Letters to the Editor
RIRedinPA
Published Letters: 110 Editor's Choice: 4
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This is awful...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If Bonds is indicted and goes to prison it obviously reduces the chances of him batting clean-up for the Wild Things and going 0-4 with runners in scoring position and striking out 3 out of those 4 times against Kalamazoo, thereby providing us with the potential of a roid induced rage attack on some poor schlep pitcher on the mound for Kalamazoo who in all reality will be working in accounts receivable for some small mid-western company in a year or two...
...and have you seen the Wild Thing's mascot, the, er, Wild Thing. Looks like something out of a Sid and Marty Krofft Saturday morning t.v. show or the one they rejected for the Banana Splits. Which leads me to want to pine about the dire state of children's television today compared to my youth but that's another story...
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Consumer choices don't love you back...
[Read the article: Are kids worth the cost?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]though I understand the rationalization for the article you cannot quantify children in the same category as a SUV. Children are an investment that you have to make monetarily, emotionally and physically. When the decision to become parents is made one has to bring a word back into your own personal American lexicon, sacrifice.
We have four kids (we got the twin surprise package with 1 life threatening birth defect as an added bonus), all aged 7 and under. It has been extremely difficult, especially considering how one of the twins spent the first nine weeks in the NICU struggling for life and then a year in recovery. My wife chose to leave her very high paying, emotionally rewarding career at a Ivy League teaching hospital to stay home with the kids, so half our income has disappeared with our cost rising. Our social life has revolved around kiddie birthday parties and playground commiseration with other parents and now, as our older two grow up soccer games and scout meetings and gymnastics and thankfully this year some day hikes and an overnight camping trip. (I'm an outdoor junkie).
But the sacrifice is worth it. Every night I get a verbal "I love you" from my 5-year-old daughter along with a kiss and a hug. I get to share the excitement as one of the three-year-olds discover clouds or the moon. I get to relearn the simple joys of playing with toy soldiers with my oldest or sitting out in the back yard, wrapped in blankets against the Autumn cool gazing at the stars and re-learning the constellations with them. It's trying at times, the house is always loud, it is always a mess and we have little time for ourselves and our grocery bill is ridiculous but given the choice I wouldn't change things.
And as far as monetary issues go, you, or at least we, adjusted. We've always saved for retirement so when each kid came along we automatically opened a 529 plan for them (college fund). My oldest has about $10,000 in his right now and it should start to really earn him some money soon. It probably won't pay for all of college but we'll be able to help them out significantly. And we forgo the American habit of a new car every two years, I am on year 6 of my Xterra and the mini-van (I said there were sacrifices) we'll hold onto till at least two years after it is paid off. We found a smaller house than most of our friends and family have but we're also not up to our eyeballs in mortgage debt and we have the equity now to consider a large addition.
It is a mine field out there. Marketers are very adept at playing on parental guilt and passion and you find yourself buying stupid items like the Leap Frog talking education series of things. Our kids, well the first two, barely paid any attention to them, the twins won't be afforded the chance to ignore them. We learned from them that kids want to explore their own world and create their own environments and be proactive not just receptacles for information in their play and learning. They'll play a lot longer with some wooden blocks than they ever did with the latest electronic $75 talking bear thing.
It certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some folks don't like to sacrifice, they wouldn't give up their Star Bucks double latte whatever even if you threatened them. To them I say don't have kids. But like I said, you really can't do a cost analysis on the children, I mean, I can tell you without thinking how much I would turn in any of my items for cash, including my beloved kayak. Is there a price that any of you would give for your children?
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Isn't it ironic that conservative and...
[Read the article: Bush declares victory on climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]conservation have the same root but in our world never the twain shall meet? Whatever gains (or losses) in greenhouse gas output cannot be claimed by this White House as they have done little to nothing to encourage this country to reduce it's consumption of greenhouse gas causing carbon-based fuels. They are either fortuitously accidental, such as the weather, or they are dividends received from the efforts of California, Pennsylvania or other states leading the charge on climate change control.
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At least the folks in Nimrod Nation put down the remote...
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]if the stuff on the stupid box stinks so much perhaps you ought to turn it off and head out of the house and experience life a little, instead of living vicariously by watching what Madison Avenue dictates you should.
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WhoInvitedHim
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You're either brilliantly funny or completely clueless.