Most of my reading, aside from the children's stories and fairy tales I read to my son in the few moments he'll sit still or before he takes a nap, consists of blogs and web articles. These types of writings are great because I can quickly scan through them while watching my son when he's playing independently, or if I have to get up to swap out the laundry from the washer to the dryer or change a diaper, I can just stop where I am and resume it hours later with very little frustration, confusion, or a compulsive need to re-read.
I feel like a novel is something I need to be able to sit down and enjoy for at least a good half-hour to an hour minimum and read in nice-sized chunks; otherwise, it's hard to keep the plot flowing. I find myself constantly going back to the beginning of a chapter and re-reading it if I didn't get to finish it in the previous sitting just to get that smooth flow and really get the full effect of the novel. This leads to me taking an even longer amount of time to finish any adult-sized piece of literature. For this reason, my "Want To Read" list keeps getting longer and longer. I'm getting better at finding/making time to read, though (when Liam is napping and I'm waiting for that load of dishes to finish; when I make my students read at school and I want to set a good example and keep them from bugging me; on those nights where I'm just not sleepy enough to go to bed).
In the meantime, though, I thought I'd share some of the articles I've read lately that I thought were worthy of a few minutes of my life. I got this idea from my blogging mentor Kristin. She does a post called Linkworthy. Her blog is one of my regular "short reads."
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| Check out Kristin's Blog Here! :) |
* Are We Raising a Generation of Helpless Kids?: Yes, and it starts in the home. My kids will not be raised to be helpless, and they will experience failure, but most of all, they will experience love. I love my son (and any future children) too much to not properly prepare them for the world. Life is tough enough as it is.
* Sermons For Kids: My church does a weekly message/sermon for kids in the middle of the church service called Children's Message. It lasts about 5 minutes maximum, and I frequently help out with it. While the teacher in me will sometimes create a cute Children's Message from scratch, complete with props, there are weeks that I just don't have it in me to make one more cute lesson, so that's where this website comes in handy. Each week they have a sermon and an alternate sermon in case the first one doesn't meet your needs. They also have messages for special holidays and events, such as the first day of school, the Fourth of July, and all of the major Christian holidays.
* To the Mom Who Aborted Her Baby with Down Syndrome: Everyone seems to have an opinion about what constitutes a life worth living, but should it really be up to us to decide whether or not someone gets that chance at life in the first place? Life is hard, but even a hard life has the possibility of being a good one.
* 16 Years Ago, A Doctor Published a Study. It was Completely Made Up, and It Made Us All Sicker: If your children are able to be vaccinated and you do not vaccinate them, then, you had better not come near my child.
* Why Half of the Nation's New Teachers Can't Leave the Profession Fast Enough: Word.
* Pay It Forward: Pre-pay for a $1 slice of pizza: I love this idea! When giving money to a person who begs on the street, one often finds herself thinking these thoughts: are they really homeless (you hear about all of those scams on the news) and will they really use the money to make their lives better, or will they use it to buy drugs/alcohol? Is it sad that we live in a world where we have thoughts like this? Well, this is a great way to help those in need because you know exactly where your money is going!
* Working Mothers: I have a lot of respect for people who can admit they were wrong or made a mistake because criticizing others is easy; criticizing yourself is hard. Anyone who is trying to make the life of the working mother easier is alright in my books!
I hope you found these reads as enjoyable, informative, interesting, and/or inspiring as I did! :)
3 comments:
I find myself reading blogs more than anything else these days! However, nothing beats those evening when I can really immerse myself in a good book, however few and far between those evenings are! :)
Awe, thanks for the shout out :) Blogs can be like rabbit holes. You never, ever stop reading them once you start. And the vaccine one...I can't believe people think it's just "okay" and "not a big deal". There's a bit more to it than herd immunity!
Lisa, I know exactly what you mean about both things! :) I wish I had the time to read like I did when I was a kid. I would read a book a day in the summer time growing up. Ah, those were the days!
Kristin, I will probably continue to give you shout outs as long as you don't oppose because, as sporadic as I am with posting, you're the one who has inspired me to try this blogging thing. This is my "practice" writing, so that, hopefully, I can get good enough and confident enough to eventually write those books floating around in my head. :) I can sit and read through a blog for hours (after Liam is in bed, of course haha). I do not get to bed at a reasonable hour most nights haha.
I cannot believe people are still believing these false claims about vaccines, despite being presented with the truth! It's like the whole seat belt thing. Some idiots won't wear them because they "might" kill you, but the odds are clearly stacked in the other direction. While kids do occasionally have bad reactions to vaccines, more often than not, they are perfectly safe (and much safer and more survivable than the diseases they prevent).
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