The other day my husband and I visited a farm in the middle of nowhere (I like to think of it as a date because we were childless for the afternoon) & I brought my camera to play around with.  It was fun because I got to shoot the goats, geese, ducks, cows and even 3 old barns!  One part of the farm is an empty catfish pond that isn’t very appealing to the eye.  But I found something that actually looked pretty cool to take a picture of in that abandoned catfish pond!  I caught a glimpse of myself in my hubby’s shades & had to snap a shot. It’s fun to see myself directly from my husband’s viewpoint…especially when I’m right in the middle of doing something I LOVE!    So, this is my favorite shot from our time on the old farm.    I’m entering this into the iheartfaces photo challenge because it fits nicely into this week’s theme: “Play”.  Visit the iheartfaces website to see other cool shots of people doing what the love….playing!

Exposed: Inexcusable Me, Irreplaceable Him is now available!  It’s a story that might hit home with many women who have traveled down a road of self-destruction, thinking they were unworthy of God’s love and forgiveness.  Author Shannon Deitz currently helps teens in their own journey towards Christ.  Read the valuable insight she provided during a previous post on the Efficient Parent Blog!

Then one day when my son was three, one of the Sponge Bob episodes featured a PANTY RAID, and I was completely furious.  It was then when we quit watching Sponge Bob and I got a little taste of why Sponge Bob is harmful to kids…and that the controversy is valid.  So, when my 6 year old kindergarten niece brought home a Sponge Bob book that she bought through a Scholastic book fair, I was disappointed that our school system  is allowing a kindergartner to spend money on a character that has Panty Raids on television (let me remind you that I live in a location that is regularly on the “Top Places to Live” list in numerous publications, so I expect more from our school).  But I was even more shocked when my son started attending a preschool…a well-respected Christian preschool.  They sent home a book catalog which featured Sponge Bob in it!    My first thought was wow…my son’s church based Christian preschool is marketing Sponge Bob and his panty raids to little children too!

And then I considered moving him to another Christian preschool, but guess what…they raise money using the same book fair company too!    Sponge Bob and his inappropriate content has found his way into our churches and schools and we don’t raise an eyebrow!

A panty raid is just the beginning.   Sponge Bob’s inappropriateness goes far beyond the panty raid episode and we aren’t even aware that the content of this cartoon is undermining our Christian values as parents.  Think about it…a panty raid is an obvious and understandable term so it’s clear to anyone that that particular episode isn’t appropriate.  But many  of the Sponge Bob episodes are filled with subtle inappropriate suggestions and themes that are not as obvious as a panty raid.  For instance, in one episode a French character is named “The Tickler”.  Hence, the French Tickler…which is a particular style of condom.   Introducing this type of  inappropriate terminology and concepts to children early lays the foundation for having no boundaries and no concept of “red flags”.  When an inappropriate behavior or word is familiar and acceptable to a child, then it’s hard for them to be aware when adults or peers cross boundaries or are acting inappropriately. It’s easier for our kids to get into bad situations if they don’t have any sense that something is out of place.  I think Sponge Bob definitely breaks down boundaries and blurs the lines of inappropriate behavior for children.   I feel stupid for being so blind to this guy.  My first clue that he was a bad influence should have been that he regularly appears in episodes exposing his underwear.  I didn’t raise an eyebrow to that because he is a cartoon…yet, I don’t let my son watch movies with men parading around in their underwear!   Just because it’s coming from a cartoon character doesn’t make it okay.

If you aren’t familiar with sexual references and terminology, then you don’t know the foundation that this cartoon is laying for your child’s boundaries and comprehension of how the world works.  Even if your kids don’t fully understand the negative meaning behind words and themes, they are definitely becoming familiar with those words and themes.    I know there are a probably a dozen other characters and cartoons that are inappropriate for children, but I’m focusing on Sponge Bob simply because he is the character who introduced the concept of a panty raid to my 3-year old child.   He is the cartoon I stupidly allowed into my home.

If Sponge Bob was a living, breathing adult talking to my child about a panty raid or french tickler, I would contact the police and he would never be allowed in my home again.  Yet, my Christian preschool and public schools all across the nation are sending this guy home with our kids.  Why are we parents letting this happen?

Schools and preschools gain valuable dollars from book fairs….they are a fantastic way to help children develop a love of reading.  But schools have a choice about which book publishing company they choose to use for raising money with book fairs.  All books are not written equally!!  Some books have the purpose of educating children,  while other books are simply considered educational because they have words.  I didn’t realize there was a difference with the quality of books until I started selling Usborne books…I don’t sell them anymore, but Usborne gave me a great understanding that schools and preschools DO HAVE A CHOICE about which book company they use.   I’m sure there are more quality book companies out there, but I’m simply using Usborn as an example because I’m familiar with them and know that their company values will NEVER condone selling trashy characters like Sponge Bob to kids.   Please do your own research about why Sponge Bob is harmful to our children…and if your school uses a book fair company that markets Sponge Bob, please bring this to the attention of the school so they can make it stop.  Feel free to share this post link with them. Schools have a choice and parents have the voice.   Let’s protect our children!

Never again will I ever, ever make jokes about the circus.  This is serious business and these people are TALENTED and skilled.   I would have died doing the things they did.  We decided to get our tickets at the very last minute, and the only seats left were on the floor…an arms-length away from the action.  I’m not complaining….the $45 extra dollars we paid were well worth getting these shots.  There were two PETA protesters outside the event facility with signs that said “Barnum & Bailey kills animals”.   Really?   The animals looked alive and well to me.  It was the people performing in the circus that I was worried about.  I hope they are getting paid very well to put on such a wonderful show.  It was great entertainment and I’m happy we were forced to splurge! hee hee!  Here is some more of what we saw:

I’m sure that the Ringling Brothers are definitely performing illegal acts….like shooting a guy out of a cannon and hoping he lands safely in a chair.  That’s got to be illegal, right?  I mean, I’m sure I’d get arrested if I did that to my husband.  Or would I????  Hmmmmm……

And did you know that the Ringling Brothers made this guy jump through a ring of fire?  I’m sure he caught on fire because I see some burning embers on his skin.  I didn’t do anything to this picture…he really is jumping through the fire.   And those really are flames on his skin.  Poor guy.  I wish I would have brought my first aid kit because he needed it.  I don’t even let my child watch this kind of torture on TV, but we paid extra just so he could get an up close and personal view of a man jumping through fire.  Did the fire department know about this?   Yet another moment when I feared for someone’s life.    I didn’t see anything about this guy’s life on the PETA signs.  They don’t care about him either.

We made it out alive and I didn’t feel bad for the animals.  I mean seriously, I don’t even get a pedicure like this elephant has.  If your nails look this good, you’re living the good life.  It really was a great  night and I recommend it…I’m sure it’s a great show from wherever you sit.  But because all the other seats were sold out, we got to see the wrinkles on the elephants’ feet up close and personal.  Hope you enjoy these pictures!

My son took this picture of me from the bottom of the grocery cart. Apparently he's not the only clumsy one in the family...I knocked these items off the shelf and wouldn't you know that my son had his own little camera handy!!

Did you know that the warnings they put on grocery carts actually serve a purpose?    It turns out you’re REALLY NOT supposed to stand on the side of the cart…or else it will fall over.  We apparently needed to test this concept this past weekend when my son jumped on the side of the cart….and it came crashing down on top of him.  He hit his head on the shelves and cried real tears.  I felt horrible for him, especially since I didn’t stop him from getting on the side of the cart in the first place.  He seemed fine after the incident, but I started getting a little worried about 2.5 hours later, when he went to sleep in the afternoon…and he slept, and slept and slept.  I woke him up several times to check on him and he was fine each time, so I just figured he was really worn out.  But then at 2 a.m. he was done sleeping.  He woke me up and wanted to eat dinner, which I happily made for him because I was just glad he was okay.  I started worrying again though when he began complaining about pain in his “brain”.  He said “my brain needs to go stay the night in the hospital”.  I took him to the doctor the next morning and he got a clean bill of health.  He was fine and the doctor said he could continue swim lessons.  Life has returned to normal and he will never again stand on the side of the cart.

Which brings me to my next picture…(365 Day 8):

This is the laundry mat!!!  It wasn’t so bad…the building was definitely old and unglamorous, but the place smelled WONDERFUL and fresh…clean.   The machines worked great, but they had an accumulation of detergent spills on the outside, which contributed to the dingy look.   That’s because the laundry detergent is filled on TOP of the washer, which really invites spillage.  Still,  I had envisioned a laundry mat being dirty and smelly… but the insides of the washers were clean and that’s all I cared about.  Most of the people there were there washing comforters.

My son got a sticker for helping me take the laundry out to the vehicle, and he had a helping hand from another son who was there helping his mother too!  Of course, laundry mats cost money…lots of it!  The TRIPLE Load washers were 14 quarters and the DOUBLE Load washers were 8 quarters.  I think the MEGA Load washers were about 24 quarters, but don’t quote me on that.  I felt safe and treated it as a new adventure.  I haven’t stepped foot in a laundry mat since I was a kid…we lived with my mother and we were very poor.  The laundry mat was about 20 miles away and we didn’t always have an operational car, so my mom did a lot of hand-washing too.  One winter that sticks out in my head was when she hand washed a bunch of jeans and hung them outside overnight to dry so we would have something to wear for school the next day.  When it was time to get ready for school, we discovered that all of our clean jeans were FROZEN.  After going through almost 2 weeks of hand washing and going to the laundry mat (and whining about it on facebook by the way), I have a new respect for my mother, who did it without complaining for YEARS.