Fleeting GiftsWritten by Arleen M. Kaptur
During a recent visit to a toy store looking for perfect gift for a child, insight I received gave me a very rude awakening. A child is born with all kinds of gifts tucked right in there with cute little smile and tiny toes and fingers. There is creativity, inspiration, imagination, and fun. It is all right there - just waiting to be encouraged, and allowed to grow and mature. What really happens when family and friends lavish gifts of latest toy trends and gift ideas that toy manufacturers insist are "in" thing? These precious and fleeting gifts are not nurtured and give "food" they need to become basis for future careers, jobs, and lifestyles. Instead, they allow child to be a bystander and "watch world go by" - but not become a "mover and shaker" of what is going on. In other words, script, cast, and everything in between has been scheduled, programmed, and packed - all in one box. Children are future of each and every one of us - they will be doctors, lawyers, judges, politicians, cooks, clerks, parents, citizens, etc. No one is so isolated that they will not be affected by decisions and actions of these children when they become adults. You can run, but you can't hide from what future will bring - and from those who will bring it about - today's children. While a child may whine and cry for very latest in what ads show as "craze" of times, you are purchaser, or main ingredient in child oy experience. Maybe making a total about-fact is not a reasonable choice for you and your child, but seek out a few alternatives. If you buy a "pre-programmed" action figure, vehicle, or play set, offset it with a few "standard" items. Lincoln logs can still fascinate, art sets (whether clay, paint, or pencil) can nudge that creativity, or games that allow child to think, react, and plan. Books, craft kits and building blocks of all sizes, shapes, and forms, give hours of pleasure and allow child to become "programmer", not "bystander."
| | The legal fiction of common-law marriageWritten by Johnette Duff
During a radio-talk show appearance, a caller told me about his unfortunate brush with legal fiction of common-law marriage. He had been living with a woman for several weeks when he came home one evening to find woman, his TV and assorted other property missing. He called police, who mistakenly informed him that woman was his common-law wife and so they couldn’t help him.What qualifies as a common-law marriage? Take your pick: 1. Leaving too many clothes at your girlfriend’s house? 2. Living together six months 3. Living together seven years? Chances are you picked third answer, but all three response are equally wrong. A common misconception is that length of cohabitation creates common-law status. This is not true. Three elements are necessary and none relate to a time-frame. A couple must 1. Live together 2. Agree between themselves to be marriage 3. Represent themselves as married (also called “holding-out.”) The agreement in second element does not have to be written; it can be implied by behavior of parties. Signing leases as husband and wife or filing joint income tax returns are examples of proof used to imply a common-law marriage.
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