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Home » society » Page 13

Life Philosophy

Our story takes place somewhere in China in 1999. Ronit is in our hotel room, taking a nap, and I am walking around the yard with Eden (10) and Tsoof (4). We explore the pool and the various entertainment areas and we talk about philosophy.

I thought I would share this story with you because while I was telling these things to Eden in China, I learned a lot myself too. It made me feel good about choices that had previously been unconscious. I was also happy to get Eden thinking about the way she wanted to live, because most of my life had been handed down to me and I had lived it by habit and not by choice.

“There’s a nice story about Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu (the founder of Taoism) sampling pickles out of a barrel”, I said.

Read Life Philosophy »

Published: May 5, 2010 by Gal Baras
Last modified: December 25, 2019In: Life Coaching, Parenting, Personal Development Tags: society, lifestyle, story, focus, behavior / discipline, values, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, choice, practical parenting / parents, beliefs, purpose, happiness, motivation, Life Coaching

Top Parenting Bloggers Discuss (6): Education

Whether we pay for it through taxes or fees, the education system is a service to us parents. Most parents, even if they can afford to stay home and be their kids’ teacher, would rather go to work and do something else. Although parents are the most important educators of their own kids, being a teacher is a whole different skill that would be unfair to expect every parent to master.

When we send our kids to school, we share an important part of parenting with others. Our kids spend 12 to 13 years of their life in the education system with other people who pass on their knowledge, values and attitudes to them. Sometimes, we can afford to choose these people directly, but often, we are bound by financial or geographical circumstances and we do not have much of a choice.

This post is part 6 of 14 in the series Top Parenting Bloggers Discuss

Read Top Parenting Bloggers Discuss (6): Education »

Published: April 30, 2010 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: June 5, 2023In: Parenting, Education / Learning Tags: emotional intelligence, choice, society, k-12 education, academic performance, behavior / discipline, love languages, school, education / learning, responsibility, practical parenting / parents, values

Kids are Always Watching

Last week, I had a meeting with a government official about my parenting program “Happy Parents Raise Happy Kids”. We talked about how parenting programs focus on behavior management, which I find problematic.

Anyway, after a long conversation about parenting, the man asked me a tough question, “Well Ronit, if you could summarize the most important thing for parents in one sentence, what would that be?”

“Only one?” I asked, trying to buy time (this was like writing on twitter and only having 140 characters).

“Yes, Ronit, only one”, he smiled.

So I thought about it. It was painful. It would be easier to find 10 things than just one. Finally, I said…

Read Kids are Always Watching »

Published: April 26, 2010 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: March 18, 2021In: Parenting Tags: choice, society, lifestyle, kids / children, behavior / discipline, focus, practical parenting / parents, projection, responsibility, values, emotional intelligence, how to

My Samsung Ordeal

Looking for a good printer? I hope this story will help you buy better. In fact, maybe it will help you buy other things better too. This is the story of my Samsung CLX-3175FN multifunction printer/fax/scanner/copier…

For years, after working in the Special Education library and preparing materials for teachers, I had a dream of having my own copier. When our last printer broke down after three years of good service, we said it was time to get a multifunction device and save space and energy. So we searched for the best product for our small business. You see, Gal and I learned that when you buy a product, you need to buy it from a good source (we call it “a product with parents”) so you can get someone to fix it if something goes wrong.

Gal went to the biggest office equipment stores and found out Samsung had revamped their service offering by adding on-site repairs and a replacement policy for faulty products. He was told “They’ll just send someone to your house to fix the printer, but if they can’t fix it, they’ll replace it”.

Read My Samsung Ordeal »

Published: April 19, 2010 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: March 19, 2021In: Opinion Tags: story, technology, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, choice, trust, beliefs, society, lifestyle

How to break bad beliefs with doubt

Muslim Baby

A year ago, I became the Queensland state coordinator for Together for Humanity Foundation. The foundation works in schools with grade 4 to 12 kids to fight racism and inspire cultural openness. It turns out that, out of 50,000 kids in Australia who have participated in the program, over 90% have had racist attitudes towards other cultures.

It may be hard for you to accept, but most kids are racist because they live in a racist society, in which stereotyping is a survival mechanism. It is not surprising to read their surveys and discover they think “Muslims are scary” and “Asians sell drugs”, mainly because they are exposed to this type of information at home or in the media.

Whenever I ask the kids, “Have you ever personally met a scary Muslim or seen an Asian selling drugs?” their answer is “No”.

Read How to break bad beliefs with doubt »

Published: January 18, 2010 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: November 24, 2022In: Parenting Tags: society, k-12 education, positive, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, focus, practical parenting / parents, projection, emotional intelligence, how to, negative, beliefs, change

Just Kidding

Kids are very gullible. They love colors and sounds and quickly catch on to new trends and new celebrities. Being young, unfortunately, they do not notice to the messages being delivered straight into their little brains in bright color and pleasant sound.

Our 8-year-old daughter Noff brings home a kids’ magazine called Just Kidding. The name is great and so is some of the content, offering riddles, jokes and general information our kids proudly quote for us. Alas, the good stuff spans about 11 pages out of 48. All the rest is advertising, some of which is cleverly disguised as articles.

Ronit and I were pretty happy about this magazine at first, because our kids like to read, seemed to enjoy the contents and even benefited from having something to talk about at dinner time.

However, through some weird coincidence, one particular magazine lost its cover page and the bare contents found their way to our office desk, where we had a chance to examine them more closely.

Read Just Kidding »

Published: January 6, 2010 by Gal Baras
Last modified: February 29, 2020In: Parenting, Education / Learning Tags: self confidence / self esteem / self worth, education / learning, practical parenting / parents, school, responsibility, choice, society, lifestyle, k-12 education, academic performance

Work-Life Imbalance

Every economic crisis brings to the work–life juggling act out of balance. The greater the economic crisis, the harder it is for families to maintain their lifestyle and values and therefore questions what work-life balance is.

Everywhere around the world what was considered proper work-life balance is no longer the same as it was 50 years ago. Whereas in the past, the working 9 to 5 seemed to be demanding, today, working 9 to 5 as a parent is a rare luxury.

Are you feeling some of this too?

Read Work-Life Imbalance »

Published: December 21, 2009 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: December 24, 2019In: Parenting Tags: success, goals / goal setting, emotional intelligence, choice, motivation, relationships / marriage, work life balance, society, lifestyle, focus, family matters, values, career, money, practical parenting / parents

Responsible Parenting

When someone becomes a parent, it usually starts by being handed a small bundle. The bundle typically weighs around 3kg (6lbs), makes sweet sounds, looks cute and feels nice and warm. That moment feels so great, most parents list it high on their list of the greatest moments of their life.

Hidden inside that bundle, there is something much heavier, though. Nobody can see it – not the doctor, not the nurses and not the security guard that watches you as you leave the hospital with your new baby – but it is there. As a parent, you start feeling its burden pretty quickly. More often than not, as soon as you are back home and the door closes behind you.

One day, you left your home looking like a big balloon or helping one, but essentially being an independent person, and the next, you return being bound to a tiny helpless creature you must care for even when it sleeps, at the expense of your time, your energy, your comfortable old routine, all your other interests and even your relationships with your partner.

Man, that’s heavy!

Read Responsible Parenting »

Published: December 16, 2009 by Gal Baras
Last modified: December 24, 2019In: Parenting Tags: emotional intelligence, choice, motivation, society, lifestyle, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, practical parenting / parents, focus, responsibility

Kids’ Survival Skills

In the Stone Age, survival involved hunting, gathering, finding shelter, keeping a file going and making simple stone tools. Men were men, women were women and kids had to observe and learn from their respective role models how to survive, but it was fairly simple – get food, make sure nothing eats you, that sort of thing.

From a social point of view, kids did as they were told and stayed out of the way of people who were physically stronger. When they did not, they were beaten, denied food or faced danger on their own.

Over time, life changed quite a bit. Farming, wars, new religions, the industrial revolution, colonization all required the development of new survival skills, but generally speaking, one’s position in life was mainly determined by one’s position at birth – place of birth, social status, financial position and so on. Although stories are told of those who have made great changes, most people lived life pretty much the same as their parents had.

From a social point of view, kids did as they were told and were bound by strict societal rules of politeness, respect and service towards adults and people who were socially stronger.

Nowadays, things are very different. Getting from one place to another, far away, is relatively easy and inexpensive, so even young people can afford to travel and relocate and even kids experience the change created by international or long distance moves.

Read Kids’ Survival Skills »

Published: November 4, 2009 by Gal Baras
Last modified: December 24, 2019In: Parenting, Relationships / Marriage Tags: social skills, society, lifestyle, kids / children, behavior / discipline, friends / friendship, communication, practical parenting / parents, focus, emotional intelligence, change, relationships / marriage

Good Fences

Jim, the neighbor sharing our back fence, rang this week to ask if we would share the cost of replacing the fence that separates our back yards. He was very polite and patient, but made it clear he wanted to put up a “good fence”.

So let me tell you exactly what I think about fences and what I think about how they separate people.

Read Good Fences »

Published: October 14, 2009 by Gal Baras
Last modified: March 18, 2021In: Parenting, Relationships / Marriage Tags: privacy, social, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, communication, practical parenting / parents, fear, choice, safety, relationships / marriage, society, lifestyle, family matters

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