Parenting

Since I have to babysit a TV studio every Saturday, I decided to call my friend in New York. She is going to be a mother pretty soon, so she asked me to find information about parenting. At least she knows her 1st child will be a boy. For any future parent, I found an interesting link so here it is www.parenting.com

The biggest thing most future parent worries about is the fact that they don't want their kids to turn out like Felix or Tom. Usually the wealthy parents are too busy with their work, that they don't have time to take care of their kids. They usually give money to their kids to buy their way out of their responsibility of being a parent.

When I 1st met Tom's uncle, he told me how his father bought him a beautiful prostitute for his 14th birthday. I wish my father bought me a beautiful prostitute for my 14th birthday, but I was living in America and my father would be arrested if he did such a thing. To be honest with you, I don't remember my father buying me anything for my birthday. Plus, I am one of those people who does not like to celebrate my birthday. It just made me feel old. Anyway, going back to Tom, he had problems understanding the difference between the real world to the prostitution world. Everytime he met a girl, he either treated them like prostitute or attempted to treat them like prostitutes. That's why he has problems keeping friends, because no one never taught him to have responsibility for his action. When things don't go the way he likes, he wind up making childish threats. So his father did not do a good job in raising him.

Felix is another product of bad upbringing. Ever since he was born, his parents isolated him from the harsh world of reality. They run a family business and the profit circulated within the family. His parents supplied him everything, his education, housing, car, and etc.. One day he decided to exchange in Japan, it was the 1st time he tasted his freedom of the outside world. All the sudden, he transferred to Sophia University in Japan. Since the time I met him 10 years ago, I never see him work for his money. His parents paid for his housing, education and gave him allowance. I don't remember this guy ever getting a part-time job. During his spare time, he bought a Playstation (or say his parents bought it) and played it all day long. It seemed like his parents invested their money on him playing his Sony Playstation. He had so much fun as a student in Japan, he decided to work in Japan. After he quit, he thought he can go home, but he never realized how hard it was to work in a family business. He didn't like working like his parents and run away from home. For the 1st time, he was completely independent from his parents. He had no job and made no effort to lower his living standard. He expected people to support him. In other words, this guy could not take care of himself.

This is where I began to realize why my father worried about me when I was a student. Back in high school and college, I never had a part-time job. My father had friends whose kids turned out really bad and he was worried that was going to happen to me. I was on the Dean's list at USC, but I did have a reckless lifestyle. I used to go on Vegas run over the weekend, and one time I spent $10,000 on my parent's credit card. Just say that my father wasn't exactly pleased about this. He got real suspicious when I paid him $10,000 back in less than a week without having a job. At 1st he thought I was dealing drugs, but he later realized that I was making phony California drivers license. Either way, he knew I wasn't learning about the reality of life and he decided to have me take time off from school and go live in Japan for a couple of years. For the 1st time, I had to work to pay for my tuition and every money I spent came out of my own pocket. I wasn't allowed to teach english, because that would be easy money. Instead, I had to work in a butcher shop, which was the most disgusting labor I'd ever experience. Whenever I had time off from school, I had to work 10 hours a day for Y800 an hour. It was the most miserable job I'd had, but for the 1st time, I had to realize how hard it was to make money. If I didn't wake up, I would wind up doing this for the rest of my life. It was the 1st time I saw other people struggling financially, and my 1st time seeing reality. I began to realize this was the message my father was giving me.

I guess this is the interesting part of parenting. As much as you love your kid, sometimes you have to learn to say no.

Chicago Whitesox????

Last year, it was the Boston Redsox who finally won the World Series for the 1st time in 86-years. This year, it is the Chicago Whitesox who finally won a World Series for the 1st time in 88-years. My grandmother wasn't even born back then. I wonder who's next? Chicago Cubs?

Chicago Whitesox is more of an interesting story. Back in 1919, the Whitesox purposely lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Which was known as the famous "Black Sox Scandal". There is a movie out called, "8 Men Out" and after the 1919 season, the players involved in the "Black Sox Scandal" were banned for life playing baseball. It was also the year when they established the 1st baseball commissioner to clean up baseball. Back then it was common to fix a game, since baseball players didn't get paid like baseball players today.

I don't know whether or not all Chicago fans will celebrate the Whitesox being the World Series Champs, because I am pretty sure some die hard Cubs fan rather not have the Sox win at all. I'm a SF Giants fan and I can not stand the Oakland A's even though they are on the other side of the bay. I would never cheer for the Oakland A's, I used to live right next to Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco when they played for the Athletics. I guess that's me. I am still recovering from that 2002 World Series pain. I sometimes wonder will I ever live to see the SF Giants win the World Series?? i don't want to be like my friend's grandfather.