"Hugs Not Drugs"

Today Job took 'Sgt. Teddy' to school with him. This week his school is doing a "Say No to Drugs" campaign and every day they have a theme to follow. Monday was "Give drugs the boot" (wear boots) and Thursday will be "Kids and drugs don't mix" (wear crazy mixed colors and socks). Today's theme sounds more like it should be for the parents, not the kids. "Hugs not Drugs"

My parents raised my brother and I with the hippy concept of "give your children absolutely no restrictions or boundaries and they'll come out in the end just fine. Pass the weed man." Or just pass your kids the crack. Whatever works best. Luckily, I really didn't want to end up like my parents, which ended up being my main motivation for getting out of the backwards life I was living in the good old state of Louisiana. The combination of that, meeting my husband and my new faith in God helped to produce a somewhat socially civilized human being. I can't get away from my childhood, but hopefully learning from it everyday will help me to be a better parent.

My husband and I both want our kids to make good decisions. Healthy decisions. Living by example is the hardest part of being a parent. It would be easier to have a "do as I say, not as I do" strategy to parenting, but my parents already proved that parenting style didn't work so well. The funny thing is I think they actually believe they had something to do with the way I live my life today. I suppose I couldn't argue with them much about that.

Even though today's 'say no to drugs' theme isn't exactly meant for me as a parent, I'm going to make sure my kids get a few extra hugs everyday.