Have we lost our manners?

Image Source: Google

As I sit here and write this, my one year old is sitting next to me eating his lunch.  We already work on manners and appropriate behavior with him, although his age does not cause me to expect him to be a gentleman at this point.  However, we do work on the manners that he does grasp, such as using the American Sign Language Sign for "eat" when he is hungry, as opposed to just screaming until someone gets him what he wants.  Does it always work?  No, but when he does start yelling, and I know he probably wants food, I will show him food and he will either do the sign or he will mimic me doing it and then I will give him his food in response to that.  It is certainly a start in the manners category.

Addressing bullying

Tim, a friend that I have come to know via online means through various gun organizations, and the owner of the blog Mental Brushfire, wrote today about bullying.  The post, "When good men do nothing" tells a story that rings true for many adolescents in this country that are bullied and have found no answers in their school and public officials that are supposed to provide a safe place for children to learn.  The post ends with this (emphasis added)

Would someone please stand up and do something before another life ends too early and another family suffers such a loss?

Will you?

 Tim's story started me thinking.  My son, Harrison, is turning 1 in a few weeks and has a long way to go before he heads off to school on his own, without the watchful eye and protection of my wife and myself, but yet this story seemed to touch me deep in my gut.  Perhaps it is because I am a parent that any story about the tragic loss of life of a child tends to stick with me.  What will I do?  How do I address this very real issue that Harrison may have to deal with?  How do I make sure that he does not become a bully himself?

I remember school, and while I had a good group of friends, I was not the most popular kid to ever grace the halls.  In general, I have good memories, and while there were a few people that made disparaging comments about my struggle with being overweight, I would not call myself bullied, and certainly not physically bullied.

So what about Harrison?

I do not pretend to have all of the answers, and parenting is not the type of thing that you can do by mapping out your child's life and your response and then following said map; it changes and you have to adapt, but I also will not pretend that I have not thought about how I will deal with issues that could arise in his lifetime. That is part of my job as a father.

You Fight Like a Girl!

Some universities are telling women that they should urinate or vomit on themselves, instead of defending themselves, when they are faced with a rapist

Courtesy of University of Colorado

And some politicians think that women should not have guns because they may shoot their attempted rapist

And then there are the parents that are raising this 13 year old girl in the video.  I bet this girl, if ever faced with the threat of being violated by a rapist, will know exactly what to do...she will FIGHT LIKE A GIRL!  Her name is Katelyn Francis and she is a phenomenal 3 gun competition shooter; her parents should be proud.

Happy Shooting
Anthony

Playing Cowboys

I secretly, okay maybe not-so-secretly, can not wait until Harrison is old enough to play "make believe".  When Harrison was born I told Ashley that having a boy was great because now I actually have an excuse for all of the "childish" things that I want to do, but the truth is, they are childhood adventures and I am thrilled to be able to share them with Harrison.  Every little boy should spend their life as a cowboy, a pirate, a pilot, a soldier, and an explorer escaping the hot lava (DON'T TOUCH THE CARP...HOT LAVA!!!) and every parent should relish being invited into and included in this life of their child.  At this age Harrison and I only play rocket ship, which means I get a mean arm workout as I whip him through the space above my head.  He laughs and smiles and he does not know it but he is spending his first year as an astronaut, orbiting planet daddy.

I am sure we will have at least one daughter and when we do I will oblige her to have afternoon tea, after all, a cowboy never turns down a pretty lady.

How about you parents out there; what are some of your favorite games of make believe or pretend that you and your children love to play?

Anthony

Triaminic and Theraflu Recall

Novartis, the makers of Triaminic and Theraflu have issued a voluntary recall of these two products because some of the child safety caps are not functioning properly and there has been an incident where a child has accidentally ingested the medication.  Novartis is asking that people return the product for a full refund.

The difference between an AR-15 and a Military Assault Rifle

The Gun Control crowd has done a great job at confusing the public as to what an assault rifle is and what a modern sporting rifle, such as an AR-15 actually is.  I hear a lot of people saying that they want a ban on military style rifles and weapons.  What I believe they mean when they say military style weapons are those weapons that fire multiple rounds with one pull of the trigger BUT they believe that an AR-15, an AK-47 and similar rifles are these rifles as well, and the truth is, they are not.

The video below, found at Arms Vault, was done by the Military Arms Channel and does a great job at explaining the differences between an assault rifle used in the military and an AR-15 and rifles like it as well as showing that a magazine ban on 30 round magazines for 10 round magazines makes a 1/2 second difference in shooting time.  The video is short.  If you are confused by all of the talk going on about banning certain guns, or if you think you know what you are advocating, take the 6 minutes and watch the video.

Anthony

Obama White House Plans Broad Gun Control

I will not take your guns away

Gregory Gwyn-Williams Jr. wrote an article reminding us of the promise President Obama made on the campaign trail in 2008

"When you all go home and you're talking to your buddies and you say, ah 'He wants to take my gun away.' You've heard it here, I'm on television so everybody knows it. I believe in the Second Amendment. I believe in people's lawful right to bear arms. I will not take your shotgun away. I will not take your rifle away. I won't take your handgun away."