What programs would you consider for your Daughters?

[freonr22]

Not Gun related... or maybe in the future. My main focus is future planning to make my 2 daughters the best they can be as Good Citizens.

Currently, my one daughter Gianna is 3 1/2 attends a lower end preschool 1/2 day 5 days a week, (thats where we are at financially) my wife is a kindergarten-2nd grade teacher in a nice school district so in the future she will go there.

My other daughter Amelia is just over 2 and is just in day care at the moment.

My Wife stayed at home for the first three years and went back to work in August.

We have been married for 4 1/2 years.



What do you wish you would have done early on? Or what have you done that you were pleased with?

My initial thoughts were sports when old enough, I am unsure about ballet...

Maybe Girl Scouts??


I did search the site for "Scouts" and went back to 6/08, Then I realized maybe I should ask the Professionals.

My family is a little larger, there are 6 of us, I am the baby, but my brothers and sisters are a lot older. My parents were married for 42 years, until my father passed away in 1997. Somewhat disfuntional, but loving.
The oldest is 18 years older than I and the next closest is 9 years older.

My wife's family has 3. Kinda disfunctional, but nice. Her dad was an alcoholic but has been sober for 20 years. He has been going to AA and SLAA (sex love addicts anonymous) the whole time. They divorced when my wife was 7, he married one of the affairs and was with her for 27 years, 2 years ago he decided to divorce again.
Currently, I am 39 and my wife is 40.

Thank you for your input.

[Steyrlp10]

What cuties, your daughters

You sound like great parents, and I admire you for trying to have a well thought out plan for the girls. I'm from a fairly large family - 5 older brothers and 3 older sisters - so I understand a little about your background. I've also raised 2 girls and 4 boys. Having been a Den Leader to 15 energetic boys, the Girl Scouts may be fun for your daughters.

The main thing is to spend as much personal time as you can with them.

Today's economy doesn't always allow for both parents to be with their children as much as when I was little (most mom's were homemakers), but for me, I noticed how much better school work, social skills, etc. improved when I was with my kids until at least middle school. (I still work FT and go to school, so it's a matter of juggling things.) Kids need structure and guidance -- even if they tell us how much they already know - lol

Best of luck to you... I'm sure they're going to grow up to be well-adjusted young women.

[Tavern Keeper]

Just love them

What beutiful young ladies! Don't dwell too much on your parents mistakes, you'll make different ones! As to activities, we started are duaghter with a 'creative movement' class at the local dance studio when she was three. She's 17 now and still dancing and loving it. She tried karate with my son and me (Dad) and did really well but decided she would rather dance. Get involved with a Church, most have great kid stuff mid-week as well as Sunday morning. Your whole family will benifit from that. Beyond that, Love them, let them try and let them fail, they'll learn to pick themselves up and that's a life lesson everyone needs.

Be well, and God Bless

[freonr22]

Well Thank you both for the great ideas! Actually, I did not mention religion on purpose in this post. My Family brought us up as old school Latin Mass Catholics, I was even an altar boy early on. My wife has no current use for religion due to some bad things that happened to her when she was young. I did get her to agree to get the girls baptised, but I have not yet. Lazy Catholic. But, will definitely be part of their lives shortly. Have a great weekend!

[masameet]

Don't have any kids, but I'd still opine that the best education about the world that you can give your two girls is to talk with them, openly and honestly. Answer their questions. Give them stories from your own life that somehow relate to their lives. Let them see themselves both in their small, individual worlds and in the bigger picture of life. Take them everywhere you can; read to them fairy tales, Aesop's fables, James Thurber's fables; teach them about the Humanities -- music, history, art, philosophy, literature. Share with them scientific things that astonish you. In between teach them that being fair, noble and non-judgmental are the ideal but not always practicable; that human motivation is based on understanding that actions, words and omissions have consequences, so not necessarily on what feels good. Most of all, teach them to love learning and to be curious, to try and try again, when to be kind, loving and forgiving and when not to be, and to stand up for themselves and others.

[Fishseeker]

Well first off congrats on wanting to do the right thing as these days from allot I see parents just don't care.
Give them plenty of love and spend as much time as you possibly can with them.
As for activities scouts could be a good start as they are shown many things there are always things they will like and choose to do on their own. What ever activites you and your wife grew up doing pass them along and hopefully the girls will to find one or others they enjoy.

We started camping with ours from day one and turns out both girls now 12 and 14 absoluetely love to camp they also fish and are getting into shooting.

Just do the things you know and start from there. I wish I had introduced one of mine to sports at a young age as she would have been good.

One thing to remember is you will make mistakes we all do don't dwell on them learn and move on.
Best of luck.

[diginit]

Brownies and girl scouts are both good choices. They teach arts. crafts and other skills such as community involvement, interactment with others, and other lessons schools overlook.
Shooting is a good thing for parents of such lovely girls. Cleaning a gun during an interview with a new boyfriend is highly convincing....Treat her right or else!

[Steyrlp10]

Cleaning a gun during an interview with a new boyfriend is highly convincing....Treat her right or else!

Lol... that's exactly what happened in my house when the two oldest girls reached dating age. Here, the guys were assuming they should be wary of the Man of the House and then they freaked when they realized that the Mom was the one who was going to take care of business if they got out of line

Oh, and taking down their license plate while talking to them about when to bring your daughter back drives the point home too - lol

[freonr22]

That's Magnificent!

[csarel]

Don't have any kids, but I'd still opine that the best education about the world that you can give your two girls is to talk with them, openly and honestly. Answer their questions. Give them stories from your own life that somehow relate to their lives. Let them see themselves both in their small, individual worlds and in the bigger picture of life. Take them everywhere you can; read to them fairy tales, Aesop's fables, James Thurber's fables; teach them about the Humanities -- music, history, art, philosophy, literature. Share with them scientific things that astonish you. In between teach them that being fair, noble and non-judgmental are the ideal but not always practicable; that human motivation is based on understanding that actions, words and omissions have consequences, so not necessarily on what feels good. Most of all, teach them to love learning and to be curious, to try and try again, when to be kind, loving and forgiving and when not to be, and to stand up for themselves and others.

Thank you-Thank you-Thank You!
My Daughter is getting to that age, this helps!

[freonr22]

What great input! - sincerely hope that this poist did not come off chovenistic being posted in the ladies forum. It seems to me daughters have a different connection with Mom than poppa. Being first timers the advice of experts is invaluable.

[diginit]

What great input! - sincerely hope that this poist did not come off chovenistic being posted in the ladies forum. It seems to me daughters have a different connection with Mom than poppa. Being first timers the advice of experts is invaluable.

Humphrey Bogart? Not chovenistic? LOL
Speaking for myself, I'm no expert, We are just normal people who are giving you our advice hoping for the best for you and yours. With 2 daughters, You'll learn fast enough on your own what to do and what not.
It's obvious you care for them. J.