lifewithboys:

Dear Mom,

I suppose an adult son could write this as well, but this is from me to you.

You taught me well. You really did. Yes, at 16 I thought you were strict, maybe even mean. I thought you cared more about appearances than my feelings, and looking back I wonder why I didn’t stop and see…

I wish I could share this with my mom, but she is gone. I can take these words to heart as A mom of four, ages 11-20

cranquis:

Excellent “wake-up call” article to all dads who are not/barely involved in their kids’ lives. Includes these terrific 10 Commandments of Righteous Fatherhood (as written by a dad):

1. No golf on weekends: Seriously, it’s ludicrous. Your spouse is home with the kids all the time, and you think it’s OK to take five hours on a weekend day to pursue your own pastime? Selfishness, thy name is Father.

2. Wake up: Literally, wake up. With your kids. On at least one of the two weekend days — and perhaps both. I know: you wake up early for work. Not even remotely the same thing. Rising alongside the kiddies is hard. And crazy. And (gasp!) sorta fun, if you’d just stop moping.

3. Change diapers: If you have little kids, and you don’t know how to change diapers (or, even worse, refuse to change diapers), you’re pathetic. That’s no exaggeration — p-a-t-h-e-t-i-c. It’s not all that hard, and though the poop sometimes winds up on the fingers, well, uh, yeah. It just does. Wash your hands.

4. Play with dolls and paint your toenails: How many fathers do I know who refuse to get girlish with their girls? Dozens. Dude, put aside the machismo, break out Barbie and slather on some pink polish. You’ll make a friend for life — and nobody else is watching.

5. Do things you don’t want to do: It’s easy to take the kids to the driving range — because you want to be there. Now try spending the day having a tea party at American Girl. Or crawling through one of those wormholes at the nearby kiddie gym. Fun? Often, no. But this isn’t about you.

6. Order the wife to bug off: I recently met a mother who told me her husband hadn’t been alone with their 9-year-old daughter for more than two hours … ever. Inexcusable. Let your wife do her own thing: relax, take a run, whatever. Entertain your children solo. They don’t bite (Note: CNN.com is not liable if your children do, in fact, bite).

7. Surprise! Just once, on a random day without meaning or purpose, show up early at your kid’s school/camp/wherever, say “Get in the car!” and take him/her somewhere special. Just the two of you, alone. A movie. A park. A hike. The memory lasts — I promise.

8. Dishes Don’t Clean Themselves (Nor Do Toys): It’s amazing how this one works. You pick up a dish, run it under hot water with some soap, rub it down with a towel and place it back on the shelf. Then repeat.

9. Wake up your kid: Not often. But if you want to score big points and create a killer memory moment, walk in Junior’s room at, oh, midnight, wake him/her up and go outside for 10 minutes to watch the stars.

10. For God’s sake, tell your kids you love them: They never see you, and they’d probably like to know.

Bud, as you read this your wife is expecting little — and your kids are expecting even less. Pull one out of the blue. Make Father’s Day less about you, and all about them. 

Stop acting like your kids are an inconvenience to YOU! Stop making excuse after excuse, and even lies about why “this isn’t a good weekend to visit”, CALL them-for NO reason at all, ask how they are doing, how their day was…they are old enough now that THEY GET IT!

cranquis:

nursingstudentcat:

CPR does not stand for “Clean, Pretty, Reliable”

the facts

• i’m estimating really high and saying CPR has a 5% success rate
• it doesn’t go “fuck death” and then bring people back to life
• it only works if you’re mostly dead (well. actually dead. but recent.)
• basically your heart goes all wibbly and you shock it to STOP it in hopes it will restart normally
• giving cpr to someone who died from like blood loss will do NOTHING
• if you’ve got to shock someone like ten times they’re probably dead sorry
• if it makes a KACHUNK noise you’re kind of screwed it’s not working right
• the same goes if the person jumps ten feet off the floor
• seriously how does that work

The stats are shocking sobering.

• A 2009 NEJM study of 433,895 patients who received CPR of any type (defibrillator or not) INSIDE a hospital showed that only 18.3% of those patients survived to be discharged from the hospital.
• Meanwhile, OUTSIDE a hospital setting, CPR success/survival rates are ~5%, according to a 2011 study by University of Minnesota Medical School.

So, while it’s true that “more people survive a cardiac arrest WITH CPR than WITHOUT it”… CPR/defibrillation is not the magic wand that TV makes it appear to be.

katespencer:

“Freedom ‘90” - George Michael

Dedicated to Katie Holmes.

And to myself! Finally!!!! 22 years later…

adulting:

Stress is real, obviously, but just to you. It is something that dwells entirely within you. It does not exist as a noun in other people’s lives, except in how you interact with them.

I’m feeling insanely stressed right now, and while my boyfriend, best friends and mom will cut me a little…

Stress is eating me alive!