MY LIFE - Flashback to when daughter got asked out

CULTURE/SOCIETY - Her father should be proud!

MY LIFE - Intelligence vs what's really important

I was recently reminded of the time I learned my dad could have joined MENSA.

I don't really remember when this was. I could have been in high school or college, but it might have been later.

I had always known my dad was a very intelligent man, but I didn't know he was that bright.

So when I asked why he didn't join Mensa, his reply was so typically my dad! Don't remember his exact words, but it was something along the lines of "Why would I want to enjoy a snooty organization like that?! What would I do with a group like that?!"

I think my dad found the idea of Mensa as repulsive and stupid as having an organization for the top 2% richest people or tallest people.

That was the great thing about my dad, and my mom! They both taught me that intelligence is a great gift that should be prized and fostered, but that other traits, such as kindness, sympathy, understanding, patience, tolerance, among others, were more important.

After all, great as intelligence is, like good looks, it comes mostly from your genes and how you were nurtured. And is largely out of your hands. If you have it, you should prize it, nurture it, and make use of it, but you don't control that much about how intelligent you'll be.

On other hand, you DO control a lot about how kind, sympathetic, understanding, etc, you will be!

And that is a wonderful lesson my parents taught me, and I hope I passed onto my daughter, and am passing onto my stepson.

SPIRITUALITY/RELIGION - I’m raising my kids atheist in a God-obsessed culture: How I learned to parent godless children

My children are surrounded by other kids' prayers and patriotism. But I'm determined to teach them to ignore it

http://www.salon.com/writer/julie_drizin/

(Credit: ideabug via iStock)

“Goddammit!” “God bless you!” “For God’s sake!” “God forbid!”

My children have heard me take “the Lord’s name in vain.” These expressions slip out as easily as expletives and are part of my vernacular, even though I don’t believe in God.

God is not exactly welcome in our home.

I’m not a hater (at least not anymore). I’m an atheist. My daughters know I’m the tooth fairy; they have no use for Santa Claus; and would consider the Bible a collection of boring, inaccessible stories (at worst) or fables on par with Greek and Roman mythology (at best).

I’m raising good kids. They are good without God. They will not go to hell … because there is no hell. Neither will they go to heaven … because there is no heaven. I have taught my girls that “heaven” and “hell” are what we humans create for ourselves and each other right here on earth.

Atheist. Say it over and over again and it sounds like a meaningless label.  I prefer to call myself a humanist, which expresses what I embrace rather than what I reject. Humanism is my religion. I have faith in the higher power of people – our capacity, indeed our yearning, to do good.  If you think sustaining faith in an invisible God or his sacrificial dead son is challenging, try being a spiritual humanist. People fuck up all the time: We disappoint, we hurt each other, we fail miserably. To err is human. But to forgive at least feels divine.

For more - http://www.salon.com/2014/08/05/im_raising_my_kids_atheist_in_a_god_obsessed_culture_how_i_learned_to_parent_godless_children/

MY LIFE: Not raising my daughter properly!

http://t.imehop.com/RipNfb

CULTURE/SOCIETY: 'Captain Dad' Finds The Funny In Parenting

http://m.npr.org/story/141941484?url=/2011/11/02/141941484/captain-dad-finds-the-funny-in-parenting&sc=17&f

ENTERTAINMENT: Darth Vader as a dad

http://m.npr.org/news/front/154579992