My Dad seemed to know a lot about raising a daughter without ever picking up a book on the subject. He always let me know that he loved and approved of me and that he believed I could do anything. He still does.

My husband is the same kind of father to our daughters.

Today I am thankful for the wonderful father-daughter relationships that have touched my life.

Dads & Daughters promotes the power and potential of father-daughter relationships and is working to make the world safe and fair for our daughters. A great resource for anyone concerned about raising strong girls, here’s their new video that describes more about their mission:

Happy Father’s Day from Corporate Babysitter!

Long-time readers may be surprised that I actually attend my daughter’s softball games even though the girls wear these uniforms:

After all, local businesses have been supporting kids’ sports teams forever, right? What is possibly wrong with that?

The girls lined up for a photo of their backsides to prove to Graco yes, we are wearing the uniforms you provided.

One team member was overheard saying: “I feel so used.”

And no, it wasn’t my brainwashed daughter, either.

Less than 24 hours before the big Mother’s! Day! Celebration! I successfully added at least three more sessions to my six-year-old’s future therapy bill.

I made my daughter cry. Not the regular, no-you-can’t-have-a-second-donut tears but the gut-wrenching sobs of a truly frightened child.

It had already been a trying day. In the morning she was gazing at her Scholastic book order form and wishing for the Care Bear book/stuffed toy combo pack, just like so-and-so has at school.

I’ve gotten pretty good at talking my kids down from these requests, but today she would have none of it.

But mommy, you let me have a Care Bear before . . . .
I know, honey, why don’t you play with that one?
Because the dog took it outside and now it’s ruined!
Oh, well, that’s too bad, honey, but Mommy does not like Care Bears.
But — but — but, the blue one is EVERYWHERE. I see it EVERYWHERE!

Of course she does, I gripe to myself, that’s part of the 17 BILLION DOLLARS spent to make sure she sees it everywhere. So I launch into my usual talk about the toy companies and how they want her to want their toys so that can make money, etc. etc. and we move on.

Later in the day she finds a pair of old sunglasses and brings them to me. She has just learned to read and is proud of it.

Look, mommy, Hello Kitty is everywhere, too! she says, pointing to the words on the side of the sunglasses.

So now I’m annoyed.

Finally, we are getting ready to walk out the door to a birthday party when I hear a crash in the bathroom. She has pulled out a drawer too far and all its contents are spread on the floor. As I help her pick it up, she grabs a small mirror compact, a trade-show giveaway, and says she wants to put it in her pocket.

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Our TV Turnoff Week got off to a lousy start — on Monday, both girls were home from school sick.

Normally, television is a treat when you are so sick you can’t do anything but lay on the sofa. Combine that with my need to get some work done – and I allowed them to watch a couple hours of I Love Lucy.

But that was a minor setback and did not derail us from our mission for the rest of the week.

I was happy with the girls’ ability to find something to entertain themselves — I didn’t hear a lot of “I’m bored!” — but they also spent more time playing together. And playing together invariably ends with the younger in tears because her sister either a) hurt her or b) said something mean to her.

So, more fights and more tears.

I stuck to my commitment to stay away from the laptop in the afternoons after the girls got home from school. We made cookies one afternoon but otherwise didn’t spend the time completely engaged with each other. However, since my nose was not stuck in a screen, the perception that I was available was there, and that made for some peaceful afternoons.

Over the course of the week, we realized how easily we turn to the television or computer out of habit.

I don’t think the experience will move us to further limit our screen time since we already allow only an hour-and-a-half a day.

But maybe now we’ll pause and think, do I really want do this right now?

I’m in. I’m taking Mom Unplugged’s TV Turnoff Week Blog Challenge.

I met several media-free families at the CCFC Summit and felt a tad sheepish that I wasn’t one of them. By the end of the Summit I was convinced that no media is good media and charged back to Minnesota with my plan to toss the television out the window.

My husband informed me that that was not going to happen.

So TV Turnoff Week is a great compromise. My challenge will be to turn off the laptop when the girls get home from school and not turn it back on until after supper.

Just typing that now has caused me to hyperventilate.

Want to join in? Head over to Unplug Your Kids – a great blog, by the way — to meet other families who are doing the same. 

Additional resources:

Center for Screen-Time Awareness
Kill Your Television
Stone Soup to Support National TV Turnoff

Trying to do the right thing at Christmas really takes it out of a blogger.

Even I’m tired of the safe toys issue. And the Christmas consumption issue.

And I’m not ready for Christmas!

One thing we’ve always done is make our own Christmas cards. This year we went with all recycled materials. We were inspired by these cards from Disney-owned Family Fun magazine. We cut up all the catalogs we get to make the candles and painted plain paper to make the flames.

Now I just have to address and mail them.

See you next year.