Author: Patricia Gatto

Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved.

Category: Parenting/Children's Social Issues

Word Count (including Resource Box and References): 875 --------------------------------------- "You Make Me Sick" and other things Parents Say in Anger Patricia Gatto ©2004 All Rights Reserved. Joyful Productions

Maryann is so focused she's blind. She's slipped over edge of responsibility and forgot real reason she is working so hard. It's for her daughter.

Being a single parent isn't easy. Between working, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and homework, there isn't much time left in day. It's a heavy burden to be sole supporter of a young child. But when pressures and tensions are so great that harmful words spill out like bitter pills, isn't it time to stop and take inventory?

"Clean your room or I'm gonna kill you!" "If you don't do your homework right now, I'll break your neck!" "Just leave me alone, I've had a rough day."

These statements came from a woman who loves her daughter and she's working hard to provide for her. If you asked Maryann, she'd say she would do anything in world for her child. But why can't she see that respectful communication conveys love more than a new pair of shoes ever will? And why does she have to be reminded to treat her child with respect?

Maryann isn't alone. Life is frustrating. We've all heard parents, married, single or otherwise, speak to their children in anger. As adults, we've all rolled our eyes at dramatic threats, knowing full well they have no intention of being carried out. But does a child know these are simply dumb words spoken in frustration? Does a child know that violent threats of bodily harm are hollow?

Whether over top displays of drama are blurted in anger, or merely used to snap a child to attention, results are unhealthy and damaging.

When little Billy tells a classmate he is going to kill him over a broken crayon, where do you think he learned that response from? And in today's climate, do you think anyone would consider it just an innocent statement from an innocent child? Billy would be sent to principal's office on spot. And if not, he would certainty be called down after victim of his harsh words went home and told his parents and they reported it to school.

Recently my husband quit his 9 to 5 salaried career to work from home with me. In order to afford this we had to take a good long look at our typical expenses and determine what we could do to cut our costs.

We quickly realized how much money is spent to make money. A quick peruse through our refrigerator revealed a lifestyle of haste. Almost our entire diet consisted of prepared foods. We made a pact to take turns cooking meals and freezing leftovers to see how much money we could save.

What we found out is that it was actually easy to cut our grocery bill in HALF on a consistent basis, simply by preparing our meals! It may not take a rocket scientist to figure that one out, but it was shocking to us to see how much money we had been spending simply for convenience of quick meals to support our unbalanced, quick paced lifestyle.

Food that may have been wasted in past is now source of one or two more meals. We freeze a lot of food so that it doesn’t feel so much like eating leftovers and when we shop we look for deals. We actually find that we eat healthier then ever and certainly enjoy quality of our meals more.