Valuable lesson or parenting gone wrong?

Right now thousands of Verizon landline workers are staging a massive strike that stretches across several states. They’re protesting cutbacks as a result of declining business. But, while their intentions may be good, a few of those picketing appear to be going about things the wrong way.

A video posted on YouTube yesterday shows an alleged Verizon picketer – who apparently brought his daughter along – going insane at what looks like employees trying to cross the picket line in a Verizon truck.

The video shows the man and his daughter, who looks to be 11 or 12, dressed alike, holding signs. As the truck pulls up he walks up to block the driver from moving and his daughter, who is probably scared out of her mind, follows him. That’s when he launches into a profanity-laced speech calling the men in the truck “losers,“ ”scumbags,“ and ”scabs,”.

Throughout the short video, the daughter can be seen standing just feet away taking it all in. Oh man, she looks so uncomfortable. I understand the father is probably trying to teach his daughter a valuable lesson about standing up for what she believes in, but I’m not really sure pushing her in front of a truck and screaming curse words is the way to go about it. What do you think?  Valuable lesson or a case of parenting gone wrong?

(CONTENT WARNING for graphic language):

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Photo: Associated Press

The estranged daughter of actor Billy Bob Thornton has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter for the death of a friend’s 1-year-old child.

32-year-old Amanda Brumfield is Thornton’s daughter from his first marriage.  Brumfield was babysitting her best friend’s daughter in October of 2008 when she claims the little girl tried to climb out of a playpen but fell and hit her head.  Continue reading »

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More work than it's worth or totally AWESOME?

I never had a wedding, thank God. Never even dreamed about The Big Day when I was a little girl. Perhaps that’s because my dad wasn’t around and, having spent most of my childhood on food stamps, I knew nobody would be footing the bill for anything fancy.

Then, as I got older and friends started to plan weddings that took over their entire lives for months and months and months and months and months, and I saw them turn into shells of their former selves, collapsing under the pressure of limited seating in chapels, seating charts at receptions, steak or chicken and bridesmaid drama – well, let’s just say I stood firm in my decision to never have a wedding. Whole lotta trouble for not much return, I figured. Why drop a crapload of cash on just one day, I reasoned? A day when two out of my three brothers would likely get drunk and start a fight and some family member would leave the party vowing to never speak to another family member… Might as well save my sanity and my money for a down payment on a house.

I got married secretly at a retired judge’s home. His wife stood in as witness. We went to the Red Lobster for our honeymoon because we had a coupon. I’d do it all over again. No muss, no fuss – HOWEVER. A couple years ago I watched this viral video and if anything could ever convince me to have a wedding it was this. How fun! But then I thought of all the hours of rehearsing and stress that routine probably added to the usual wedding madness and, once again, felt good about my decision to never have a wedding.

Now, again, a new video is storming the internet. One that tugs at my heart strings and makes me sort of regret my weddingless life. It’s okay, though. I’ve got a 2-year-old daughter I can live through, right? So maybe I should get her and her pops working on their daddy-daughter dance early, because, dammit, someone in this family should have a proper wedding!

The new viral video is from Bountiful, Utah. What started out as a traditional slow dance between Laura Benyon Hughes, and her father suddenly turned into Utah’s version of “So You Think You Can Dance.” Continue reading »

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Want a peaceful, happy home life? Have two daughters. That’s what a new study says is the secret to family bliss.

In a British study of over 2,000 parents, families with two daughters rated themselves happier than those with any other combination of kids. It’s possible to get too much of a good thing, though. Families with four daughters were the least happy.

I have two daughters, so of course I was delighted to see the headlines this study produced. Yay! My family is (statistically speaking) as happy as they come! Let’s party.

I had to crack up when I saw the reasons why two daughters are the recipe for familial joy, though.

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Like mother, like daughter?

Sometimes, getting a nose job or liposuction is a family affair, according to a recent story on MSNBC.com.

Mother-daughter “cosmetic duets” — such as the respective face lift and nose job Christie Brinkley and daughter Alexa Ray Joel reportedly had last month — are apparently gaining in popularity, although MSNBC.com cited no statistics as proof of the trend.

Saddle bags, small breasts, and big noses are inherited traits, and if mom has an issue with her body, it’s likely her daughter will too.

“I’ll hear, ‘Everybody in my family has big arms, everybody develops puffs under their eyes,’” said New York plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Yager. “I had a mother and daughter come in on the same day where mom got a neck lift and daughter got liposuction of her neck.” Continue reading »

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Ten-year-old Tina thinks that she’s doing a school report about her dad. He’s Master Sergeant Joe Meyers, currently stationed in Iraq she tells us proudly on her video.

Only he’s not really.  He’s home — whether for leave or for good, we don’t know for sure — and he shows up in Tina’s fourth grade classroom to surprise her (on Halloween) while she gets ready to give her report.

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Did you ever have one of those days when you’re innocently wasting valuable work time spying on friends via Facebook and then a post hits you in the gut?

I blame my friend Sandy for this one – once you see it, you’ll blame her too. First, pull out the tissues. Continue reading »

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