cross-posted at Bleeding Heartland

I wouldn't say my four-year-old son was following the presidential race closely last year, but he was paying enough attention to understand that his parents were voting for John Edwards. Having been in the car a few times when I delivered yard signs, he also understood that an Edwards sign in front of someone's house meant that person was also voting for Edwards.

In March of this year, my son (by then five years old) asked me whether we were still voting for John Edwards. I explained that not enough people had voted for Edwards, so he couldn't be the president. We would vote for someone else, probably Barack Obama. He found that a little confusing, but over time it clicked with him that we were supporting Obama for president.

Last night we had a baby-sitter over for a couple of hours. While she was here, I was getting the kids a snack, and my older son asked her who she was voting for. She said, "McCain."

He followed up with, "But who are you voting for for president?" She said, "McCain."

Pause. He turns to me: "Mommy, are we voting for Obama?"

"Yes, we're voting for Obama, but [baby-sitter] is voting for McCain."

"Oh." And he went back to eating pretzels.

I wrote this last night before going to bed please excuse the tense. It was originally written for my page.  I wanted to share with more people.

Cross posted from Docudharma.

Mijo.  Pronounced mee-hoe.

Mijo - Conjoined Spanish slang of affection.  Mi hijo, "my son."

18 years ago today I was sitting in the Infant ICU at West Paces Ferry Hospital in Atlanta cradling a 7 pound, twelve and a half ounce bundle of pure wonder.  [Written Friday, 8/15/08.]

The contrast could not have been more startling. We were on a back road  in Georgia, my daughter and I driving across the state line, taking her to her first year of college, car packed to the roof, laughing, telling stories, talking of hopes and dreams, and the radio blaring the news of the other Georgia, the Russian conflict, McCain, Bush, and the rest of the old guard, rattling sabers and conjuring up fearful images from my childhood, mushroom clouds and bomb shelters, scary Russians who were the bad guys in every movie.  

What would the next four years be like for my daughter, for all of us? A world filled with possibility, dare I say hope, maybe even enlightenment?; or would it be something else, a darkness over the land??  

I would have a long ride home to think about it.

It's hard to admit parental 'inadequacies'. This is a difficult diary to write, and contrary to my title, this is NOT a diary full of advice. Instead, i am writing this with an open heart, a lot of humility and i confess that i am fishing for strength.  
and advice.

Just wanted to warn in advance...

An amazing thing happened recently and I am looking for a little feedback from the DKos community.

One of the "shocking" revelations about the Obama campaign is the fact that there are entire spheres of black life with which most white people have almost no familiarity.

Really! How many white people knew that black professionals have to use different sets of skills when they are interacting with whites as opposed to blacks. How many whites knew that black beauty shops in South Carolina would be a must stop for any Democrat who wanted to be president? Likewise, how many knew there was a "black church" or that some of the preachers in black churches were not unreasonably damning the United States for its legacy of white supremacy?

Not all that many, and I wasn't one of them.

I am a single father. I am also the primary conservator. My co-parent/ex-wife has only supervised visitation allowed by the ruling of the court. I am not alone in being a male who was awarded the primary status. It is not an easy road, but I have had help along the way. Today I had to make a hard and difficult decision about the long-term welfare of my daughter.

I think I might be writing this diary more for myself than for anyone else, but it might also be the case that my musings take you somewhere.

Some of you may have noticed I have kids.  I have two, two boys, nine months apart age-wise.  The older was adopted from an Eastern European orphanage at age 14 months.  Three years later, the younger was adopted, also from an Eastern European orphanage at 46 months (almost 4).  

The younger one, having suffered the first four years of his life in an institution, has many challenges.  That's where the mothering part comes in.  The "better" part is explained below.  

First, I have to explain how I inadvertently made him cry, and second, how I managed to make it a little better...

Yesterday, I read a diary here at dKos h/t, beagledad

I hit the link in the diary, and read the full story, which made me terribly, terribly sad.  

A man shot and killed after entering a stranger's home and passing out on a couch had been drinking heavily that night, but was not a violent person, according to a friend who had been with him that evening...

follow me over the fold for the full story

A snippet of overheard conversation is a projectile in suspension.  The hearer knows nothing of the antecedents.  Can know nothing of the aftermath.  But that snippet I did hear.  I have been frightened, haunted, filled with an angst.

I watched the two ladies, obviously hospital employees, characterized by their togs and dangling name badges, enter into the serving area of the hospital cafeteria through one door.  I entered through another.  We converged at the beverage station.

"But I don’t want any grandsons."

My son is graduating from high school tomorrow. Yeah! It's not such a big achievement from some perspectives, but for my son it is a huge accomplishment.

The number of US soldiers currently deployed in Iraq is roughly equal to double the attendance at Barack Obama's rally in Portland, OR on May 20, 2008.

I've heard other parents say that talking to their kids about procreation is the hardest conversation they have. That conversation was a breeze. Tonight, I had the most serious conversation I've yet had with my 7 year old son.

More serious than the conversation about why his dad and I divorced (mostly because that happened when he was 4). More serious than the conversation about not talking to strangers (mostly because that happened when he was 3). More serious than the conversation about how important it is to tell the truth so that people are inclined to believe you rather than doubt you.

He asked me why George Bush was president, and he is too smart to take "because more people voted for him," for an answer. His immediate follow-up question was, "Why did so many people vote for him when he's such a bad president?"

My son was less than a year old on September 11, 2001.

Originally posted on EquityBlog, a project of PolicyLink

By Shireen Malekafzali, PolicyLink Health Associate

TAKE A BREATH...sounds easy huh? Well, not for one in every seven kids in the US.

The most fundamental principle of leadership, management and parenting is one of the simplest: "Reward good behavior and punish bad behavior."  If you deviate from this principle, all you will get is more bad behavior.  As any parent knows, taking a stand is never easy.  A noteworthy example from this election season was the cascade of states trying to move their primaries and caucuses earlier in the year than all of the other states.  Left unchecked, this would have started this already-too-long election season into December 2007. Instead, the DNC took a stand against two states that violated the rules, and while that has not been easy, if you don't stand up to special interests now just imagine how ugly the primary calendar will be in 2012 (and 2011!).  All of which brings us to the principle that if we don't want campaigns like Clinton's in 2012, 2016, 2020, etc. then she cannot receive the nomination in 2008.  And there is a clear way to prevent that.

Children should be afraid of advice they get from Bill O'Reilly.

From the very beginning of the book, there is a palpable sense that O'Reilly is 'talking down' to his intended audience - the kids.  Not that it's a grande suprise for anyone curious enough to flip through the books limited and poorly written text, but O'Reilly seems to think that the 'kids' of today don't know much of anything.  

That's when I started to wonder exactly what age group this book is meant for.  But more so than that tingle of wonder, was the overbearing feeling that O'Reilly doesn't seem to realize that 'kids' of the late 20th and early 21st century are far more knowledgable than we ever were at their age - and they don't really like being called 'kids' either.  

After I had completed this abreviated and laughable tale of 'rights vs. wrong-doing', I continued to marvel at the fact that O'Reilly is looked-up-to in certain circles, admired, has a fan-base.  Then there's the most frightening concept to grasp --- is a father of two.

More O'Reilly nonsense below the fold ----------------->

If you have a chance to interview a school teacher about parenting, you will find that they can tell which children have parents who are doing more things right than wrong.  The biggest problem, of course, is over-protection.  The child that is deemed infallible by the parents is the one who usually tries to manipulate his/her teachers, parents and the system.  When the parents come running to the rescue, they usually find fault with the teacher, principal or school district.