Where did I go wrong?

My oldest son is 9 years old. He used to come and talk to me all the time. Then suddenly he wasn't able to talk to me about things. Now he comes and stands in front of me and just stares at me. If I ask him what he wants he puts his head down and talks so softly I can't hear him. If I ask him to repeat what he said he starts to cry. Sometimes he will write out his question, toss it at me and run away. The thing is I usually say yes.

This has been going on for a couple of years now. It is getting to the point where I just want to send him away as soon as he comes to me with that look on his face. I don't even want to try to deal with him because I know it would be easier to milk a bull that to get any information out of the child.

I know something has to change, but at this point I don't even know how to go about getting there. At the moment I am getting frustrated with him and yelling at him. I know that doesn't help the problem, but asking him nicely doesn't get through to him either. At this point I just want to scream.

I always hoped that I would have a really good relationship with my kids. I wanted to be the mom that all the kids came to. I want to be the cool mom. I feel like I am the mom that just yells at my kids and can't get them to listen or get through to them. I wanted to do 'do today' with my kids. My dad used to sit with us before bed and ask us 'what did you do today.' It was shortened to do today. I want that. I would ask my son when he got home from kindergarten what did you do today. NOTHING. I know you did something, what was it? Ever since then I can't get through to him. What happened? Where did I go wrong? At what point did I lose that little boy that use to tell me everything? I don't know. I do know I need to do something about it. I jsut don't know what.

Inauguration Day Post

Politics, the Death Penalty and Religion. The three most dangerous topics in any conversation. It doesn’t seem to matter how tight the group, nor how wonderful the conversation, the mention of just one of these topics is sure to add tension into the air. Passions run high and minds are not likely to change but they still require our attention. Either side to each topic will fight venomously, statistics will be thrown out and morality brought into question. Even the closest and best of friends might not know when to back down.

We are in the midst of political chaos. A new president and a divided country- sure to equate ruffled feathers and ongoing conversations and this year, we throw race into the already stewing pot and create an even nastier fight… but is it really any different? Or is it perhaps that such a span of time occurs from one election to the next that we fail to remember the hurt feelings and heated conversations that occurred in years past?

What ever the thoughts and feelings may be, today we will be swearing in the 44th President of the United States- with all the pomp and circumstance that an inauguration deserves. We are the United States of America, a nation built upon free ideas and radical thinking. We are a country, as diverse as the world within our borders that enables its citizens the right to discuss topics- such as Politics, Religion and the death penalty no matter where you stand.

Today, I urge you to talk to your children about our history. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat- or one of the many other parties that make up our society, discuss the happenings; discuss the whys and the hows. Take a moment to express your personal feelings and what you hope comes about- and take a moment to remind your child that not all people agree with you, but that is their right as an American as well.