Sharing

The answer to all of the world's problems is sharing. I'm trying to teach my kids about sharing and I see parents all of the time trying to teach sharing to kids. It's not working. Sure, sometimes the Mugwump will share a toy with Sixpence when he's not interested in playing with it, but that's not going to save the world. Real sharing is going to save the world. By real sharing I mean making sacrifices of your personal wants and desires in order to serve the good of others or the community as a whole. Some of this sharing principle is forced upon us and we just need to recognize that we are sharing, no matter what and we need to be considerate of others.
I talked about water and air previously. Of course we will always have to have water and air, everyone will. That means that we are going to have to share. Is it really sharing when the people in Africa don't have clean drinking water and I use my clean drinking water to flush the toilet? Is it really sharing when industry pollutes a river to the point that I can no longer swim in it (not to mention drinking it)? Is it sharing to put bike paths on side streets with stop signs every block while cars get thoroughfares that never have to stop? Is it sharing when inversion is so bad in Utah County that I am not supposed to ride my bike because it is now a health hazard?
If the world is to truly prosper we are going to have to share. This may mean having one car per neighborhood. This may mean sharing rides, even if it makes it a little less convenient for yourself. We live in a very selfish, self absorbed society. If we get out and make some sacrifices and share with those around us we can make huge differences in the world. Did you know that the number one predictor of a low crime neighborhood is knowing your neighbor's name? What is your neighbor's name?
In addition to solving many environmental problems, sharing will bring communities together and increase social capital that is essential to a prosperous society.

Value

Have you ever heard the saying, "the most important things in life are free"? I think that thought is more important than we think. Lets take an environmental perspective.

First lets define the most important things in life. We can only live a few minutes without air and a few days without water. Food we can do a bit better and maybe make it a week or more. We need shelter and clothing, love and friends, but that's not the direction I want to go.

Industry also has demands. In order to make a product, you have to start with a material. Plastics, metals, cloth, etc, industry pays money for these raw materials so they can make them into products that we will buy. I don't care how simple you try to live, you will inevitably buy something made of a material that has value. We call these sources of value natural resources.

The point I'm getting at is that water and air are among the most abundant resources that we have and because of that they have little monetary value. Because they have little monetary value industry pollutes them since it won't affect their bottom line. Air and water are unique in the fact that we have to share these resources. There may not be a monetary value, but air and water are of infinite value because without them our lives will cease. The most important things in life are free... maybe we need to change that so that people will recognize the value of what they are destroying.

Likewise with the STUFF that we have, the most important and valuable stuff is intangible: my wife, love, freedom, etc.

Family

The Mugwump chose a book from the library... it was a cookbook. It was the book that he was the most excited about. This was the sloppy-joe that we made look like cars. They were pretty good. There is also a recipe for a sandwich that looks like a baseball. It takes over 2 cups of mayonnaise to cover the entire sandwich. We won't be trying that one. I don't know why The Mugwump's face looks all deformed, but the computer wouldn't download the photo of him looking halfway normal.

The Mugwump is becoming quite the builder. He built this train all by himself and it was too big to fit into one picture.

This is a castle that the Mugwump built out of Six-pence's blocks. I think this was preparatory to the snow castle in our front yard that didn't make the photo list.

With the way this kid eats and practices his mean face, I think he's going to be a linebacker for the Seahawks. Even if he never intimidates anyone.

That would be me. You will notice that all of the pictures have been indoors. That is because we haven't seen temperatures above freezing in weeks. That is what I wear to ride into school. It's interesting how 19 degrees begins to feel warm after a week or two of riding into work while it's between -2 and 5.

The cold season has hit everyone in the family except me so far. It's not too bad, just stuffy noses and a little coughing. With the cold weather and the colds, we've been doing a lot of reading and playing indoors. No pictures of Icky this week... She's back at home. I wonder what she has been up to while away. Maybe she would like to defend herself before I let loose.

A Step Backward is Progress

That may sound like I stole it from minuscar, but really it was a quote from an article in the LA times, take a look. While you're looking around you can visit the website the article refers to.

So there it is, my dream in life, to progress to the point of living off the land, completely independent. So what would our country or city be like if we all lived like that? Well, we wouldn't need big trucks or trains transporting goods. Big businesses that people complain about would suffer because community members would be supplying many of their own goods. Of course not everyone would be able to live completely off the land, but imagine eliminating over half of your food budget, most of your electric and water bill and saving considerable on fuel for your car. What would you do with all that extra money? Most people would buy stuff, which is the problem. I think a better choice would be to cut my job back to half time so that the truck drivers and train engineers could find a job. Then I would have enough money to live, and more time to spend with my family. Boy, that sounds like the good life. Interesting, if someone were to ask what I did for a living and I told them I worked part time at a grocery store they would likely consider me "unsuccessful". I think that the independence and time to spend with my family would be the ultimate success.

Stats

Did you know that 97% of all people will believe a fact if it supported by a statistic, whether the fact is true or not?

Potty Training

The Mugwump is "Potty Trained", but we still need some work on the social issues involved. Our big challenge at this point is hand washing. Of course you should wash your hands when you're done, but how do you convince a 3 year old of that. Well, you notice that when he pees he will often drip a little on his hands. Of course when you drip on your hands you have to wash them. This worked well until he stopped dripping. Now he finishes and says, "look, no drips" which means, "look I'm done and I'm not going to wash my hands because there was not a perceivable amount of urine that landed on my hands".

Of course it is the perception thing, you should still wash your hands. Icky had an amazing attempt at solving our problem (or creating another problem, I'm not sure which). She rationed with him that if he touches his penis he needs to wash his hands. Now he goes into the bathroom, pulls down his pants, holds his shirt up to mid chest height and sticks his belly out so his penis rests on the rim of the toilet while he goes. When he's finished he puts his shirt down, pulls his pants up and proudly proclaims, "I didn't touch my penis and no drips" which really means, "why in the world would I wash my hands, I have mastered this practice and can now urinate with my hands near my armpits, certainly the urine doesn't splash that far". Frankly, he's right, however we really need to do something about his aim. This 'no hands' act is leading to other problems.

So here are the issues that I need help solving:
1) I need the Mugwump to hit the toilet at least 98% of the time while he's going
2) I need the Mugwump to wash his hands when he is done.

So in 3 year old logic, how do I convince him?

The Children's museum

Thanks to G'ma we were able to go to the Children's museum on Saturday. It was interesting. Six pence really didn't have any inhibitions. He walked around and got into whatever was around. He loved it as long as Dad didn't try to hold his hand, he is far too independent for that (he's 1). The Mugwump (almost 4), on the other hand, had his face hidden against my wife's leg for the first 10 minutes we were there. With an extreme amount of coaxing we were able to get him out from behind the leg and he would play by himself. He never really interacted with anyone, but he played around them... which is a step in the right direction. There was a point where the Mugwump went into the little kid's kitchen and was pretending to make cookies (with fake balogna, cheese and a box of saltine crackers). He would talk to the kids around him, but they never responded. When he was done making the cookies, he took them and tried to give his pretend cookies to people. Again he was totally ignored. He tries so hard to play with others, but he doesn't fight to be heard or to get his way.

So here's the thing. We are considering homeschooling him, but aren't sure. We have this fear of sending him to school and losing our precious boy that is so giving and having him replaced by a greedy monster that is so typical among kids (and adults). I also recognize that kids need to have trials to develop and maybe school of hard knocks (public school) would provide him with experiences that will prevent people from walking all over him the rest of his life.

My wife and I both graduated from the public school system and we turned out OK, so I don't think that public school is bad. I do, however, feel that it is bad to throw your kid into public school without evaluating what is going to be best for the kid. I think some kids thrive with the homeschool environment and others really need to have a public school education so they don't end up weird.