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We moved into this house almost 5 years ago. We were broke. We had two kids. Our landlord had sold the house we were living in, and we needed a place to live, and fast. This place was "cute" (read that as small.) It was cheap, less than rent, and it was available. After jumping through the 8 million hoops that our bank required, we were able to get the loan, and within a few days, we moved into our very first home.
It was so neat! I could paint and not ask the landlord. I got to cut the grass. (yeah, I am one of those weirdos who actually enjoys this task). I got to check the box for "homeowner" on surveys. It was heaven! The only catch was that we lived by the railroad tracks. They were right across the street. At the time, we were desperate enough not to care. Our children were 9 months and 2 years at the time, and we planned on moving in a couple of years, so we didn't worry much about them. That, and they were the coolest thing to our boys.
They'd be mid-tantrum, you know, the bawling so hard my face is turning blue kind of fit, when suddenly the train would come by, smiles would instantly show up, and their nose was glued to the window until the train went by. My boys learned to count by watching how many cars went by. They wanted books on trains. Everything. The trains were a great learning tool.
Well, five years later and another child later, and we haven't moved yet. And, the boys have outgrown the trains. After you've seen 5,000 of them come by, they're not so cool. And my daughter? Does she giggle and watch them as her brothers did before? Ummmm, NO. A resounding, very ultra negative NO. She hates them. She cries, she shakes, she screams. They wake her up, they wake me up, they bring no joy to her small world at all.
Well, it could be because Railroad A is planning an expansion in our area. What does this have to do with a two year old you ask? Well, it seems that Railroad B is not thrilled about Railroad A moving in, so the Railroad B guys are pulling some nasty tricks to get people down on trains and thus vote no to the planned expansion. The Railroad B trains have been driving faster than usual here through town, enough to shake the whole house, they have gone whistle happy, blowing their horns ridiculously, excessively loud at all hours of the day and wee hours of the night and just in general, trying to irk our community enough to vote out Railroad A.
So, this is my public vote for Railroad A to come to our community, build a quieter track, build a fence, build a sound barrier and quit scaring my children. My whole point? (Like I ever have one....) Well, competition is my point. There are lots of other parenting sites out there. Do I rip on them? Do I try to outdo them? Do I try to make the public angry over them? Again, a big fat no. I work with them. I support them. I share articles with them. As we all grow towards a purpose, everyone has something to gain. Look at your competition. Are they worth giving yourself a bad rep? No way.
Look at your own life. Look at yourself. Are you trying too hard to compete with your sister in law? Your siblings? Your parents? Your neighbors? Imagine what your life would be like if you quit worrying so much about what everyone else around you was doing, and instead worried about your own resposibilities and worried about how you could help people around you. Now, quit imagining and do it. And please, quit blowing your dang horn! Until next time...
Jenny Wanderscheid
Founder & CEO ChildFun, Inc
http://childfun.com
http://coloringbookfun.com
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Quit Competing and Just LiveSaturday, 18 October 2008 We moved into this house almost 5 years ago. We were broke. We had two kids. Our landlord had sold the house we were living in, and...
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