Going Vid (At Last!)

Do people read anymore? The following statistics about book publishing and reading were found on www.parapub.com, the Web site of self-publishing guru Dan Poynter. They'll give you an idea of what you're up against if you want to write books for a living.

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

We get it that moms and dads are busy, which is why we summarize essential parenting books for them. Now, we are making it even easier to discover ParentsDigest.com by placing our new video, on our site. You don't have to read the books, and now you don't have to read our home page, either. Gotta love the technology! To meet Pam, simply go here.

Killing Our TV: RIP Dish Network

Nothing personal, Dish Network. We liked a lot of your shows, and we’ll miss Big Love, and Denis Leary and crew, also Rachel Maddow. The Super Bowl was awesome, too. Of course, your UI sucks, but that’s not why we pulled the plug.

At first, the notion of killing our TV came from our new austerity campaign. We have declared a family emergency. We don’t know how long our puny funds will have to last us, so we are tweaking down our family expenses. We will bike instead of drive, pack a lunch instead of eating out, iron our shirts instead of sending them out. As repulsive and hypocritical as they may be, the Chevron ads make sense.

No, in the end, Dish Network, it’s not the 128 bucks a month that causes us to say adios. It’s the distraction. It’s the time, and more important, the attention that we give to you instead of to our kids. The years that we have with them are fleeting. Katie will be preparing for college in 2 years, and the boys will both be in high school. They most likely will be spending their free time with friends more than with us. Now’s the time, and we have been squandering too much of it staring into your flashing face.

And, yes, we are going to keep our Internet connection but we’re pulling the wi-fi. Also, we decided to keep Netflix on our list, largely due to Pam’s possibly unhealthy fixation on The Unit.

Sure, it’s possible we won’t have much to say to each other, or, worse, we could be at each other’s throats. But just maybe we’ll grow closer, get to feel more of the texture of these terrific kids who live with us for such a short time. So goodbye, see you again is six years.

Safety alert - from the Interent

Just last weekend on Friday night we parked in a public
parking area. As we drove away I noticed a sticker on the
rear window of the car. When I took it off after I got home,
it was a receipt for gas. Luckily my friend told me not to
stop as it could be someone waiting for me to get out of the
car Then we received this email yesterday:



'WARNING FROM POLICE

THIS APPLIES TO BOTH WOMEN AND MEN

BEWARE OF PAPER ON THE BACK WINDOW OF YOUR VEHICLE--
NEW WAY TO DO CARJACKINGS

Heads up everyone! Please, keep this circulating... You walk

across the parking lot, unlock your car and get inside. You

start the engine and shift into Reverse.



When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your

parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle

of the rear window. So, you shift into Park, unlock your

doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or

whatever it is) that is obstructing your view. When you reach

the back of your car, that is when the carjackers appear out

of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically

mow you down as they speed off in your car.



And guess what, ladies? I bet your purse is still in the car.

So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your

money, and your keys. Your home and your whole identity are

now compromised!


BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.


If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just

drive away. Remove the paper later. And be thankful that you

read this e-mail. I hope you will forward this to friends and

family, especially to women. A purse contains all kinds of

personal information and identification documents, and you

certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.


Please keep this going
and tell all your friends�



Jeanne Rue
Senior Legal Secretary
Office of the Attorney General
404.656.7273
404.651.6341 (fax)
jrue@law.ga.gov

Back to School After the Holidays: 5 Tips

Do It and Do It Now!

After nearly three weeks of parties and events and services and travel and all our other activities, it’s time to take a few minutes and plan our re-entry to reality. The second half of the school year is coming!

Get organized today so you are prepared for another hectic round of classes, homework, lunches, driving and appointments

Use our Top 5 Tips to prepare your home and family for the busy days ahead:

Tip #1. Early to Bed, Early to Rise

With only a few days left, it’s time to pull the plug on late nights and sleep-ins. Start today to re-introduce your school year bedtime. Wake your late sleepers closer to the time they will need to rise next week. Your back-to-school schedule will go much easier if the kids are not in shock or sleep deprived.

Tip #2. Stock Up

After the holidays, you probably wouldn’t care if you never saw another Costco or Safeway, but in fact it’s time to re-provision with school supplies and food for lunches and after school snacks. Do it now and avoid the early Tuesday morning scramble to the 7-11 for a quart of milk. Do a wardrobe check and discard or donate clothes that have been outgrown or worn out, and replace lost jackets and boots. There’s a lot of winter left.

Tip #3. Do an Attitude Check

During the break, it’s possible that your kids didn’t spend much time contemplating the return to school. Ease their shock by pointing out some of the benefits of returning to school. Remind them of what they enjoyed most last semester: the pride of completing a project, mastering long division, the team success at basketball. They will see old friends and meet new ones. It will be fun!

Tip #4. Create a Calendar

Class schedules. Play dates. Music lessons. Lunch menus. School events. Volunteer work. Avoid the chaos by putting every function on one large calendar, and put it where everyone can see it. Use color coding by child or event. Keep it near the telephone, and when you get a call, you can tell your availability at a glance.

Tip #5. Set Some Goals

Take some one-on-one time with each child to discuss what they want to achieve the second half of the school year. Math grades need to be bumped up? Develop a plan, keep it realistic and attainable, make sure it works for both of you, and help your child break it down into specific daily tasks. Write it down. Let her know that you are committed to helping her try hard and do her personal best. Don’t forget social and athletic goals. Does she want to make new friends? What kind of clothes, shoes, backpacks, hairstyles are in? Within reason, let her choose, as long as they fit your moral and financial boundaries.

Count on ParentsDigest.com for the latest summaries of parenting and family health books. And try to remember, we only go this way once. Every day is precious. Hold your kids close and tell them how much you love them!

Eating Down

Last night the kids and I went to our local burrito joint and we almost couldn't get in for the crowds. The swank resto next door was virtually empty, but Mi Pueblo was busier than Dick Cheney's shredder. What's the occasion, we asked some neighbors waiting outside. Their theory, and I'm not arguing, is that everyone's loooking for value. Not exactly Depression-era bread lines, but maybe a step in that direction. We decided we'd describe this phenomenon as "eating down". Good food + cheap prices = big crowds.

I thought I spied a couple of ex-brokers from Lehman Brothers on line, but it may have been just wishful thinking. Easy on the guac.

Prudence or Criminal Child Endangerment?

You Decide.

The bright red warning light said SRS, and of course I looked in the manual right away, or at least within a week, to find out what that means. Like its owner, my aging SUV (yes, I drive one of those, but that's another post) was developing a few quirks, and for the most part, like most drivers I was adapting to them. But I don't want to mess with new dashboard flashers. I get visions of a sprocket rod popping through the hood, or the transmission falling out at speed and flipping the car. Too many movie crashes, I guess. My manual said it had to do with a malfunction in the airbags.

Ed, the Service Representative at the dealer, had somber news. I can remember when a greasy mechanic would point out the problem in the deep recesses of the engine compartment, but now he has an interpreter, which doesn't help me understand most issues anyway. Ed told me that all airbags were ready to deploy as designed, but that the sensor that would warn me if the passenger side airbag went on the fritz wasn't working. So if I needed it the airbag would perform just fine, but sometimes a warning light would tell me the airbag wasn't really going to do the job. It was likely lying, though. Maybe. Ed said I could solve what was probably a non-problem for $500. Pretty hard to digest.

As a parent, I drive carpool three days a week, as well as ferry kids and friends around regularly. What's the likelyhood I would ever need the airbag? In maybe half a million miles I never had. Even so, if I knew the airbag would not work, I would surely repair it pronto. Better safe, etc. But do I fix a warning light for a device that is almost certainly working properly, that I most likely will never need anyway?

So far, no. But the seatbelts work fine.

Can I give you a lift?

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