Florida Principal Removed from School for Disciplining His Daughter?

Florida principal Darren Jones has been removed from his school for hitting his own daughter with an extension cord. His daughter has been removed from the home and he was arrested and released. Jones says he was disciplining his out of control daughter. Jones has been credited with turning around failing schools as well as being a father figure to at risk youth. Is this old school discipline or is this abuse? Tell me what you think. http://video.miami.cbslocal.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipId1=5474815&flvUri=&partnerclipid=&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Bro%20ward%20Principal%20Charged%20With%20Child%20Abuse&d1=112733&redirUrl=http://video.miami.cbslocal.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&clipFormat=flv

Are our Kids too Fat or are we making them crazy?

Today at church I heard an average size little girl call herself “fat”. She was not even slightly overweight but she perceived herself as fat. Her Sunday School teacher walked over to her and said you are not fat and you are beautiful. As I walked away I wondered whether we are driving our kids crazy? Why would this girl think she was fat? She thinks this because we have told her so if not in word in deed. If you have ever watched any of the programs geared toward teens you will find girls being defined by their weight by their friends and their enemies. ABC Family has a new show coming on called HUGE which is about obese teens at a weight loss camp. In the promos the main character refuses to hate herself because she is fat. So is this what we want to promote self-hatred? Yes, this country has a childhood obesity problem, but everyone is not obese and with the right motivation those that are can become healthy, but how much stress are we putting on our children? Are we encouraging our children to try to lose weight quickly or are we trying to promote healthy eating habits?   I definitely don’t have the answers. My own daughter has asked me to buy her Slim-Fast. Which I won’t, but I know that I can’t just dismiss her concerns. I know she is not fat but everything around her celebrates the Size 0. As a parent I want to fight childhood obesity, but there has got to be a happy medium between Size 0 and obese, and I will keep looking for it.

Father’s Day is a Day to Celebrate Dad

A few years ago we were planning a Father’s Day program at church and we were saying that the fathers needed to be given an instructional sermon. After the discussion my pastor asked us a simple question. He asked “why do we celebrate moms on Mother’s Day, but on Father’s Day we choose to lecture them?”  We had never looked at it quite that way we were lecturing them. That is what I feel we have been doing to black fathers for years. The community and the media have fashioned an image of the black fathers and so many have collectively bought into the myth.  Don’t get me wrong I know there are many fathers who are not truly fathers they are merely “babby daddies”, many who frequent the Maury Povich Show.   Last year we heard of Desmond Hatchett of TN, he has fathered 21 children by 11 different women, and he is only 30 years old. He works a minimum wage job and is  not financially able to take care of them. Although he is a sensational case,  he is not reflective of black fatherhood. There are thousands of black fathers that work everyday and take care of their children. They love their children and spend quality time teaching their children how to be better people. This group is ignored by the mainstream, but they are there for their children everyday. So today let’s celebrate dads. I especially celebrate my late father who taught us at an early age how a man should treat his wife and daughters, and to my husband and father of my children who instills wise counsel and good values into the lives of our children.  It is a hard job, but so many of them do it well, and today is our day to just say thanks.

PETA Ad Bashes the Duggars…Is It Fair?

 

Why do we even know the Duggars? They have 19 children and they have their own reality show. Does that mean their personal choices should be subject to mocking? Evidently PETA feels it does. Their latest billboard shown above takes dead aim at the Duggar’s lifestyle. It is just the latest in PETA’s mean spirited advertising . They have taken swipes at the overweight, they have used the image of the First Lady without her permission so this is just the latest in their ill-advised strategy. The Duggars made a choice to have the reality show and by doing this they have made themselves fair game. PETA’s response: “The reproduction debate’s heating up as TLC prepares to air the fourth season of its Duggar Family hit, 19 Kids and Counting. This season, the Duggars have upped their clan size from 18 to 19, and it has some arguing yay or nay about the ‘Duggar-style’ approach to reproduction. We say, as long as Jim Bob and Michelle are able to keep a roof over their family’s head and modern-modest clothes on their backs, there’s a far more important reproductive issue at hand. So, we’re offering to run this billboard in the Duggar’s hometown of Tontitown, Arkansas, as well as in nearby Springdale and Fayetteville.”  So PETA can use this approach, but having the right to do something does not make it right.