May 20, 2016 at 8:44 pm

I also had my graduation ceremony in May, and I believe our grad ball (our school didn’t call it a prom) was in May too. In Canada, school generally starts in September and finishes in late June. So  some schools will hold graduation activities a little later in the spring.

I graduated high school in 1984, so we were in school around the same time, JoDee 🙂

May 19, 2016 at 2:02 pm

@kaka135 Our parks were always close to deserted, or so packed it was beyond chaos. Never an in-between. I think that’s a good part of why my kids never really made friends in the neighbourhood. That, and they had trouble understanding French. Most of our neighbours spoke no English, so the kids couldn’t understand each other.

May 19, 2016 at 12:24 pm

@kaka135 I used to think I disliked competition, because of course I associated it with doing things that were difficult for me. I used to dislike being compared to someone who always seemed to be perfect (the teacher’s pet) and even more than that, I disliked it when my friend’s mother held me up as an example for her to follow. She was no different from me, but her mother saw every tiny flaw as if under a microscope – and of course she ignored all of mine! It was really unfair, both to me and to my friend.

Looking back on my high school years, now I realize that there were times when I enjoyed competition. I debated, and I also enjoyed a little friendly competition with the boy who was always placed near me when the teachers assigned our seats. But our competition was never more than playful. We would encourage each other to do well, and sometimes we helped each other when one of us was struggling. Our competition involved a good deal of cooperation, and I think it brought out the best in both of us.

I am happy to hear you have a supportive group of mothers around you. I lacked that when my kids were little. I never found a group that had children the same age, and if I did meet one or two mothers in the park we just never seemed to form much of a bond.

May 19, 2016 at 11:56 am

@dawnwriter This is an excellent topic for discussion. It’s amazing how much some people feel the need not just to compete, but to demean another or dismiss his accomplishments in order to make themselves feel somehow superior.

One thing I’ve observed is that sometimes the people who are the most likely to scorn competition in others, will be the ones to make a mean-spirited comment or to play at one-upmanship. It’s in my nature to spot such behaviours easily, but I must admit that I generally won’t say anything unless I know the individual is open to feedback. Most people who indulge in this sort of unhealthy comparison are quick to anger if anyone so much as disagrees with their opinion.

I try to save my energies so I can help guide the younger generation, as most of the young ones who take an unhealthy approach to competition are just copying what they’ve seen adults do. They tend to be more comfortable with introspection. Simply asking a child to put herself in the other person’s shoes can yield dramatic results.

May 19, 2016 at 11:21 am

@morgoodie The Sasquatch is associated with the Pacific Northwest, so in Canada that covers the coastal region of BC as well as the Interior where I live. Apparently, there have also been sightings in Alberta and up into the northern territories.

I tend to think most of the stories are just made up to scare people, to spark tourism, or because somebody wants attention or has too fertile an imagination. If anything, many of the so-called Sasquatch are probably bears. We have an awful lot of them here – so many that hunters are actually encouraged to cull them because they come right into town and pose a risk to the human population.

May 19, 2016 at 11:11 am

Using the Ouija board in a group that is just playing around, or that has a strong need for something sensational to happen, is never a good idea. I’ve seen a lot of people pranked by friends, and a lot of people who wanted to believe, deceived by someone who wanted to take advantage of their gullibility.

Ouija is not really my specialty, but from what I understand it works on the principle that you are connecting with a part of your unconscious mind that knows things your conscious doesn’t attend to. So for a serious seeker it can be a tool for self-discovery, much the same as automatic writing.

Some people are sensitive to entities from outside themselves, as well, and the Ouija board has often been thought of as a tool that’s easier for a non-corporeal being to use for communication. The problems with this are too many to list, but let’s just say nobody should be calling anything up unless they have been trained to put it down again.

Young people especially, can have a raw talent for calling energies from outside themselves. This may be why there are so many stories about Ouija going really wrong when used by teens and preteens. It’s probably best they don’t play with Ouija boards…

May 19, 2016 at 10:59 am

@peachpurple I don’t think drinking a cold beverage has ever brought on or exacerbated my cramps, but I can say that if I catch a chill they will get worse. They are also worse if I’m not getting enough liquids.

I recommend staying well hydrated. If you are feeling like plain water isn’t doing the trick, you might try a sports drink. Be careful not to take too much of this, though, because sugar and salt can make bloating and other symptoms worse. Energy drinks and anything with a lot of caffeine can also make you feel worse, so watch out for them!

Raspberry leaf tea or a tincture of motherwort are said to help relieve cramps. Susun Weed has a lot of info online about these two herbs, even videos showing how to make the tincture. If you are interested in learning more, I recommend you Google her. She wrote several books specifically about using herbs for women’s reproductive health; I believe you can still find them today.

Taking a hot bath or applying a heated rice bag to your belly can sometimes be enough to relieve the pain. Keeping your feet warm may help, or getting under a warm fuzzy blanket and staying covered. It also helps to be physically active right before and during your period. Cramps are a type of muscle spasm, so anything that helps you relax or that stretches your muscles out gently may prove sufficient to resolving the cramp.

I want to say that you shouldn’t be afraid to take a little paracetamol (or ibuprofen if you tolerate it, as an anti-inflammatory may work better for the pain.) The rule of thumb taught to me was to take something for pain if it wakes you up or prevents you getting to sleep, or if it’s preventing you accomplishing basic tasks. We don’t really know how pain relievers work, but one theory says they simply stop the pain signal getting to the brain. Unless you are taking large quantities of OTC pain meds, or have to take them over a prolonged period of time, you are probably safe. But do ask your doctor or pharmacist to be sure!

May 19, 2016 at 9:10 am

I used to love watching In Search Of…!

I now live in Sasquatch country, which would have thrilled me to no end back when I was a kid. I remember learning about the Sasquatch legend on an episode of the Bionic Woman, LOL!

If I remember correctly, in that show it was portrayed as some sort of sentient hominid. It was handled much the same way the “hulk” had been in another series from the same period. Sort of a creature that was frightening because it was wild, but that meant no harm. That kind of approach really appealed to me, and even today I guess I’d like to think if there is a Sasquatch it would be just a creature that had evolved on a different path from us…

May 18, 2016 at 1:01 pm

@swalia and @dawnwriter I’ve been here a fair bit, but not nearly as much as @kaka135 and @peachpurple. I am not yet at the halfway mark, though I could be in the next two days or so.

I think Lee Ka will cash out before her baby is born. I know she was already past $7, and she has been so very busy on the site. It would make a verty fitting “birthday” present 😀

I don’t know if Peachy has said how close she is, but I suspect she’s getting up there too. She’s posted a lot, and interacted tons in the forum.

May 18, 2016 at 11:19 am

@jentleheart Where I live, the majority of teachers spend out of pocket for their supplies. This is especially true of teachers who are beginning their first year in their own elementary school classroom. Such teachers may spend upwards of $1,000 to equip their classrooms with all the little things the school doesn’t provide.

May 18, 2016 at 11:16 am

@peachpurple $5 per student here wouldn’t even be a drop in the bucket for a teacher’s expenses.

In Canada it’s common for all students to pay the school a fee for consumable materials. This can be anywhere from $25 or $30 per year, all the way up to $100 or more per child per year. This is in addition to fees paid for field trips, school bus transportation, lunchtime supervision, before and after school daycare, participation in athletics, shop classes, art or music, end of the year mementos like yearbooks, class t-shirts, etc.

Parents are also expected to pay for school supplies (often $100-$200 per student each year,) uniforms or gym trip, several pairs of running shoes, such things as tennis balls to put over the legs of the desk and chair, earbuds, blank computer media or thumb drives, etc.

There are no tuition fees for public school in Canada, and textbooks are always provided on loan when used. But many classes are taught without a textbook because there’s a shortage. Or students can only use the book at school, because they have to share. Parents are also expected to donate such things as printer paper (one or more reams per child,) additional school supplies (mostly notebooks and folders that rarely, if ever get used,) boxes of Kleenex, bottles of hand sanitizer, etc. for classroom use.

Further, craft supplies are often requested and school fundraisers are frequent. Pizza lunches and hot dog sales are popular, as are sales of catalogue items such as magazine subscriptions, cookie dough, chocolates, etc. In some cases the funds are specifically earmarked for a given project such as the end of the year field trip, but I have witnessed several instances where the school just seemed to swallow up the money raised by parents for a specific purpose, and then claim there was simply “not enough money in the account.”

Education is an extremely costly proposition in Canada, for families and for teachers. Most of our tax dollars seem to get stuck somewhere outside the school, even when the school district is declaring a surplus for the year. Make no mistake, no teacher here is lining her pockets with monies received from home!

May 18, 2016 at 10:56 am

@lolaze Lack of funding is rampant in special education! And yes, teacher’s editions of textbooks are hard to obtain. I know a lot of teachers will order a free exam copy of a book, teach with it for a year and photocopy from it to give the students their lessons. Then when the publisher wants to know if they will be ordering books for the students the following year, they just say no.

May 18, 2016 at 10:52 am

I suspect that if I were their age, my kids wouldn’t think I was very cool. But as their mother, I know they think I’m cool.

We are very clear that I’m the parent, not the buddy. But I also allow them a lot of autonomy, and involve them in decision making that affects them.

They know they can talk to me about anything at all, and will even bring their friends home to talk to me because they respect my open mind and ability to put things into perspective.

May 18, 2016 at 10:47 am

I can write about something I find distasteful, but I would never write in support of it. I will also not engage in plagiarism or spam, allowing another person to submit my work as his own work, or writing a falsified product review.

May 18, 2016 at 10:42 am

I am completely opposed to the death penalty because:

1) It’s just too easy to convict the wrong person, and you cannot bring back the dead. Roughly 4% of people sentenced to death in the US are innocent;

2) It costs more to execute someone than to imprison them for life;

3) The death penalty is not an effective deterrent, and may actually increase the violence of a crime because the perpetrator wants to either kill or terrify any witnesses into keeping silent;

4) It targets the vulnerable in society: More than half of all death row inmates have less than a high school education, and up to 10% have a serious mental illness. If you take the time to look into how a person was interrogated by police, there are a good many cases where people were coerced or where a suspect who qualifies as mentally retarded was manipulated or questioned under duress.

5) More than 60% of American prisoners are in jail for nonviolent crimes. So the majority of prisoners aren’t at all impacted by the use of the death penalty, and it won’t significantly reduce prison crowding;

6) Only about 13% of people sentenced to death are actually executed, making it very unlikely the sentence will actually be carried out.