Giving the gift of MamaWritten by Samantha Olea, http://thebestmoms.com
“Ain’t no cookin’ like Mama’s cookin’!”-Amen! Recently, an idea struck me. I cook…okay, I cook a lot. A lot of meals that I create are either of my own creation, or they are a variation of another recipe that I have learned. For instance, my husband’s favorite meal is Steak Chicana-a lovely steak and potato stir fry of sorts. Well, I learned this family recipe from his sister, Gloria. She painstakingly showed me step by step how to create this dish from my husband’s childhood, and he was SO happy to have me learn it. Well, I didn’t write anything down-I figured, ‘why?’ there were only a few basic ingredients, and some cooking common sense so it didn’t really warrant being recorded on paper-and I’m sure many of you have felt that way about a recipe you have learned, or heard about, right? Now, fast forward 6 years and place exact same ingredients in front of my sister in law and myself, give us same amount of time, and you know what you get? Two very different dishes! I can not tell you how many times my sweet husband has looked at me and said, “That’s really good…but its not steak chicana!” I’m a big girl, so it doesn’t hurt my feelings-I have simply accepted that I make Steak Olea. I understand importance of passing down heirloom recipes and essentially a little piece of yourself, especially because my mother and I have never had much of a relationship, so I didn’t have anyone to hand down recipes and traditions. Believe me when I say, when I first was married, my husband ate raw fried chicken for dinner on more than one occasion! I simply didn’t know what I was doing, or any technique for doing it. I want my children to be able to move out of my house and cook themselves a nice warm bowl of home, so I am writing all of my precious recipes down and assembling my very own top secret cookbook.
| | TAKING A STEP BACK FOR OUR CHILDRENWritten by Kay L. Schlagel
Why is it that as a society we tend to look down on a stay at home mom or dad, but it is perfectly normal for both parents to work, so their kids can have best of everything…..everything, but their parent’s time or guidance? I realize that in this economy, if we want to keep up with Jones’, per say, that both parents have to work; but take a look around at our children. Is what they gain in material goods, worth what they lose in parental guidance love and safety? I realize that I’m walking a really fine line here, and probably a good percentage of you, would like to push me over edge already, but think about it. Think about how much you learned at your mom/dad’s knee or even grandparents side, talking about things you didn’t realize were all that important at time, that have stayed with you through out you life. We’re losing those times, that take place during casual chats that you have no way of scheduling into your busy day. You can’t really set a time aside for those casual observations about life; because they only work, when you’re both feeling quiet and comfortable with each other, and not trying to hurry and tell each other every thing that has happened since you’ve last seen each other. I won’t even mention all lessons we learn by example. I don’t want my children ever thinking, their less important then some job I’m running off to every day; and why? To pay for one more vehicle, so we can squeeze in even more activities. Activities…………..what ever happened to life? Who is accountable for teaching our children values? Is it our over-worked, underpaid teacher’s responsibility? How are they going to teach their overcrowded classrooms, with males, females, and different cultures how unique and valuable each and every one of them is with so little time? Their job is to educate our children, not discipline them. Other than very basics; how are they supposed to try and teach them family values that are different within each family? That doesn’t even take into consideration difference of cultures, religions, and race. Does enrolling our children in after school activities such as sports, scouts, dance, etc., take place of them knowing that when they have a problem, there is a parent actually at home they can talk to? Doesn’t anyone notice how stressed our children have become? I’m not putting down after school activities, but when they become so important that it interferes with time to study, time to play, time to just be….then I have a problem with it. Since when did sitting in front of a TV or a computer playing games for hours; become substitutes for physical healthy activity? I realize at this point that this is a relatively negative article, but we need to take some time and think about direction that our child rearing trends are moving. I don’t believe that capital punishment should be allowed in schools, but there has to be some form of discipline to take its place. We have classrooms where kids are in charge, and teachers can’t teach in that environment. They have to have support of parents. Having been a survivor child abuse I most certainly don’t believe in hurting or abusing a child but there has to be discipline in a home, rules, and most important, respect for other people. Children can’t be expected to discipline themselves, they aren’t little adults, they are children, and should be allowed to be children.
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