GREETINGS DEAR PARENTS
Spring is here for most of the country and it is a time to be outside working and enjoying the wonders of nature, and the wonders of the family. This is a great time for you as parents to be with the children out in your yard cleaning up, planting, etc.

If you can grow a garden with your family it is one of the greatest teaching times you can have with your children. They can put in the labor of getting the ground ready, plant the bitty seeds, water, weed, watch and wait for the plants to come up, then more of the same until the harvest. Patience and wonder are two of the great virtues of gardening. This will teach them not only the wonders of the planting, caring for and nurturing, but the joys of work and seeing the profits of work and then enjoying the harvest and even sharing it with others. Often, if you have too many tomatoes, etc. the children can go door to door selling the produce and people are very willing the help the children, and to obtain some really fresh produce.

Don't forget to take all the family on some nature hikes, rides, walks, and remember, this doesn't need to be a big project - notice the beautiful world as you are driving them to different places, or at the park or field as they play sports, etc. Point out the various varieties of plants, the clouds, the sunsets, etc. My son, David, in a Mother's Day tribute some years ago noted how much he appreciated my showing him the beauties of nature and how to appreciate the creations of God. (Yes, Mom and Dad, they Do Listen even though it seems at times that they are far away and not paying attention.)

DAD'S CORNER
ON BUILDING SELF ESTEEM: LOTS OF SINCERE LOVE AND GENUINE AFFIRMATIONS ARE LIKE FERTILIZER, HELPING THE TENDER SOULS TO GROW. THIS RELATES TO THE MESSAGE ABOVE ABOUT GROWING PLANTS, WE ARE PLANTING SEEDS, AND NURTURING JUST LIKE WE WOULD THE PLANTS, AND WITH THE HELP OF OUR HIGHTER BEING, LIKE THE HELP OF THE SUN FOR THE PLANTS, WE HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF RAISING GOOD, RESPONSIBLE AND CARING ADULTS.

MOM'S CORNER
"IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO LOOK BACK ON SOMETHING AND LAUGH ABOUT IT, YOU MIGHT AS WELL LAUGH ABOUT IT NOW." Marie Osmond

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:

Concerning the many physical problems besetting our nation, and particularly our children, we perhaps may want to think about the food we eat as a family and the foods our children are getting in the various walks in their lives. It has been suggested that children (and all of us I suppose), should be more careful of the sugars and fats in our diets. I was noting something the other day in a health publication relating to the many ear, nose and throat infections and problems our children are having in the recent years. The suggestion from the article was that we try and limit the sugar, dairy products and red meat from the diets of those children with such problems. (Many times these problems are related to a form of an allergy, thus the note for being careful of the dairy products). Just an idea to think about. Let us study and do more research of this subject as parents, if we do it will save us much in the way of time, worry and health concerns and also the monetary considerations of such problems.

THE MYSTERY OF THE TEENAGER, cont.

For the last two newsletters we have been discussing the article from the Orange County Register, this will be a continuation of the article "Work In Progress.) A question was put to Mr. Walsh, about how you help teens learn to control their behavior when they might misinterpret the comments or behavior of you as parents or others who are trying to help them. He tells us that we should teach kids that they are likely to misinterpret nonverbal cues like body language because of what is going on in their brains. They are consistently in the areas of aggression. We as parents and others dealing with these ¡®aliens' need to name our feelings and tell them where we are ¡®coming' from so they can't misinterpret us. Let us be careful and not respond with rash abandon and anger as they do.

He tells us of the most common mistakes we make is, as stated above, escalating with them emotionally, and also, granting them the divorce they are asking for: giving them too much freedom too soon. "I know that all over the nation there are parents struggling to say no."

When can we expect a return of normalcy of our teenager: When they are out of the teenage years! He told us only that, I will say that it is different for all people, and we need to be patient, and as Dr. Jones says, "Kind, but firm." For starters, let's just say, around the early 20's or so. Help! Can we wait it out? Yes, we will!!!

God bless all of you, especially those with these ¡®aliens' as I call them that we are raising!

Love,

Lillie