What the hell is wrong with people?!
Brian Holloway gets his home broken into by 300 teenagers who had a party in it, TRASHED the hell out of it and stole stuff... he did his research, started a website and posted the pictures and names of some of the kids in attendance. The pictures he posted on his website were compiled from what these little shits posted on Twitter. It's estimated that these asshats did around $20000 worth of damage.
Instead of getting mad and going for vengeance, he turns the other cheek and encourages the kids to come back, clean up their mess and have a picnic. Only one party goer showed up... two others who didn't attend the party also showed up because they felt bad.
The parents of some of these future stars of America want to SUE BRIAN HOLLOWAY for identifying and posting pictures of their little angels! Pictures that their little cherubs took while they were pissing on this man's floor, spray painting walls, wrecking his stuff and just being dicks.
I understand kids do stupid things; high school is hard, their brains aren't done developing, they get pressured into doing stupid things just so they can be liked by their peers and feel acceptance. By no means am I saying "teens will be teens" and shrugging my shoulders... but their parents are adults! What the hell are they thinking?
A parent's job is to teach appropriate behaviour! The lesson that is being taught to these kids is that Brian is the bad guy for reposting the pictures. He's a horrible man because he didn't have permission to post picture of the underage children. He should pay them damages for ruining their reputations! It doesn't address the behaviour that was done in the first place.
I've read various blogs and responses to blogs about this and haven't come across anyone who had agreed with the parents. But it's amazing how many people think that less corporal punishment in the schools and at home is to blame... or that they would never have done something like this as a teen because "they were afraid" of their parents... or that if their kid did something like this they would beat their ass.
Since when is the only way to teach empathy for others to a child is to smack them around?
Is this why some parents don't discipline because they only see it as spanking?
Discipline isn't about scaring the crap out of your kid, its about teaching your child how to make good choices now and in the future.
It's about teaching cause and effect... every action has a reaction. If you help Mommy with supper, you'll have more time to play after supper. If you don't study for your exam, you'll fail. If you treat people with kindness, they'll want to be around you. If you break into a man's house and piss on his floor, you're going to have to clean it up.
I'm not saying I'm the perfect parent... far from it!
Hell, my four year old just smacked a kid on the bus with her water bottle. But I'm not reporting the bus driver for not catching it, blaming the school for not teaching proper bus behaviour or raising hell that each child on the bus doesn't get their own seat. We've discussed it from different angles; why it isn't right, how it makes the other kid feel, what she could do instead and why she won't do it again.
She doesn't need to be afraid of her father and I to respect us but she does need to know that it is our job to teach her boundaries. She and her older brother won't always behave... no child ever does. But they won't be getting a beating to show them why they shouldn't hit.
Here's a link to an article about this original incident
Here's a link to an article about the parents suing
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Geocaching - a Swag Rant!
I love Geocaching! LOVE IT!
I love looking for them, finding them, finding cool locations I would have never found (like an amazing little park and baseball diamond in Bellfountain Ontario) and seeing my cache count rise. It's a sense of accomplishment.
I think the trading of "Swag" is cool too (loot!) and I find it has helped to sell my son on the whole Geocaching thing... to him it's become a bit of the icing on the cake of finding a geocache.
Unfortunately, lately I've been getting frustrated with the quality that others are leaving... my neice and I recently went on a hike to a bunch of caches and didn't find a whole heck of alot... I almost emptied my very full "Swag Bag" repenishing the caches along the trail. Then yesterday we went to one that had balled up pamphlets, bent business cards, beads that I'm guessing used to be attached together, a broken plastic car and a Crystal Light pedometre (the ONE non-broken and complete item). It was peanut butter type jar hidden under a lamp skirt at a Go Station, so it's not like it's been savaged by animals or people had to hke for miles with their swag in their backpacks.
My son took an already assembled but incomplete Kinder Toy, I dumped the garbage and we left a cool wooden puzzle and a bunch of Silly Banz. I didn't have my Swag Bag or I might have left more. Then again I was pretty bitter about the whole thing.
As for what we leave and what I'm saying isn't crap, it depends what I've come across in my travels... I've gone through our stuff at home, I've gone to a couple of second hand stores and some clearance bins. Which sounds a bit ghetto but it's really not.
My Swag Bag has either contained or is currently containing some of the following - new dinky cars, scrapbooking punches, a book on love, a small unused photo album, a wooden puzzle, Silly Banz, a new breast cancer bracelet, keychains from around the world, collector spoons, stickers, McToys (still packaged), Kinder Toys (still in the plastic egg, unassembled and never played with), a deck of cards, a 50 pack crayons, rings, jewelry, stickers, glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets, mosquito repellant patches, cookie cutters and more. I've also rebagged logbooks.
I know some people complain about the McToys, but I always leave wrapped ones that are new.
Some cool stuff we have found are stickers, a five pack of dice in a little case, army men, an Armed Forces carbinner and a shiny polished stone.
I just wish people would be more respectful to other geoachers and the cache owner... to leave a cache at the same value in swag or better...
I've read some people saying they're not organized enough to get together some cool swag and their kids really want what's in the Cache... I know when I took my kids to their first cache with tradables and we had nothing in exchange, I told them we couldn't take anything but maybe we could come back another time and maybe the stuft that they want will still be there. This also applies if we forget the Swag Bag.
My Swag Bag is a small giftbag where I put my Swag for Geocaching when I find something neat... like I was shopping at Shoppers Drugmart and found a bunch of Silly Banz for 50 cents a pop. In the bag they went (I also like them for Micro Caches to wrap around the log book... it's a bit of a signature item I guess). I was cleaning out my scrapbook area and found a bunch of stuff I've never really used like stamps and punches. I was at a thrift store (Bibles For Missions in Guelph... best thrift store EVER!) at their $1 clothing event and found a bunch of keychains from around the world, jewelry and similar stuff. Spent hardly anything and none of it is garbage, broken or worn out.
I also try to remember to bring extra ziploc baggies and such to replace worn ones.
There's a big difference between CHEAP and THRIFTY...
What sort of stuff do you carry when you geocache? Where do you get it?
I'm always on the look-out for neat stuff and ideas...
I love looking for them, finding them, finding cool locations I would have never found (like an amazing little park and baseball diamond in Bellfountain Ontario) and seeing my cache count rise. It's a sense of accomplishment.
I think the trading of "Swag" is cool too (loot!) and I find it has helped to sell my son on the whole Geocaching thing... to him it's become a bit of the icing on the cake of finding a geocache.
Unfortunately, lately I've been getting frustrated with the quality that others are leaving... my neice and I recently went on a hike to a bunch of caches and didn't find a whole heck of alot... I almost emptied my very full "Swag Bag" repenishing the caches along the trail. Then yesterday we went to one that had balled up pamphlets, bent business cards, beads that I'm guessing used to be attached together, a broken plastic car and a Crystal Light pedometre (the ONE non-broken and complete item). It was peanut butter type jar hidden under a lamp skirt at a Go Station, so it's not like it's been savaged by animals or people had to hke for miles with their swag in their backpacks.
My son took an already assembled but incomplete Kinder Toy, I dumped the garbage and we left a cool wooden puzzle and a bunch of Silly Banz. I didn't have my Swag Bag or I might have left more. Then again I was pretty bitter about the whole thing.
As for what we leave and what I'm saying isn't crap, it depends what I've come across in my travels... I've gone through our stuff at home, I've gone to a couple of second hand stores and some clearance bins. Which sounds a bit ghetto but it's really not.
My Swag Bag has either contained or is currently containing some of the following - new dinky cars, scrapbooking punches, a book on love, a small unused photo album, a wooden puzzle, Silly Banz, a new breast cancer bracelet, keychains from around the world, collector spoons, stickers, McToys (still packaged), Kinder Toys (still in the plastic egg, unassembled and never played with), a deck of cards, a 50 pack crayons, rings, jewelry, stickers, glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets, mosquito repellant patches, cookie cutters and more. I've also rebagged logbooks.
I know some people complain about the McToys, but I always leave wrapped ones that are new.
Some cool stuff we have found are stickers, a five pack of dice in a little case, army men, an Armed Forces carbinner and a shiny polished stone.
I just wish people would be more respectful to other geoachers and the cache owner... to leave a cache at the same value in swag or better...
I've read some people saying they're not organized enough to get together some cool swag and their kids really want what's in the Cache... I know when I took my kids to their first cache with tradables and we had nothing in exchange, I told them we couldn't take anything but maybe we could come back another time and maybe the stuft that they want will still be there. This also applies if we forget the Swag Bag.
My Swag Bag is a small giftbag where I put my Swag for Geocaching when I find something neat... like I was shopping at Shoppers Drugmart and found a bunch of Silly Banz for 50 cents a pop. In the bag they went (I also like them for Micro Caches to wrap around the log book... it's a bit of a signature item I guess). I was cleaning out my scrapbook area and found a bunch of stuff I've never really used like stamps and punches. I was at a thrift store (Bibles For Missions in Guelph... best thrift store EVER!) at their $1 clothing event and found a bunch of keychains from around the world, jewelry and similar stuff. Spent hardly anything and none of it is garbage, broken or worn out.
I also try to remember to bring extra ziploc baggies and such to replace worn ones.
There's a big difference between CHEAP and THRIFTY...
What sort of stuff do you carry when you geocache? Where do you get it?
I'm always on the look-out for neat stuff and ideas...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
New Obsessions!
Hey there!
It's been awhile again... but hey, I have two kids, a hubby, a dog, two cats, a house, a full-time job and 2 thriving farms on Farmville (yes, I'm one of those).
On top of that I've been trying to get into the couponing game... I've saved quite a bit and have a bit of a stockpile; toilet paper, paper towel, laundry detergent & deoderant. I've gotten some awesome free samples too.
But this post is about GEOCACHING!
Geocaching is "a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location."
I've just started out, so I'm avoiding the hard ones and the ones that have lots of rough climbing and stuff... not ready for that challenge yet! Not going to be rock climbing for a cache or anything yet...
We're planning a trip tomorrow to enjoy the outdoors, have some play time and to go Geocaching with the kids... not sure how that's going to play out, but we'll see. Not sure if we should take the dog either... he's a French Bulldog and they get overheated easily...
Our Geocaching backpack will contain...
I saw someone had a sticker so they didn't have to write anything. I thougt that was kind of cool... guess you have to write the date though.
It's been awhile again... but hey, I have two kids, a hubby, a dog, two cats, a house, a full-time job and 2 thriving farms on Farmville (yes, I'm one of those).
On top of that I've been trying to get into the couponing game... I've saved quite a bit and have a bit of a stockpile; toilet paper, paper towel, laundry detergent & deoderant. I've gotten some awesome free samples too.
But this post is about GEOCACHING!
We're planning a trip tomorrow to enjoy the outdoors, have some play time and to go Geocaching with the kids... not sure how that's going to play out, but we'll see. Not sure if we should take the dog either... he's a French Bulldog and they get overheated easily...
Our Geocaching backpack will contain...
- IPhone
- Xperia Cell Phone
- Gardening Gloves
- All-in-one Tool
- Flashlight
- Swiss Army Knife
- Sunscreen
- First aid kit
- Lighter
- Extra ziplocks
- Trade items (like a cellphone holder and silly banz)
- Pen
- Marker
- Water
- Snacks
- Wallet
- Lunch
- Wet wipes
- Extra Clothes for each kid
- Diapers
- Hand Sanitizer
- Portable water dish and food (if Jack comes)
- After bite
- Benadryl
- Insect Repellant
I saw someone had a sticker so they didn't have to write anything. I thougt that was kind of cool... guess you have to write the date though.
I'm really excited about the Belfountain Playground... apparently it's in the middle of nowhere and some of the area residents don't even know about it! "I also want to visit the Badlands.
 |
| Who's ready for the next cache?! |
I'll keep you posted about how it went and if the "Children of the Corn" made it out without driving me crazy! Or "Cujo" doesn't rip my arm out of it's socket running after another dog... or "Christine" doesn't break down and leave us stranded... or "Jack Torrance" doesn't start chasing me around the forest along with my children of the corn!
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