The Lava Bot

You’ve heard the wise, old saying, Tell a teenager to slow down and they’ll be sure and get a speeding ticket. Or Give a teenager a curfew and they’ll give you twenty thousand elaborate reasons why they’re late. Or my newest, favorite, “Tell a teenager their junior year is the most critical for grades and college admissions and they’ll do their darndest to mess it up.”

No amount of threats, restrictions, bribes, or bets seemed to keep our daughter’s grades from slipping. So what’s a parent to do? It may be as simple as building a mousetrap car. A mousetrap car is a physics project assigned on the first day of school and usually due only a few short hours after your kid begins building it. A mousetrap car is what I refer to as a teacher’s “passive aggressive” project. It’s one of those projects they dream up to get back at us, I mean, to thank us, for the pleasure of teaching our children.

A handful of students will be excited about such a project and not only possess the capability to build it on their own, but improve it. The rest of the class will require some assistance, most likely in the form of a dad. Of course, in many homes a mom works just as well, but if a project has anything to do with mice, I’ll gladly let Ward take the lead and provide cold drinks and snacks while wearing my best June Cleaver smile.

So, after my daughter’s failed, solo attempt to prove the basic propulsion theory with a mousetrap that propelled, I propelled her father. Today’s parents have little time to relax in the evenings. If it isn’t a project, there’s a basketball game to coach, or a Boy Scout meeting to attend. To my husband’s credit, he didn’t ask all the usual questions, “How long have you know about this?” “Why didn’t you begin a month ago?” “Why don’t you ask your teacher?”

Instead, he sat down and began to help. It took a trip to the hardware store, a few trips to the basement where I heard some pounding, some sawing and I think some crying. Then back to the kitchen, where with heads bowed together, they murmured and mumbled over some scraps of wood, pencils, string, computer discs and of course, the dreaded mousetrap. The contraption was supposed to move seven meters. According to the directions, I glazed over, the mousetrap must be located the right distance from the drive axle to allow enough force to propel the car forward.

At 10 p.m. I went to bed. No propelling. At 10:30 p.m. I heard more pounding and no propelling. Somewhere in the next hour, I drifted off to sleep, only to be awoken by a loud, “WOOHOO!”

It must’ve propelled. The next morning the finished contraption sat on the counter, all ready for its big debut and next to it was a folded piece of notebook paper with “Dad” written on it. With my daughter’s permission, I opened it.

Every now and then, a teenager will surprise you and do something wonderful, which is how they manage to live long enough to see their twenties. My daughter did something wonderful. She wrote this note, and gave me permission to share it:

“I wanted to say thanks again for helping me dad. I wanted to give up once or twice last night, but you really taught me the importance of sticking with something. Because we finally got it to work! I think there are some other things with school that are going to be easier to tackle now that I realize the kind of work it takes to earn an “A”. I always knew, but last night really put it into focus.”

Turns out it’s the tiny spring in the mousetrap that allows it to propel. Sometimes it’s the little things we parents do that propel big changes.

Read more humorous stories by author and speaker, Deb DiSandro at http://www.slightlyoff.com

Filed by admin at 10:48 am under Stuff for Kids
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All of us have at some point in our lives wished that we could decide with some certainty that we would have the boy or girl of our choice. Gender selection of offspring has been a quest of mankind for ages, not just from the time of the Greeks and the Romans.

Western countries are believed to have spent over a billion dollars in research of this kind. Old wives’ tales and folklore have thrived on our desire to have the baby of our choice. The ancient Chinese are reported to have devised a system that was some 65 percent accurate.

But first, why would anyone want to choose the gender of one’s baby?

Any baby, boy or girl, is a gift of nature, and should be welcome as such?

Over the years, different reasons have been given for preferring a baby of a particular gender.

The most important reason, and the one which I strongly support, for trying to influence the gender of your baby at the time of conception, is medical. Many disabilities are now known to be transmitted across generations through genes. Many of these disabilities are gender specific. For example, a woman herself may not suffer from a gene-linked illness, but she will convey the disease-causing gene to her male children who will then be affected by the disease.
There are about 350-plus X-linked disorders (diseases that only male children inherit), some of them fatal, such as hemophilia, muscular dystrophy and X-linked hydrocephalus, and gender selection is almost a compulsion for such families. If the woman is a known carrier of an X-linked disorder, sex selection is the one way to try and prevent passing on the disease to a male child.

Some may accuse these couples of playing God. But couples attempting gender selection usually have practical reasons for doing so. Quality of life becomes an issue for both parents and child. For instance, will the child be so handicapped that he is in perpetual discomfort? What will happen to this child if the parents are no longer able to care for him? Can the parents’ marriage weather the stress of raising a boy who will need constant nursing and who will never live a normal life?

The same argument of “playing God” can be used against contraceptives and abortion?

One must make the choices in life that one believes are necessary. Sometimes gender selection, attempting to improve the odds in favour of conceiving a boy or girl as desired, is a choice one must make.

Panikkarson likes to observe people make difficult life choices, moral and ethical.Read how you can influence the sex of the baby to be conceived at www.choose-sex-of-baby.com

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Baby showers are surprise parties thrown by friends or colleagues to honor a couple that is joyously expecting a child. The purpose of the shower is to bestow gifts upon the parents-to-be so that are generally items that are necessary for babies. Baby showers are a perfect reason for friends and family to come together and meet the parents-to-be and the baby (if it is already born). It is a time for well wishing and celebration.

Gifts for baby showers can range from simple baby items like a crib or baby clothes to special gifts like a portable monitor, baby sheets, sling/front carrier, bouncers, specially designed toys, bath kits, activity toys like a baby gym, baby bags, and children’s books. There are many products in the market that are great as baby shower gifts. There are also websites which offer exclusive information about baby shower gifts.

Personalized gifts are also a wonderful way to show affection. Babies can be really demanding and would take a lot of adjusting too as soon as they are born. Friends can even plan to gift a few dinners to the couple who just had and baby and who are too tired or too busy to cook by themselves. Even the offer of a few days of baby sitting is a wonderful gift. If the baby shower has a theme, it is a great idea to give gifts that are based on that theme. These gifts can be used to decorate the baby’s room on the same theme. Sometimes, the gifts can be second-hand or used items, which are too expensive when brought new.

It is a good idea to enquire with the mom-to-be if she wants anything special since she may already have a few things belonging to her previous baby. This would help to avoid duplication. There are many gifts on the market exclusively for baby showers. These can even be ordered online and can be delivered to the parents-to-be if the guest cannot make it to the party.

Baby Showers provides detailed information about baby showers, baby shower decorations, baby shower favors, and more. Baby Showers is affiliated with Personalized Baby Gifts.

Filed by admin at 11:32 pm under Stuff for Kids
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