New Board Game

I thought about the game Monopoly^TM this morning. This is a fun and methodical game that teaches the values of competition. And as I discuss it, let's remember it is only a game -- so please don't interpret that I am calling for a boycott on Hasbro or anything. I will still play it with my family (when we have a spare 10 hours).

Go-Purple Game

Tears in a father’s eyes mean something. And I have been moved to tears more than once by the response of my local community’s generosity and compassion.

What’s The Count And Where’s The Play?

When I was a pre-teen playing little league baseball, I had a coach who had a method to help my teammates and me “keep our heads in the game.” When our team held the field, he told us that after each pitch – after each time the ball returned to the pitcher – each of us should mentally ask ourselves, “What’s the count and where’s the play?” During practices he would spot check to see if we could answer those questions. At times, one of the players would not know when asked. “Take a lap around the field,” the coach would say.
 

Top 50 Pop Culture List (Final Ten)

Today I reveal the final ten items of my Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years list. But before I give the top of the top, let’s review the list thus far:

Top 50 Pop Culture List (35-21)

Today I continue with the list of the Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years. Of course, I will impose a bit of trivia first that I gained while researching this project. The average cost for a domestic car in 1970 was $3,700; in 1980 was $7,600; in 1990 was $14,500; and in the year 2000 it was $18,700.
 

As Casey Kasem used to say: “And now on with the countdown…”

Parents Just Don't Understand

I’d love to hear Will Smith rap about raising kids in response to his teenage song twenty years ago. But let me just say, raising kids is not for the weak. My daughter is wonderful. She is talented, makes good grades, stays out of trouble, has reasonable social activities, can converse on an adult level, conducts herself in a strong moral fashion and is generally congenial. But wow – there are moments I still want to kill her.

Recently, she has been going through a forgetfulness phase, losing jackets or forgetting homework or leaving her phone at different places. It’s been the theme of the past few weeks and always an item that would seem “mission critical” for the context of what’s happening next. Worse, her attitude becomes one of indifference or expectation that her parents are servants to resolve her mistakes.

However, to demonstrate the dichotomy of this young teen and how soft-hearted she can be as well, I must note that in the midst of me writing this, she came into my office and asked if she could stay after basketball practice tomorrow to scrimmage and help coach the Special Olympics participants. So, it is difficult to complain about her attitude.

Nonetheless, much of success is gained through discipline. I don’t mean punishment; I mean discipline in the way of keeping oneself to a schedule or routine with a commitment and promise to oneself to do whatever is required to stick with it. This is a tough thing to practice for most adults, but that is also why it is important to establish it when the kids are still young. And I have failed to instill this well in my child.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share an idea we are trying here. I’ll keep everyone apprised of how it works. It may be a dismal failure, but I’m hoping it will be a radical break-thru. In reality, it will probably just be one more thing to try, but we’ll see.

We have listed out the expectations of my daughter, house-hold chores and general responsibilities. This is typically maintenance stuff, like keeping her room “non-atrocious” in appearance, cleaning the guest bathroom daily, and feeding the dog. I think most parents struggle to keep their kids doing such things. So, we have created “consequences” – which is entirely different from punishment, which would be used for defiant behavior or the deliberate breaking of house rules.

These “consequences” are designed to mimic life, where the impact of one’s mistake is perhaps more random. In my life, minor mistakes sometimes have huge consequences, and sometimes I have a huge blunder that I just get away with out of luck. So, I’m conducting a list of things, such as “lose phone privilege for a day” and “must do an extra chore” but have included “pay a dollar” and “nothing this time” on the list. When she fails to do her duties, we are doing to roll dice and randomly select the consequence.

We’ll see how this goes, but I’m hoping it will make her more alert and aware of responsibilities. If nothing else, it will teach her that sometimes life just isn’t fair – and that’s a lesson we could all stand to remember.

March Madness and Hydro Hysteria

It is that time of year again. The NCAA basketball tournament where three weekends from Thursday to Sunday are filled with nothing but roundball in an elimination contest to determine who is the best team in the land.

Most who know me are aware that I harmonize this event with World Water Day which is March 22, every year. Shortage of fresh water is a serious crisis around the world. We take this for granted here in the United States. While there are numerous charitable causes to support, this one has touched my heart and I make an effort to aid in seeking solutions to this serious issue.

In that attempt, every year I submit “The Knight’s Challenge” which is a NCAA March Madness bracket contest. For a $5 entry per bracket, anyone can submit their picks. Three entries are permitted per username. If more entries are desired, additional email addresses have to be submitted. (This is the host site’s rule, not mine). Half the money gathered will go to the Rwanda Clean Water Project and the other half is considered administrative fees and will be distributed to the best score on the bracket.

It has not been a large sum in the past – around $50 to the winner. So this year I am upping the challenge with a matching offer. Whatever the raised portion to be given to the charity is – I will match this amount, up to $250. So, with my own entry fee counting, that means 100% charitable giving plus $250 to the winner, if there are 50 entries! That’s worth a look, eh?

I will send direct invites or you can sign up here: http://water4world.mayhem.cbssports.com/e (If you have any questions, contact me directly).

Thanks in advance for joining in a great effort for the larger world. And here’s to an exciting upcoming tourney!