Julie Pippert: Using My Words

My friend Devin shared a site of links to the Jerry Sandusky case, along with a commentary. If you don't know what is going on with Jerry Sandusky, catch up here . There are a string of articles under Top Stories. In short, from one article: Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator under Paterno, has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys across a 15-year period, and Paterno has been widely criticized for failing to involve the police when he learned of an allegation of one assault of a young boy in 2002. Read more . I read through the commentary and I heard the exact feelings any sane, feeling person would have: bewildered, angry, judgmental, and worse. My husband I just went through a class called "Safeguarding God's Children." It was our second go-round, and it hadn't changed a bit in the intervening years. It's part of the training and certification the church requires in order for you to participate in children's activities now, such as g...

When the phone rang, I was a little annoyed. I'd finally gotten the kids settled into a task for longer than two minutes, with no fighting, and was actually making progress on my project. "Hello," I said, a little more brusquely than I should have. It's not the caller's fault that I'm stretched too thin in too many directions from too much multi-tasking. "Hello," I said again, this time more kindly. "Hi Julie," the voice of a lady I know said brightly, "How are you?" "Fine, fine, and you?" I said, biting back 'busy' as an answer. "So how are the kids?" she asked, omitting an answer. "The kids? They're fine. A little rambunctious, you know. It's time for school to start." "Oh," she said, "Oh. Right, they're fine, that's good news." "Why do you ask?" "Well, you know, they were over here playing the other day, and my kids are sick now. I just wan...

I want my daughters to be successful---personally, educationally, and professionally. That sounds like a boring statement of the obvious. It is. What's not so obvious is how to achieve that. There are many obstacles: personal foibles (mine and theirs), a larger world to work within, and so forth. The key to achieving goals successfully is to break them down into realistic, smaller parts. We all need to feel a sense of completion and accomplishment. It motivates us, keeps us engaged. So I'm focusing on the here and now: school. How can my kids be successful in the classroom? As I researched factors that contribute to success in the classroom, I ran across a lot about assertiveness, primarily assertiveness with humility. Ah ha, I thought, I'm not surprised. But I am worried. Why? It's because of the feedback I consistently get about Patience from teachers. I'd like to think that each and every teacher my daughter encounters is in the classroom out of a love of childre...

I had a different post entirely queued up for today but then yesterday two news articles crossed my desk and I wanted to make sure that you were informed, on the off-chance you hadn't heard about this. The first I read at one of my "read every day and write for when I get the time" blogs (I will be posting there today about the second item, H.R. 847): The Political Voices of Women . BlueBloggin (out of Texas) shared this AP news article: Bush Vetoes Kids Health Insurance Bill By JENNIFER LOVEN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush vetoed legislation Wednesday that would have expanded government-provided health insurance for children, his second slap-down of a bipartisan effort in Congress to dramatically increase funding for the popular program. It was Bush's seventh veto in seven years - all but one coming since Democrats took control of Congress in January. Wednesday was the deadline for Bush to act or let the bill become law. The president also...