Free Republic

A source on the Rick Perry campaign tells Hot Air that the Texas governor conducted some Texas-size fundraising in the third quarter. Coming in just a little over halfway through, Perry raised $17.1 million. That number would put Perry somewhere between $4-6 million ahead of Mitt Romney’s rumored total for Q3, according to this report last week from the Boston Globe. It’s also likely to far outpace Herman Cain’s fundraising or that of the other Republicans currently in the race. The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92...

For most mothers, the love they have for their child is unconditional. And if that wasn't the case, few would dare admit it. Which perhaps explains why a woman breaking that social taboo has chosen to write under a pseudonym. In an article published today in the latest issue of REDBOOK, the mother-of-two, who calls herself Jennifer Rabiner, confesses how she has never been able to love her eldest child.

This is my first vanity and let's hope the last for those who hate vanities. As a parent, I gained a great deal of insight in life from my sons. I figure it is the central benefit of the self sacrifice of parenting. I am asking Freeper parents and grandparents to share lessons from observing and interacting with their kids.

Decades ago, the parents in Indiana would take an unruly child out behind the proverbial woodshed and give them an attitude adjustment. Many, were the children of ages past that learned discipline from a switch or the hand. Then came the progressive attitude. The attitude that placed.....

Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug 30, 2009 / 11:14 am (CNA).- At Sunday’s Angelus prayer in the courtyard of Castel Gandolfo’s apostolic palace, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the previous week’s liturgical memorial of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo and model and patron of Christian mothers. “Much is recounted about her in her son’s autobiography ‘The Confessions,’ a masterpiece among the most read works of all time,” Pope Benedict said. “There, we understand that St. Augustine imbibed the name of Jesus with maternal milk and was educated in the Christian religion by his mother, the principles of which...

Parents will be forbidden from receiving and accessing their dependent child's grades at colleges and universities - even when they pay for the entire cost of the child's education. Just pay up and don't ask questions

- Catholicism.org - http://catholicism.org - Ten Ways to Make a Delinquent (Guaranteed to Work!) Posted By Sister Maria Philomena, M.I.C.M. On January 7, 2009 @ 11:24 am In Columns, Marriage and Family | No Comments The police department of Houston, Texas, gave the following ten rules for raising delinquent children. 1. Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him. This will make him think he is cute. It will also encourage him to pick...

"Last month, Angela's youngest daughter, 16-year-old Lisa, ran away from home to be with Glyn's father, Nigel, who, at 46, is precisely 30 years her senior. Lisa was due to sit her GCSEs this week and was expected to achieve a succession of As and A*s. Nigel Trowbridge is an unemployed father of five - including a daughter who is a year younger than Lisa - and would not strike you as a particularly ideal catch for anyone, let alone a girl who is meant to be taking her GCSEs. To say Angela is horrified is an understatement. This, after...

'Teachers are surrogate parents now' By Graeme Paton and James Kirkup Last Updated: 2:38am GMT 10/03/2008 The demise of the traditional family is breeding a generation of children who are increasingly relying on teachers to become surrogate parents, a prominent education leader warned yesterday. Thousands of children lacked basic social skills, said John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. Many pupils were unable to hold simple conversations, use a knife and fork or sit at the table, he added. Others suffered serious behavioural problems because of the lack of a stable home life. For...

Pray for my dad

(With schools closed between Christmas and New Year's, Mom and Dad are forced to find child care alternatives) Kids are on vacation this week, but many working parents aren't. School and work schedules misalign for snow days, teacher conferences, random holidays and, of course, summer, but the mismatch is at its worst between Christmas and New Year's. West Allis resident Jeanne Rohde considers herself lucky to be a regular at one of the few programs that bridges the gap - vacation camp at the West Suburban YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee in Wauwatosa. Daughters Stephanie, 10, and Michelle, 8, usually can...

No, no, sorry. I don't have any . . ." Why does this always seem to be the first thing I'm asked? It takes my breath away, yet why do I feel the need to apologize for my reply? Looking vague and embarrassed, my questioner glances over my shoulder for someone else to talk to: someone with whom he or she has more in common, someone with children.... Just as some women talk of a visceral urge that propels them to have children, others speak of an equally visceral urge that propels them not to. Laurie, a transplanted southerner who...

One of the great ironies of our time is that today’s parents, with more professional resources at their disposal than ever before, are experiencing more and greater problems in the area of discipline than their grandparents even thought possible. Once upon a not-so-very-long-ago time, children were mischievous. They tried to get away with what they thought they could when adults weren’t looking. All too many of today’s kids are surly, rude, disrespectful, ill-mannered, petulant, and openly defiant. The nature of the child has not changed in fifty years, so the problem must lie with changes in how parents are going...

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, JULY 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Life without children is a growing social reality for an increasing number of American adults. This is the conclusion of the 2006 edition of "The State of Our Unions" report on marriage, released last week by the National Marriage Project. The project is based at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Up until recently, for most people, the greater part of adult life was spent with young children forming part of the household. A combination of marrying later, less children and longer life expectancy means, however, that a significantly greater part of...

In the name of the fatherhttp://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1033732006 http://tinyurl.com/ozefu DANI GARAVELLI Sun 16 Jul 2006 ONCE upon a time, I believed it didn't matter a whit whether a baby was born into a family with one parent or two. Or with two mothers or two fathers rather than a mother and a father. Why should it? What was important was not the number or gender of the parents, but whether or not they were loving and attentive. That was, of course, before I had any of my own. Now I realise that bringing up children is a challenge even for two well-meaning...

The debate about neonatal circumcision is over. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), neonatal circumcision is the result of ignorance, bad medical practice and American social and cultural pressure. Regarding the three most commonly cited justifications for neonatal circumcision (penile cancer, venereal disease and penile hygiene), the AAP now states that the benefits are negligible, which means that the majority of American men are walking around without foreskins for no good reason. Yet, the barbaric practice shows no sign of abating, and for this reason I plan to shed some light on the cultural dark spot of circumcision....

One exciting thing about the free market is that you can't predict what the market will create. Big-government advocates tell you exactly what will happen when their plans work (as if they actually would work!), but we who trust the free market can only say that people will compete and good ideas will win. We do know that competition works. It works because it gives people the chance to be creative...

A Fostoria (Ohio) man pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the drowning-deaths of his 10-month-old twins. On August 7, Gregg J. Kleinmark, 24, left his sons unattended in a bathtub for 30 minutes while he played a “computer game” three rooms away. One report suggests that Kleinmark was playing a Game Boy Advance, which as we know, is portable and could have been just as easily used in the bathroom while supervising the infants. Kleinmark is facing up to 10 years in prison

David and Tonia Parker of Lexington, Mass., saw a red flag when their son came home from kindergarten last January with a "diversity book bag" that included Who ' s in a Family, a book promoting acceptance of gay marriage. The Parkers thought it was their right, as parents, to decide when and how to introduce their son to the issue of homosexuality. The Parkers believed the public school, Estabrook, is right to be teaching tolerance of gays but wrong in raising the subject in kindergarten and then indoctrinating 5-year-olds on gay marriage. Tonia Parker says gay parents are allowed...

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, September 1, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Utah Supreme Court heard Tuesday the case of a mother who wants a lower court decision granting parental standing to her former partner, a lesbian, overturned. “I am here to protect my child,” Cheryl Barlow said. “That's the only reason.” In a courtroom with standing room only, Barlow’s attorney argued that, “This case is about the right of a natural mother to decide what is best for her child. My client decided what she thought was best for her 2-year-old child and left a relationship and a lifestyle,” said Alliance...