No, not me: I already have a dog. See? A friend of mine, however, does not. She recently posed that question on Facebook. It happens to be a subject about which I am extremely passionate. The short answer? NO, you shouldn’t. The longer answer? Ugh, where shall I begin? This friend listed two main reasons for not wanting a dog: her child’s allergies (which can be overcome by getting a hypo-allergenic dog) and her knowing that she would be the one cleaning up the messes (which cannot be overcome for a while, if the kids are younger, and sometimes not at all). In my opinion, her second concern is the…
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Parents: Your Kids Aren’t Born With Phone Etiquette (You Have To Teach Them)
We spent a good amount of time teaching our kids how to handle themselves on the phone, starting from a very young age. (The older boy had a phone fetish going starting when he was about 18 months old…by the time he was three he had no less than ten different toy phones: good for roleplaying!) Whether they were answering the phone or making a call to a friend, it was important to us that they: 1. were polite2. were clear3. identified themselves if they were making a call4. didn’t give out personal information to a caller5. could write down a message 6. could leave a clear message7. didn’t fight…