2 for 1 today: Serious first, then fun

I was going to write about something completely different today but after visiting Carol at Charli and Me and reading her posts dated October 20 and October 18, that post idea has been tabled. Carol's Oct 20, 2010 post is the serious part of my entry today. It is about bullying.

One of two links in Carol's blog will take you to another blogger who wrote her blog post as a letter to her daughter. The author thought only a few people would read it but instead it has "gone viral" and been referenced by many other bloggers.

Is there an easy answer to stopping bullying? No, but we can all do something. Tell a child they are wonderful. Tell them you love them. Tell them they can talk to you about anything. Don't stop telling them any of this. My guess is that bullying is worse today than when I was a child for many reasons. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, the pace of life was different. A teacher was more likely to hear or see the bully in action. Other parents were likely to see or hear it and intercede. Because we had a respect for adults back then that isn't always present today, and because we feared repercussion if an adult told our parents of our bad behavior, some bullies may have been stopped early and much more easily.

Today, with cell phones ever present and tweets, texts, blogs (do kids use blogs?) and Facebook, bullying can go cyber and anonymous. A bully's parents may have no idea what their child is doing. The child may be doing this in their own effort to fit in, to divert attention from their own insecurities or lack of popularity. Scary stuff.


Now on to the light stuff. 






Carol's post dated October 18th featured pumpkins at a local vendor's stand. I did a double take, wondering if we had visited the same seller. Probably not, but if you look at her photos and at these, you might think my husband and I were following her! Maybe due to the season, I should say corn stalking her?

 Grandpa, I am not afraid of this straw guy...it is just to bright out here to open my eyes!

 Whatever I am sitting on sure feels picky.

This one isn't a bad size, at least I can hold it. 

See? I can touch him in here where I can open my eyes.

Isn't Grandma done with the camera yet? I'm counting to three and then we're outta here.

(See his fingers? He was on "two" so I had to hurry and snap the photo!)

 Hey Grandpa, watch it there squeezing my biceps!

 

If I refuse to look at her and smile, will she finally let us go home?

Don't look at me! I didn't put this thing here!

Maybe next year this will be more interesting.

May the worst thing any of our lil punkins have to deal with this Halloween season, be they 7 months or 32 years old, is that mom, dad, grandpa or even grandma might snitch a piece or two of their favorite Halloween treat.