Rise and Shine --- Shaky, shaky

Good Morning and, yes, here we are again!

So, isn't it a sinking feeling when, after shaking somebody's hand, they say, "Yeah, I'm just getting over a nasty cold."
Come on now. Really? You just had a cold and think it's a good idea to shake hands. Couldn't you have prefaced the hand shaking with that information? Now I know why Howie Mandell gives that fist pump all the time.
All right. I know there are a lot worse things than a late-summer, early-fall cold. When the chills start hitting and the only thing you can think about is soup, well, you know it's going to be a long couple of days.
So, to help out, how about this:

Rise and Shine --- How much is enough?

Good Morning and welcome back to a whole new week!!

You know it's going to be a long week when you wake up tired. Tried to go to bed early Sunday night, but it didn't seem to matter.
Better start brewing the coffee.
Here are some Monday wakeup sounds:

Rise and Shine -- Does the heart good

Good Morning and, hey, is that a Cardinal out there!

So, Monday morning about 6:55 a.m., the oldest said he needed a photo of me for school. Now, I quickly noticed a few things.
First was why did the request come about 10 minutes before the bus was going to arrive ("I forgot I had homework," came the reply).
Second was most of my photos exist in digital form. I never think about getting them printed.
Third was there was very few photos of me. I take the pictures, don't need to be in them.
So, we scrambled, found one, the computer crashed and couldn't get it in time.
What do you need it for? I asked.
"It's just part of homework," came the 12-year old's reply. "It's OK. It'll be all right without one."
So, off to the bus and through the day, not thinking about it again.
Anyway, Monday was the dreaded back-to-school night. While walking through the halls, I noticed the students were tasked to make up a front-page of a newspaper (imagine that!) about themselves.
In the lower left corner, there was a spot for "Meet My Hero."
In that spot, the boy had written "My Dad."
I don't know if I've ever had a prouder moment.

Rise and Shine --- Late nights, early mornings

Good Morning Eagles fans and welcome to the Kafka era!

I know better. I know that alarm's going to be about as welcome as the next bill. I know I'm looking at a day that's going to fall into a haze of sleepiness.
Still, I stayed up to watch the Eagles/Falcons game last night.
OK, truth be told, I did doze off a bit in the third quarter. When I woke up, Mike Kafka was in the game. I was sure it was a blowout one way or the other.
As the clock ticked past 11 p.m. I said to myself, "Self, 10 more minutes and it's off to bed."
Ten minutes turned into 20 and finally 40 before I pulled up off the couch and made the way up to bed (by the way, why do we go upstairs to bed?).
Sure enough, about four hours later when that alarm went off, getting up was tough. Made it to work on time, but I'm only asking for one thing: Send coffee!

Rise and Shine --- Language demon

Good Morning and here we are again, me and you!

Remember that classic scene in the movie 'A Christmas Story' when Ralphie, while helping his dad fix a blown tire, blurted out the "THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word!"
Of course, Ralphie then had his mouth washed out with soap, was sent to his room, blamed a friend and all hilarity ensued.
OK, little kids shouldn't be walking around cursing (should parents?). There are other words you can use when frustrated, upset, etc.
Still, swear words are the demons of the English language. It all depends on how you treat those demons.
A lot of parents will act like Ralphie's when a bad word comes out of a child's mouth. The child will be punished, get their mouth washed with soap, sent to their rooms, sometimes smacked on the bottom.
Everybody has their own way of handling the situation. Whether it is the right way or wrong way is up to you.
For me, I'd rather make the de-deomonize the words. I don't punish. I might say something like, "Come on, there are better things to say."
The funny thing about children is they like to test you. If you are arguing about, say, homework. You want it done now. The child says he will do it later. In the heat of the moment, to throw you off balance, the demon may come out of their mouth.
If you've taken the sting out of the word, it may not be used.
At least it's worked for me.
Now, get back to work.

Rise and Shine --- School days

Good Morning and welcome back to the fog!

So, the first week of school is out of the way. That means now things can really get down to business.
I warned everybody this weekend to expect homework to start, probably today.
Since they are all still in summer mode (my fault, maybe), the cold slap of the homework bug is going to be a major wake up.
Now, instead of getting off the bus, throwing down the bags and tossing around the Frisbee, it's going to mean get the sharpened pencil and get back to work. The biggest problem is there hasn't really been any homework since late May.
The schoolies have taken great pride in coming home and saying, "Well, Dad, you have homework!"
OK, I expected that. Fill out all the forms, cover the books and make sure all the ducks are in order.
This week, I expect the fight.
Sure, you can have a snack, but I want the homework done. I don't want to argue. I don't want to hear how tired you are after school.
If the homework doesn't get done, well, you'll be more tired tomorrow. Welcome to the vicious cycle.
My goal this year is to try to make homework fun. Let's play a game. Get the math done, get a treat. Spelling done? Another treat. Reading? OK, it's time for dinner, no more.
Somehow, I don't think it will work out that way.