FallinWoman

This is the truth, and one of the challenges of being a teacher. If I have a kid who is a handful named Johnny one year, I have to be careful that the following year I am not already biased against the new Johnny in my class. I do not believe there is anything in a name. One of my students is freaking out because I dropped my old middle name completely and have taken my maiden name as my new middle name. She thinks this changes who I am. I think it is important to remember that a name does not define who a person is. I happen to be Anne. Apparently that means that you and I will never get along, because you do not get along with Anne's. I think it is sad that you may have already closed yourself off to me or to others because of a poor experience in the past with someone of the same name. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Count me unofficially in....I can't start til Sunday....I am on spring break and intend to drink fully tonight and tomorrow night. Then I will play. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

While I agree that divorce in a case like this may be best for the children in the long run, they are still from a broken family. They are living without one of their parents, and that is the definition of broken family. There is a hole in their hearts that you cannot fill alone, nor can a step-father. Lesser of two evil maybe, but still a broken family. My daughter is in that situation. She lives with me and Skymedic full time. She has not seen her mother in almost two years. I am the day to day mom, but there is a hole I cannot fill for her. She understands that her mom is blowing her off, and it hurts her. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I am a lucky woman. I have a wonderful husband who has a job he loves now. More than that he takes care of me and supports me. Life is good.... Now, if we could just manage to have a little FallinMedic or SkyWoman!!!!! ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

For those of you who have been following Skymedic's saga....he got a firefighting job today. Yay! He was a firefighter in Chicago, then he moved to St. Louis to be with me. In St. Louis County you have to have the County fire academy to get a job...silly but true. He got into the academy and completed it last summer. Since then he has been applying for firefighting jobs. Today he was offered and accepted a job with a local town. He is thrilled, as am I. He finally is going to get to do what he loves! (FYI...he has had a job as a paramedic since he moved down here, just not fighting fire, which is what he loves to do!) ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Ohhhh...I have one that I have to explain to my high school students all the time.....HELLA. As in, "Mrs. Doll, you give hella homework." Adding an A to the end of the word does not change the fact that it is a swear word. Bitcha...Fucka....Shita...Hella....all swearwords. I feel the same way about the word Biotch, or however you spell it. Adding an extra vowel does not change the fact that you are saying bitch. Added complaint...not a word I would like eliminated, but I would really like it if people could use "your" and "you're" correctly. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I am nto suggesting that we turn all students into little clones. Nor would you see that if you walked into my classroom. One of my biggest jobs is to teach kids how to behave properly in our society. I think we do them a great disservice by allowing them to swear, sing inappropriate songs, etc at school, when their employers will expect something different. I cuss like a sailor at home and at the DZ. I have a perfectly clean mouth at school. That is what I am trying to teach my students....that there is a time and place for certain behaviors. That does not mean they cannot be creative or individuals. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I understand that there are bigger problems, but how can his teacher allow him to sing this song and not allow another student to sing SnoopDogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot?" Or Buffet's "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?" (Or you could insert any number of other songs here) I guess I do not see the problem with your son's school not wanting him to call other people names and not wanting him to sing about shooting a law enforcement officer. I would not allow either of those things in my classroom either. I might be able to deal with it myself, but I might not. I make that decision based on what is best for the whole class, not just one student. As a teacher I can tell you that rules are easier to enforce and defend if you are consistent. If you start allowing some things and not others, it gets messy and parents and administrators have a hard time supporting you. You should be thankful that the school is teaching him when it is not appropriate to sing those kind of lyrics and that he shouldn't call people names. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

The whole "permanent record" thing not that big of a deal. What it will say is the facts of the matter. Not a big deal. It will become a big deal when your son continues to believe that the rules do not apply to him because you are not supporting the staff at his school. So he will be caught singing "I shot the Sheriff" again, and the principal will note that just talking to him did not change his behavior. In my classroom, any mention of drugs, sex, violence, or swear words in not allowed, no matter what form it comes in. I have to have clear-cut rules, and I stand by them. Again I say you are missing a wonderful opportunity to teach your son. Has he ever really listened to the words of the song? At 11 he should be able to understand why singing about shooting a law enforcement officer might not be ok in certain situations. As a teacher, I also have to balance handling situations myself and when handing a situation is taking instructional time away from the other students. It is not fair to ignore the other students in order to deal with the actions of one student. Yes, I agree that him singing that song is not a serious crime. However, I believe that there are a lot of inappropriate messages in songs these days, so I am teaching my daughter (11 years old) about why some songs are not ok to sing, and to think about what a song is really saying. Parent your child. Support your schools and the staff there. And relax! ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Or....instead of getting all bent out of shape and removing him from the teacher's classroom, you could use this as a teachable moment about respecting the rules that the teacher has and learning to thrive even when your teaacher (boss) is not the easiest to get along with. I do not allow my students to sing lyrics that are questionable. Singing about shooting a law enforcement officer would fall under that umbrella. I cannot allow Clapton and then turn around and ban a more modern song about sex....or whatever....I would run into racial issues along with fairness issues. Calling people names is not ok. Why not focus on that lesson instead of defending your son's saying that someone has cooties? Focus on teaching him that it can hurt people's feelings...how would he feel if someone called him a name? IMHO...you are missing a couple beautiful parental teaching moments. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I am a little bothered that this woman is getting married and has the idea that a wife should "force" her husband to do anything. Who is she to "disapprove" of you not forcing your husband to do something he doesn't want to? ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Why on earth would your friend care that he is there? It does not sound like they are close, and there will be plenty of people there who she is close to. Leave the poor man at home and go have a good time. You will be able to pay attention to your friend and not have to worry about your husband. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Totally read that as "SPUNK," not SKUNK. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I have two passwords I use and they are both contractions of three words that somehow go together.....Like if I had three children named Lauren, Timothy and Alex I might use LaTimAl (I do not have three children.....just an example!) ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

2004 Chrysler Pacifica...such the mom-mobile and I love it. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I am goign to repeat what others have said.....go to your GP. I initially got my anitdepressant script from my neurologist. Since I no longer see him regularly, and because I got worse as my father was dying, I started to see a psychiatrist. That was not covered by insurance. Now my GP writes the script whenever I need a refill. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

damn hell ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

To me it is simple economics. If you are in a steady relationship where sex is in supply most of the time...then skydive first.... If you are not and sex is not in steady supply...take sex when you can get it....the sky will be there tomorrow or next weekend...but will the person who is willing to have sex with you?!? ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

One of my pet peeves...people blaming the schools only.... As a high school teacher (public) I see kids go through my school of 2000 students who get a great education. I also see kids go though and get a crappy education. What is the difference? Most of the time it comes down to parental involvement. I have seen white kids from families that make loads of money. I have seen black kids from the city who are supported by one parent who works two jobs but ALSO holds the kid responsible for homework and grades. Which kid does better? The kid with the involved parent. Don't blame me. I teach over 100 kids a semester. How can I possibly personally save them all? When I was a new teacher I tried and almost burned myself out. How do I compete with a parent who doesn't know how to get Johnny to do his homework because he is on the cell phone all night? Or what about Jenny who is IMing people all night and Mom and Dad don't know what to do? Raising a successful child starts in the home. It starts with clear expectations and values. I cannot combat a lifetime of apathy in 225 minutes a week. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

As a freshman in college I lived in a dorm with brick walls. The wall won the fight, as I broke a bone in my hand. It was a hell of a punch. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

We have a cat whose name is Ernie. He has seven toes in the front, so he is a "Hemingway" cat, thus the Ernie name. However...since he is such a shit disturber with the other two cats, he is commonly referred to as Shitbird and/or Shitnuts. Personality dicates name for a cat! ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I have a confession to make....I love watching ice skating. And I truly enjoyed this show. It was amazing what some of these celebrities could do after a month of training. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

Those are cool! There is a similar display every year at our mall of sculptures made of Girl Scout Cookies. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I guess there is a first time for everything. Don't get a big head hon.....once in three and a half years is not that impressive! ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!

I think that as long as your dog is a healthy weight, it should not matter. We have a grazer. We put food down and she will eat it when she is ready. When she is at my mom's, however, she eats her bowl immediately. Otherwise Mom's dog will finish it for her. With no competition here, she does not have the need to finish it right away. I personally do not understand feeding a dog once a day. I prefer to eat several times a day, and have no objection to Ruckus eating several times a day also. I would start to worry if she became overweight or underweight. ~Anne I'm a Doll!!!!