiz that allows us to get to know each other a little better.

1. What is your favorite movie quote or song lyric of all time?

I have always been partial to The Shawshank Redemption.  How could one not remember when Andy turns to Red and says, 

"It comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or get busy dying."

2. If you had to choose a novel for a book club to read and discuss, which one would you pick?

This is a tough question.  Who ever wrote these should be strung up...

I think I would go classic and bring forward To Kill A Mockingbird.  The book is interesting, has a great movie which you could screen together and can bring all kinds of interesting conversations to the forefront.  

3. When was the last time you danced? What brought you to it?

I danced with my son yesterday to the music on one of his shows.  Why?  Because it was fun.  

I should probably dance with my wife more than I do.  One of our favorite memories is dancing to UB40s Red Red Wine.

 

4. Do you typically remember your dreams?

I can get faint recollections but I typically do not remember my dreams per se.  I wish I did because I think I have some great ones but alas, they like the night, they ascend to the heavens during the day.

Now my question for you...

Let's play word association.  Give me the first thing that comes to mind when I say the word,

"stripper"

Sadly, the first thing that came to my mind was 'weather.'

Monday Listicles

Every Monday Stasha from The Good Life hosts a fun hop called Listicles.  This weeks challenge is:

I am giving you an allowance of (pretend) $1000 and ask for a list of 10 things you will spend it on. 

Being a professor in a School of Business, I of course have to ask if this is before expenses are paid or after?    In other words, is this found money?  

If it is regular budget here it is:

$250 Mortgage 

  $50 Over payment to mortgage

$150 Food 

$150 Energy & utilities

$150 Savings - $50 retirement, $50 general savings, $50 education fund for kids

$100 Car related expenses - gas, maintenance, insurance

  $50 Telephone & internet

  $50 Charitable giving

  $25 Entertainment

  $25 Clothes & misc. 

$1000

If it is play or found money - 

$250 Balloon payment to mortgage (Sigh I am that boring)

$200 Charitable giving (we all have to give back)

$100 Retirement fund (once again boring but I don't want to have to work until 80)

$100 Date night (because we never have enough of those)

$100 Golf game (my one splurge on myself)

  $50 Toys for kids (though they probably play with the boxes they came in more)

  $50 Another date night (because my wife is awesome)

  $50 Take kids to somewhere special (because they are awesome)

  $50 Take kids to movies (I do however, get final say on which movie we do see)

  $50 Date lunch (especially if we can sneak out of a naughty lunch...:-))

$1000