Hey everyone! Just wanted to share a little bit of my story with y'all... maybe then it will help you get to know us slightly better....
I was engaged to my HS sweetheart, who was in the army- we were to get married the following year, when I turned 18. Then panic set in when I found out adter a shrt visit home, I was pregnant- so I drove fro NJ to GA 2 months pregnant and alone to meet him on base so we could work everything out- but he had different plans at that point ans reenlisted without even discussing it over with me. He was then sent to Korea within a month. So there I was, 18, pregnagnant and alone- so I did the only thing I could think of, and I came back home to NJ... needing a job and a place to live- my BFF got me a job at
best buy and we found an appt to schare... long story short- when I started that job, I met my Tazzy and as corney as it sounds- it was love from first sight... we were engaged in 7 days though it took me 2 yrs to plan the "perfect cinderella wedding"
Nicky, our oldest is now 10 and technically a genius. He baffles me with some of the things he talks about- I usually need a reference library to keep up with him... he also has ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome, which is a hig functioning form of autism...
Our DS7 was born just about 3 years later when thigns seemed stable... I will never think that again, casue every time we have gotten on solid ground- tragendy strikes and we get thrown for a loop. We lost several angels
over the course, and they will always be a part of my heart.Through that roller coaster we had DS4, and our little Pocono surprise DS2.
That started its own rollercoaster of its own- between Nicky's issues and my own.... its been a journey, but I have a few things that I try to enforce and I just hope that they will follow...
We always eat meals at the table together- no questions askesed.
Don't do/say/think anything that you wouldnt want anyone to do/say/thing to you...
We go camping as much as possible tp get the kids back out to nature, away from the TV's, videogames and general brainwashing of cable tv...
I try to teach them right and wrong, and manners, respect and all that- and I just hope with all of my heart that some of it sticks
But my number one rule for the entire house is that we never go to bed angry. Even with Matt working overnights- if we have issues before I go to bed, I will call him at work to smooth things out before we go to bed. And mostly I just hope and dream that my boys will one day remember all the tidbits I've drilled in their heads over the years and become somewhat decent teenagers/adults.... though if any of them make me a grandmother before I am 40- there will be heck to pay for that one!
I don't know if it is an awful thing, but I feel good that they know when they have been really bad they are going to have an equal consequence to pay and yes, mom is going to be mad. I do agree with what bigdaddyrog said but I have a diffrent spin on the school thing. I was afraid when my youngest went to preschool that he would act out. I was relieved that they never had a problem with him and he was a joy to be around. Now he is in a new school for prek and I am horrified! He has gotten scissors on many occasions and cut up his hair and his clothes, he has hit other children, and his teacher asks him to do something and he screams at her NO. Now, she isn't the one telling me this but his older brother (who goes to the same school) informs me of these things. I send him to bed right after supper and then I drag him back into his teacher the next morning and make him apologize. She will say to me "what is he apologizing for"? and I'll say because he told you NO, or he hit one of his classmates, and she says to me "it is ok, he is only 4" NO! It is NOT ok! BUT I can only do so much from home....I really don't know what else to do. 
She is a VERY nice and sweet woman but there is NO discipline in her class. I just can't wait for this year to be over and he to get a diffirent teacher. In the mean time I do my best. I can't tell you how many people have told me "It never gets any easier". Still, there are more days I am VERY proud of my boys then days I'm disappointed. Like my youngest son coming to me to tell me something was all his fault and he is very sorry without me having to ask and my eldest boy taking his allowance money to buy something for his little brother. I love my sons and pray they turn out to be fine young men every night.
My wife and I are foster parents and have had children from ages 5 months old to 18yrs old. They've come to us from different situations, different upbringings. They've all seen a lot as kids. We just try to encourage them, accentuate the good things, try not to dwell on the bad things and show them someone, us, care and want them to be the best they can be. And even though sometime's we may not like the choices they've made we still care and love them. 
. Ok, we didn't live in a commune or anything but I was certainly exposed to shall we say, free expression, at a very young age. I knew what homosexuality was before it was considered "trendy" or "accepted" (insert your own term) and it was not unusual or shocking to me. My parents sort of had the attitude that kids will "live and learn" and very rarely disciplined us, and only when it was past the point of effectiveness and it was basically pointless. 
