Is it me? It must be because I have seen other parents let their kids run wild in restaurants.I feel like a mother hen doting on my kids; I sit watching their every move and ask them to say please and thank you to the waiter or waitresses. I feel so guilty when they make a mess and I try to cleanup after or group before we leave the table. And, unless the service has been terrible I always try to tip at least 20 percent on the total bill not just the pre-tax amount.

I want my children to sit politely, to say please and thank you, to smile, and not get out of their chair unless they need to use the restroom. I think that watching and doting is the best way to do this and I hope that all of this pays off.

My parents were strict with us when we went out to dinner. We were polite and never ran wild. I just hope that I can instill some of those values to my kids. There are other things that I slack off on. I do not make them clean their rooms right now or pick up after themselves. I do not make them fold laundry or do dishes... yet. But I want them to present themselves as clean, good natured, polite members of society. Young people that you might like to meet and speak with not, "Oh my god those kids are terrors."

Diapers changed... Check

Good morning cuddles... Check

Watching a stupid monkey destroy an even dumber man who exclusively wears yellow, destroy a new carpet in an animated format... Check

You really have to love kids television. The life lessons that are presented just warm the heart and instill a slight lingering fear that those very same scenes might be re-enacted in the home.

Nah. Can't happen.

I am excited for Angela! She is going to her first BlogHer convention in New York, New York.

She has never been there and really doesn't enjoy big cities so we will see how this all pans out for her. She can't wait to meet some of the people that she follows and I hope that she has an amazing, wonderful time there. She will be missed here at the homestead but we will all plug along for a few days without her.

It was funny, the other week Angela was talking to her mother on the phone and they were discussing her impending travel to the convention... Her mother wondered how I was going to be on my own with three children and her 'gone!' I had to laugh. Angela's mother knows full well that I am the one who takes care of the kids all day. I am the one who cleans house and cooks the meals and does most of the shopping with and without the children in tow. It makes me shake my head that even though Jan (Angela's mom) knows this intellectually, she still falls back on old stereotypes when a quick thought passes.

Times are changing and men are not the bumbling, brutish, know-nothings that earn a paycheck and then collapse on the sofa or special armchair. I love being the one the girls come to at all hours. I love cooking and get a sense of real accomplishment when the house looks good and toys aren't in all the hallways and covering the rooms. It will take another generation possibly for the intrenched attitudes to change, but I think that they will change.