| Aboriginal parents project
In today's society, aboriginal families face a far greater challenge in maintaining family and traditional values. History impacting upon aboriginal societies has left a wake of family breakdown and loss of connectedness to cultural values. The strengths of language and communication, once integral to family systems, seem to be slipping away. As concerned elders reflect on these societal changes, they often agree that there is value in turning the focus back on traditional wisdom. Parenting is one of the most difficult jobs for us to do in our lifetimes, and to achieve healthy parenting on any level is a measure of success. One of the first things to acknowledge is that in order to care for our children, we must learn to care for ourselves. When we expect our children to have self worth and feel good about themselves, we as parents must also begin to exercise this philosophy within our own lives.
Catching a moment with dad
Through my own experiences, I have found you don't get to be a good father instinctively. The moment you see your child for the first time doesn't automatically make you a father - it's a study in progress, friends. A new father will feel awe, pride and love the first time he sees that little stranger enter our world. This is a little tyke you're looking at, and you're amazed by the perfect little fingers and toes. After that, wonder turns to concern that your child is put together in a normal, healthy state. You are walking on a cloud, already showing pictures to anybody you can collar. "Here's my kid," you say. "Ever see any baby as cute as this one?" Of course they have - their own. I have two boys, grown men today, and I still show pictures of both to other fathers who in turn take pictures out of the wallets and say, "This is my kid.
Sue Hutchison: Smart comedy ought to be serious about abortion
It's not often that I go to see a comedy that makes me laugh so hard I almost blow Diet Coke and popcorn through my nose and yet frustrates me so much that I leave the theater wrung out and let down. That's how I felt after I saw "Knocked Up," a movie that is far smarter and funnier than its central premise. In case you haven't seen the reviews or the raging discussion about it in the blogosphere, "Knocked Up" is the story of an attractive young TV reporter who gets pregnant after a drunken one-night stand with a good-natured slacker whom she meets in a bar -- and she decides to have the baby. The option of having an abortion is barely even mentioned, and she proceeds to drag the slacker into the gynecologist's exam room with her for her first ultrasound. Suddenly, she expects him to be a part of her life and the baby's.
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