Jack’s Winning Words 1/23/18
“I guess a good education is the next best thing to a pushy mother.”  (Peanuts cartoon)  I saw a cartoon of a baby in a buggy, playing a trombone.  The mother says, “I believe in starting them young.”  That wasn’t my mom.  She had to have a job, as well as to “keep house.”  She was too busy to “hover.”  What I learned...was from her example.  Robert Fulghum wrote: “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they’re always watching you.”    ;-)  Jack

FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Your mother was not a helicopter parent ====JACK:  In those days airplanes were a novelty, and helicopters were a dream.====SHIRL:  Weren't we lucky to have had all of that freedom?====JACK:  I can't remember pushy mothers in those days, altho I'm sure there were some.  It's said that Shirley Temple and Judy Garland had moms who pushed to enhance the movie careers of their child. ====SHIRL:  Childhood was for fun in the old days climbing trees building forts playing basketball ====JACK:  "Look both ways when you cross the street...Keep your nose clean...Come home when the street lights go on."====SHIRL:  We were lucky

FROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  For a large portion of time between parent and child…It’s not what you say it’s what you do. There is no hiding, They are always watching.====JACK:  It's not often mentioned, but sometimes parents are influenced by watching their children.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  Somehow, as a parent, you have to walk a balance beam....balance between encouraging and aiding on one side...and being pushy, on the other side.   I tried to do that.   I am sure I fell off the beam plenty...and made both errors....either encouraged too much or not enough....Tough act....need a lot of forgiveness====JACK:  There are time (hopefully, just a few) when "push comes to shove."  It's time!  (to get going on your homework...to begin looking for a job...to decide on a major).

FROM PZ:  I'm going to share this with my daughter!====JACK:  That's better than her sending it to you.

FROM INDY GENIE:  We were also aided by a mom who didn’t hover. I’ve strived to be like her with my own children, grandchildren and children in my “work life.”  I’m curious...what was your mom’s job other than her “keeping house.”====JACK:  Yours was a fun mom.  In my eyes, she never stopped being a kid.  My mother was the office manager for a Montgomery Ward store.  She was discovered that the store manager was embezzling money.  She reported it, and he was arrested.
It was fun to stop by and visit her at work====.GENIE:  I never tire of you telling me about my mom through your eyes:)  Still curious..:Did your mom come home from work and then cook dinner or did you all share in that?  Fun to think about you as a boy visiting your mom at work:)====JACK:  We had no car, so she'd walk everywhere (no taking the bus).  She'd stop at the store on the way home to get groceries, carry them home and cook the meal from scratch.  Depending on where we lived, her walk could be at least a mile each way...bad weather, or good.====GENIE:  I’m not surprised to hear that she lived to be 102....all that walking and fresh air and love.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  My grandma always said “Little ears and big eyes are on you,” to my grandpa.  He never said a bad or unkind word as long as I can remember.  Neither did my grandma.  But my other grandma, my dad's mom was something else!  She would whistle and when the gophers stuck their heads out of their holes, she’d shoot them.  The holes were real dangers in her field.  ====JACK:  Your dad's mom reminds me of Mammy Yokum.  Have you ever heard of her?  And, BTW, do you remember singing this song:

(VS 1) Oh, be careful little ears, what you hear (repeat)
For the Father Up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little ears
what you hear.

(VS 2) Oh, be careful little eyes, what you see, (repeat)
For the Father up above,
is looking down in love,
So be careful little eyes
What you hear.

(VS 3) Oh, be careful little mouth, what you say, (repeat),
For the Father up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little
mouth what you say.

(VS 4) Oh, be careful little hands, what you do (repeat),
For the Father up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little hands
What you do

(VS 5) Oh, be careful little feet where you go (repeat)
For the Father up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little feet,
Where you go.

(VS 6) Oh, be careful little mind what you think (repeat)
For the Father up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little mind,
What you think.

(VS 7) Oh, be careful little heart what you love (repeat)
For the Father up above,
Is looking down in love,
So be careful little heart,
What you love.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  A good education is certainly a bonus, and how fortunate we are if we were among the few to receive one!  My mom had to give up her teaching job when she married, as during and right after the great depression, wives couldn't work if husbands had a job! But tho she was supportive of our many endeavors, she didn't push or shove...she taught Jan and I and our friends how to play bridge (which most of us enjoyed all our adult lives) and saw that we had singing lessons when we began performing (modestly priced in those days!) and she and dad honed our  tennis and swimming skills, so we made the teams, and became life guards for summer jobs. We never had alcohol in the house, which I didn't notice until I started spending overnights with friends! So never took up drinking, and neither parent smoked, so we didn't do that either.  I enjoyed the Rob't. Fulghum books and essays when I was parenting.  For sure our kids watch and assimilate our values, mannerisms and morals; Hopefully, that is a good things, even tho we aren't always excellent icons!
Power on, Parents!====JACK:  Didn't you ever sneak a smoke?  My dad "rolled his own."  That wasn't for me.  Examples can work both ways.  "I'm going to be like that," or "I'm never going to be like that."  ...and remember...that "the Father up above is looking down in love."

FROM TARMART REV:  A very good thought to ponder and reflect upon this morning. ====JACK:  Did you have a pushy mom...or even a pushy Church Council?=====REV:  One “pushy” church Board . . . Mother loving and gracious to put up with outgoing personality of a son . . . Dad on the road selling for many years and home on the weekends.