Temptation The Movie: “Let’s Get the Party Started!”

So FINALLY, there is a chance to get to a Tyler Perry movie in the the most important first week and I could not wait. Making sure to get out of the office on time. Leaving at 5:01 for a 6:30pm showing and sure enough, needing every minute to get through that Washington, DC traffic…UGH…2013 opening day baseball. Surely, selecting the theatre that is directly past the Nationals traffic would be the thing to do. But since they were picked by Sports Illustrated and ESPN to win the World Series this year, I guess getting used to them blocking up traffic. I think I saw Brett Brocki yelling from the top of a limo at the Channel 8 New Crew too! (Some things are never surprising) Maybe they will get to block it in an organized way….You know…with a PARADE!!! I went from day one to the parade.

Sorry, that is how my mind works sometimes.

Well, anywho. Arriving just in time to pay for my ticket electronically and walk past everyone waiting in line and have my ticket taken by the guy who was workng the cash booth was a sweet deal. I know I am not the avid movie goer but why do people not use the machine to purchase their tickets? Someone please comment and let me know what is better about waiting in line.

So being able to shoot around one line was definetly a highlight for Mr. Impatient…only to wish there was a way to make my own popcorn and drink. Especially since my popcorn rivals any movie theatre when home with the G-Unit. Normally doing a huge bucket of popcorn and a soft drink doesn’t appeal to my but not being a frequent visitor leads me to believe I have to enjoy the entire blockbuster experience. The only challenge is that the line at the concession stand is super long and though there are 19 screens only two lanes are open. I guess they thought everyone would not be coming until later. Maybe they were aware of the traffic and scheduled everyone to come in for the 7:30 viewing of Temptation, by the marketing genius, Tyler Perry.

Well, eventually my popcorn and drink were aquired and was even able to actually have the manager hold it for me while I visited the restroom. Didn’t want any need to leave this show and miss a very important scene and be lost the rest of the film.

So I am in and the film starts and there she is KIM KARDASHIAN!!! And if you want to know how she did in her debut with Tyler Perry, she was a great actress. The only challenge is she was not really acting. She was playing herself. A fashion hungry, nametag pushing girlfriend who like dresses so TIGHT you are not able to breathe and cringes at the sight of a woman in flats. Seems normal enough for her to pull off.

Then there is the eye candy for the women. Yes, going directly to the gym trying to compete with Lance, who in the first hour shows his chest and abs 4 times and I am not sure of the other guys name(some reviewer I am huh) but he has a nice chest as well and was showing it on his runs through the park.

Then there was Vanessa Williams, with a bad French accent, who owns a millionare matchmaking service. Brandy, who works in a pharmacy(took everything for me not to type drug store) and the star young lady who I don’t know her name either(there I go again) who is married to Lance and is as dry as they come.

Now for the layout of the land for this magnificent plot. A one bedroom studio apartment and the matchmaking office.

There you have the first hour of the film Temptation! The slowest, dryest first hour of a blockbuster movie ever.

Someone needs to tell Tyler Perry to put the energy that he puts into marketing a movie into actually making it worth pushing. You do not have an hour to get my attention. I walked out and got my money back. And that was my excitement for the night, because the manager said I was 4 minutes past her cutoff. (another post on that, but you all know I got my money)

Don’t worry. I will go see it with my wife so I can give you a full review, but I just had to show you by starting slow in my post that you have to GET THE PARTY STARTED MR PERRY!! People don’t like things dragging out and that is what Temptation does.

DRAG. I rate the first hour a 0 on a scale of 1-10. Oh, my bad, it did motivate me to put down my popcorn and drink and hit the gym and for that it gets a 2.

More where this came from…

ODC

In my opinion, he needs to stick to stage plays. That way when there are errors in production we can’t rewind the videos and catch it.

How do we save our boys??

Earlier today I attended a church service that involved the baptism of about 17 individuals. The 17 included adults, teenagers and pre-teens. Surprisingly enough there were several men in the group and that alone was unusual, but quite refreshing to see. There were a few young men that caught my eye today and I believe their stories can give us a few tools to possibly help save our young boys.
I was lucky enough to sit directly behind a young man named Clifton who was one of those baptised on this day and noticed he had such a pleasant demeanor and attitude. He was accompanied to the service by what I believed to be his mother and grandmother. I did not verify this personal information but was sure there were no men in his party. Clifton looked to be between 8 & 10 years old.
There was another gentleman who caught my attention and his name was Trebreyon and he was accompanied by his father, mother, 2 aunts and 2 male cousins ages 19 & 16. Though I did not verify the spelling of his name I did verify the members of his family and the ages of the young male family members.
These two young men, Clifton and Trebreyon, are 5-7 years apart but both carry such an innocence about them. I watched Clifton as he was starting to become cold during the service after being dunked in the baptismal pool. He leaned over and whispered to his mother and she allowed him to lay comfortably under her arm. But it is not uncommon for a young boy near 8-10 to still have his innocence and even with his support system not including any men on this day…..I WILL BE PRAYING FOR LITTLE CLIFTON. THAT HE DOESN’T GET CAUGHT HAVING TO BE “THE MAN’ BEFORE TIME BECAUSE OF A LACK OF A MALE PRESENCE.
Mr. Trebreyon, on the other hand, was outside in the lobby after service and had no idea that I was watching him. He was a little bored with the adult conversation that takes place after church services and made his way over to a window. A window that had a lip just above what his outstretched arms could reach. He stood there…looked up…and decided he would not allow the window to conquer him. So he reached up and was able to just get his fingers over the lip and pull himself up. Now this is a teenager around 14 and this church service takes place in a school and it is not going to fall down or anything. So those of you wondering that…take a deep breath. But what I noticed was a teenager who was still holding on to his innocence. When I was that age, I would have been more concerned with girls and what they were doing. In church or not! If we really keep it all the way REAL! So being the father of 4 beautiful young ladies, it was an awesome experience to see that Mr. Trebreyon’s support system is spending the time to cultivate a young man who is concerned more with the business of God and not the streets. His innocence parallel that of Clifton, who was 5 years his junior. I was able to speak to his parents after service and tell them.

JOB WELL DONE! KEEP BEING AN ACTIVE PRESENCE, BECAUSE THEIR INNOCENCE IS BASED ON OUR INVESTMENT OF TIME AND ALL THEY WANT IS OUR TIME!

ODC

I’m Black…A registered Democrat…and I’m Undecided

 

 

 

 

With President Barack Obama set to take the stage at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in the capital of my home state, Charlotte, North Carolina, I have a confession to make.  Well, I actually have two.  1. I never liked or thought Raleigh should be the capital and  2. I am undecided about who to vote for in the Presidential Election.

My challenge is that I have a favorite phrase, “What are you basing that on?”

And if I am going to live by this I need to be able to tell people the answer to my own ‘tag line’.

An answer which I am not sure about myself…

Why am I not sure?  Because, unlike several others I have spoken to, I actually am researching the platforms of the candidates.  So before you get all up in arms and call me a sellout make sure you know the platforms of each for yourself.

I keep thinking about the teachings in the Singles Ministry at church.  Where they teach the Singles to make a list of their deal breakers before they meet someone  that is cute and get all caught up.  Someone that qualifies as having a deal breaker quality.

So my question is am I supposed to vote for a person who is Democrat just because he is Democrat?

I know. I know.  The Republicans vote for Republicans JUST because they are Republicans!

Or am I supposed to vote for a person because he is Black and he can make history again?

I know. I know.  White people vote for white people…JUST BECAUSE.

Should I vote for the guy who has been treated like THE N-WORD by the millions since taking office for redemption for Trayvon Martin and those that came before him?

Or should I vote for the person who has the beliefs that most closely resembles the mission & vision of my family?

Thus I am  Black, registered Democrat and undecided.  I also struggled with not voting at all, but don’t worry. I will vote.  Too many died for my right to do that and I will not let those that came before me down.

Can’t wait to hear the speech because I do know one thing.  There was already one Obama that has already given a speech worth earning votes and I will keep the rest of my thoughts about her arms to myself.

ODC

How tanning can get you thrown in jail for stealing an iPhone (The Finale)

The funny part about Mr. Smarty Pants Police is how quickly he realized he was not dealing with a ‘Status Quo’ BOY who was going to allow him to act any kind of disrespectful way but I also was not going to play the ‘who can raise their voice the loudest game.’

He immediately walked over to his damsel in distress and asked her to tell her side of what happened.  And would you believe he actually turned his little puppy dog head to the side and listened to her entire story…..WITHOUT INTERRUPTION.

After approximately 20 minutes, his superior arrived on the scene and asked him to point towards the person who called to speak.  I also noticed the superior did not speak to him for a prep talk either.  He walked over and introduced himself and I told him who I was and he asked, “How can I assist?”

I asked him if he had a problem shaking hands with me and he said that he did not but he prefers not to take any germs home to his children.  He said it in a nice way and extended his hand saying, “If it is necessary I have no issues.”  I told him that I appreciated his response and his eyes told a completely different story from that of the officer.  He allowed me to explain my issues without interruption.

The conversation was great and went on for over an hour.  I found that his wife was a SAHM who homeschooled his children. (we actually shared curriculum challenges and I referred him to Khan Academy). He actually attempted to get his wife on the phone to speak with me while we were talking.  He also uses Dave Ramsey Financial Peace budgeting program and is on Baby Step #2.  I felt like I was talking to my twin but my WM twin is This Daddy’s Blog and so far from being a cop that it is not funny.

Anywho.

I wrote a statement to be placed in the initial rude officers personnel file and the superior assured me this would be done.  Don’t worry about me believing him. I do believe him but I always have a backup plan for the police fraternity.

During our 1-1.5 hour talk session the superior explained that he would stay on the scene with us as long as possible but if he got an urgent call he would need to take it.  I told him I understood and appreciated the advance notice.  He eventually left but the young woman’s mother, who had taken her Honda to the boyfriends home, eventually showed up with the phone.  The mother did not exit the car or even look at me.  But we already know this family had some parenting issues. She handed the phone to the daughter who handed it to the bad attitude cop who walked over and gave it to me. I looked at the phone and found it to be cracked on the face.  I immediately stated, “The face is cracked.” Little Miss Momma responds, “That is how it looked when we found it.” I looked her in the face and said, “I thought you didn’t know anything about an iPhone because there was NO phone in the bag!”  I told her I will let the judge decide if she should pay for my wife’s phone to get fixed.

At this point he told me that I had the option to write a statement that would be included in the police report…but said, “It’s really not necessary since you have the phone back.”

I told him I wanted to write a report.  He gave me 2 pieces of paper and half of the first one was filled with lines for my information.  I told him that I would need a few more pages and wrote a super long statement with 75% of it not even focusing on the cell phone but on his treatment.  He then had to go back and type up my statement into the report and read all of what I felt about his actions and how I really appreciated his superior officer but that I did not trust either officer to turn in the reports given to them and I would be making a visit to Henry County to file an internal affairs complaint.

It will take time for this to get done but these are the things we must do to pay stuff forward in hopes of correcting this curve between BM and the police.

Just a few items that I would like to bring up since this ended up being a little more about the Henry County police.  The young lady was cold while waiting and the officer gave her a Henry County police jacket to wear.  I just wonder if he would have done the same for me.  I also heard that is against policy but have been unable to verify.  He can’t say it did not happen because I actually took a picture of the couple standing side by side with their police gear on when I was pulling out of the parking lot.  I will post it later.  I have my reasons but don’t worry it will be the original and not photoshopped.

Also, I felt really bad for one of the young girls (8) who started crying because she thought she was going to jail.  I have a daughter around the same age who is so sensitive and I was telling my wife it just broke my heart to see her so upset and her mom being the cause of it all.

Well, I never even laid my eyes on the boyfriend.  He never made it to the scene.  The mother ,who could not look at me, had to go pick the phone up and actually had a client in the salon that was unable to get her hair done because of all this mess.

There was something good that came out of this.  My wife and I have some friends that I wish we were closer to, and I spoke to the husband while on the way and once at the shopping center.  He let me know that I was 3 minutes from there home.  Also, when my GPS directed me, it took me a way that I did not know existed. Now I realize they are only 25 minutes from us and not the 45 it was taking me on the highway.  So we are planning a Friday night family movie night and Saturday morning Crossfit session with them.

WOW! We finally made it to the end and I want to thank all of you for hanging in there with us to get to this point.

Point to remember:

Log your phone with ICloud!!

Apple is the bomb and I guess I have to now get my wife the IPAD.  I have been running for to long but they have earned my business as a customer for life!! The frenzy is actually worth it for our family.

BTW, here is a plug for Six Flag’s lost and found department. Apparently, WF did turn in the Hello Kitty Bag, but conveniently decided to keep the phone. The bag was mailed to us yesterday.

ODC

How tanning can get you thrown in jail for stealing an iPhone! (Part 2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I immediately told her that I had tracked a cell phone belonging to my wife to this location.

Her mouth dropped WIDE OPEN before she realized it and she immediately attempted to clean up her look and said, “There was not a cell phone in the bag sir.”  I asked her if there were kids in the car and she replied, “Yes.”

I told her she may want to speak with them because at this moment I am attempting to give her some grace and thinking she may not even know that someone in the car with her had the phone.

She went to check the trunk of her car and I watched her as she opened every bag that was in her trunk.  And this was approximately 8 different bags and found nothing there. She then walked back to the hair salon and before she could enter a young boy about 9 walked out. Behind him were two young girls around the ages of 10 & 8.  She asked them if they knew anything about a iPhone and they all replied, “No.”

I then asked her was there anyone else in the car and she said, Only my boyfriend but I already took him home.

BAM!

I waited for her to close the trunk and took a picture of her license plate.  She asked me, “What are you doing?” I said, “Taking a picture of your license plate.”

If you are reading this, You already know me.  Smart as they come…She was getting her first taste.

I told her I was not going to do a song and dance with her and walked away to call the police.

I called the Henry county police and gave them my location, why I was there and her tag number.  They told me if she attempted to leave that I would need to call them and point them in her direction. Do not attempt to stop her.  Sound familiar?

After I finished my call the young lady approached me and was handing me her cell phone to speak to someone.  I asked who it was and she responded, “My boyfriend.”

I took the phone and spoke to him.  He stated that he had found the phone on the ground at Six Flags and it was “ALL BUSTED UP.”

I told him that was fine because there was a Verizon store across the parking lot and his girlfriend could walk over and just purchase a new iPhone and I would be on my way.

He responded, “We don’t have money for that.”

I handed the phone back to girly and told her, “You two need to speak so you can get your story straight before the police get here.”

“Why did you call the police?” she stated and I responded, “Because I am not trying to play this game with you all night.”

She turned and went back into the hair salon.  She returned with a mature woman with a very nice hair cut.  A minute later I found this to be her mother.  She was explaining the situation…As she saw it…to her mother.  I allowed her to finish her presentation and of course she was making me look like THE BIG BAD WOLF.

When she wrapped up I walked up and introduced myself and told her mom that I was not irrational at all in my thinking.  I told her that my wife had her cell phone stolen from Six Flags and I tracked it to this location.

The young lady interrupted me and said, “My boyfriend only took your phone because he was going to return it to the Sprint Store.” Then she said, “The phone works fine.”

I then pulled out my phone and showed her mother the 5 text messages I had sent to the phone that were never returned and stated, “If the intent was to return the phone, why were these messages ignored?” And I walked over to my truck to wait for the police.

Finally, the Henry County police were on the scene and the case of the stolen cell phone was going to be resolved without any other issues….

or so we thought..

So I walked up to the officer in an effort to  introduce myself and went to shake his hand. He looked at me like I was the biggest, nastiest, slimiest person on the face of the earth.  I will just say this.  He was a WM and he made me feel like I was in Georgia and not Washington DC.

It has not happened much but it does happen and this was THE WORST I HAVE FELT IN A LONG TIME and I was TOTALLY UPSET.  I believe he was hoping he could cater to the young lady with the nice tan standing next to me.

The police officer looked at me and said, “I don’t shake hands!”

To which I replied, “I totally understand.”

I made my best attempt to move past this situation and tell myself that maybe he was a person with a germ phobia.  (even though I knew it was more than that…It was the venom in his eyes)His delivery was horrible.

I began to tell him why I called and made sure to stick to the facts and he cut me off in the middle of my sentence.  I began speaking again and he cut me off again.  I then told the officer that I was the person who placed the call and I was going to need him to allow me to tell him why he was called and he needed to allow me to finish my statement.

He replied, “I don’t need you to tell me what to do!” And he got that stance thing going on like he was going to come at me like I was the problem of the evening.

I immediately took my phone asked him for his name and his superior officers name to document.  His name was J. Palmer and his superior officers name was Gibbs.  I told him that I would no longer speak to him and I needed his superior officer on the scene. “Right Away.”

His entire facial expression changed in that moment and he began apologizing and said, “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot.”

Without saying a word, I walked away and went back to my truck to wait for the superior and pulled my phone out to begin typing my complaint on the officer.

You can blame Henry County for there being a Part 3!!

ODC

Dwayne Wade is losing the “TRUE CHAMPIONSHIP”

As many of you know we are about family and honoring the vows made before God.  As much as I love my children, I believe the BEST God has for my family is to remain as one unit.  It hurts my heart to see how the WIFE of Dwayne Wade, of the Miami Heat is talked about because she is hurting due to having to watch her husband and children parade around during the NBA Championship with THE OTHER WOMAN.

I NEED YOU ALL TO UNDERSTAND THIS!!! Gabrielle Union is THE OTHER WOMAN.  Dwayne Wade has a WIFE! He took a vow to Siohvaughn Funches-Wade and the world is giving her a bad rap.  She was arrested the weekend of Father’s Day after refusing to allow the couples sons to be picked up by Wade’s sister.

Dwayne Wade made the following statement:

“Once again, S.L. has used our minor children as the proverbial pawns in this contentious dissolution of marriage action. This court must take action to protect our minor children from further exposure to the present environment S.L. creates while they are in her care and preventing S.L. from exercising her parenting time in a manner that is harmful to our children.

The minor children have been subjected to great deal of drama/trauma as a result of S.L.’s conduct.”

It is amazing how we continue to label fathers as CHAMPIONS for having the movie star girlfriend, even when it involves leaving his wife who has been by his side for years,  or driving a shiny Bentley, which doesn’t make you a REAL MAN.  When will we realize that the TRUE CHAMPIONS are the men who honor the quotes we made to God over the Cook County court system?

Remember this Dwayne:

“I love you, Siovaughn  and I know that God has ordained this love. Because of this I desire to be your husband. Together we will be vessels for His service in accordance with His plan, so that in all areas of our life Christ will have the pre-eminence. Through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future, I promise to be faithful to you. I promise to love, guide, and protect you as Christ does His Church, and as long as we both are alive. According to Ephesians 5 and with His enabling power, I promise to endeavor to show to you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her, and to love you as a part of myself because in His sight we shall be one.”

The couple has a court date set for June 26, 2012 and I will be praying for the restoration of the family.  I believe the AA community needs to see this happen in a major way and THAT will be the World Championship for my community.

I just wonder if Essence Magazine would cover this as an example of REAL BLACK LOVE.  One that involves MARRIAGE!

ODC

The missing relationship in “Think Like a Man”

Congratulations to “Think Like a Man” for taking over the box office for several weeks and allowing us to all laugh at the movie which many said actually passed the King of Comedy crown to actor and  narrator, Kevin Hart. It was impossible to depart from the movie and not know that he carried the production from the first scene till the conclusion.   It is always great to be able to laugh at our relationships and still grow from our mistakes.

The character played by Kevin Hart was just one of the relationships highlighted during the relationship movie that was to give legs to the New York Best Selling Book by Steve Harvey (written by D. Millner of www.mybrownbaby.com)

It took a few weeks for my wife and I to find time to enjoy the feature and it was much different from what I expected of the film following the blockbuster book.  Once able to view the film and the different depictions of relationships I immediately noticed what was missing.

With all the different flavors of men in the book there was only one from the film that was NOT FEATURED!

The only relationship that was not allowed any depth was the man who helped out in the home, who supported his family, who checked in regularly and who was not afraid to speak positively  about his relationship around the guys. And some may notice that this role was given to a white actor. Hmmmm.

His reward in the film:  We never see his woman or get a chance to hear or feel the most positive relationship in the featured film.  In my opinion, this was the major loss in “Think Like A Man” and was THE MISSING LINK RELATIONSHIP.

ODC

Open Letter to Couples Shacking Up: She/He is not going to marry you!

This is an open letter/special report in response to the  alarming statistics that 68% of AA children are born into Single Parent households. This is an alarming number that becomes crippling when we add that 54% of these children will not graduate from high school.  I had the hardest time trying to swallow these number when they were announced some time ago because my wonderful mom was a Single/Divorced Parent for many years and she has a 100% college graduation rate in her home with two children.

THEN IT HIT ME!

She graduated from college! She went back to school and worked at the same time and her children were able to see her do this while not getting much sleep and leaning on her family and friends for support. She realized early in life that your children are going to model your behavior. She had to go through a season in her life where her children and family were most important.

So today I have come to present an Open Letter…and a very short one at that…maybe the shortest in Open Letter History. (if anyone is tracking let me know, because my wife—NOT ME—is a stickler for the rules)

If you are shacking up…defined-1. as living with each other and not being married, 2. place where you have a side of the closet and you are not paying rent 3. the house where you are answering the phone but not getting mail 4. a place where you can park your car so it will not get repossessed and it is actually NOT inconvenient

The person you are shacking with….IS NOT GOING TO MARRY YOU!

WHY NOT?

People marry those they respect and they would not be shacking with you and playing family and having their children play family if they respected you.

And don’t think because you happen to be shacking and don’t have children that you are exempt.  You have less baggage and the person you are shacking with respects you even less than the person with the children.  They have NO EXCUSE why you are not married.

It has nothing to do with the economy!

Do you think he/she would be screaming that if the woman were Halle Berry (I know she wouldn’t because she likes getting married) or Idris for the ladies?

NOPE!  They would run to the justice of the peace and get that paper and work everything else out later.

I am just saying that this shacking mess is hurting our children and community. These numbers are not correct.  These children are actually being born to households with two adults but one is taking responsibility for the children.

The other one is just being “THE MILK MAN.” (If that went over your head, simple call your Grandfather and he will clear it up for you)

I am tired of the breakdown of the family happening right before our eyes and no one speaking out about it.

So I will.

So today I challenge you to prove your children are most important.

I challenge you to prove it with your actions.

I challenge you to make your home a family environment where your children can feel loved and feel you are being loved.  An environment where they can get the best attention and education, graduate from high school, start a business or pursue a higher education.

So for those of you who love reality shows:

THE REALITY IS SHE/HE IS NOT GOING TO MARRY YOU!

ODC

“March Madness Blogging Series”

Do we take the Easy or Hard road?

Happy 1 year anniversary: ReMix and it is still relevant!

I just received an amazing article from a friend…am I wrong if I say she is white?  Well I have spoken to her and she is okay with me saying it…so you just get over it.  We actually were sharing with each other about raising children and I said something that sparked her memory and she promised she would send me a copy of the article…AND SHE DID! (I told you she was white)…Some of you guys need to learn to laugh a little and get over yourself.  I am not a racist!  Quick…Who do I sound like?

There I go again…off the subject.

Well back to the lecture at hand.  So the article is awesome.  If I did not think she would read this I would just retype it and take credit for it…Naw because I have to add my 2 cents.  But the question at hand…….Why is life so tough?

The answer is…….

It’s not! For most of us, it is very simple…EASY EVEN.  Because we take the easy way out.  Here are a few examples:

Spending is easy, Saving is hard.

Cheating is easy, Faithful is hard.

Public school is easy, Homeschooling is hard.

Sex is easy, Love is hard.

Going along is easy, Walking alone is hard.

Epidural is easy, Natural is hard.

Formula is easy, Nursing is hard.

Reaction is easy, Action is hard.

Pizza is easy, Salad is hard.

Sleeping in is easy, Early workouts are hard.

Watching TV is easy, Reading is hard.

Talking about God is easy, Praying to and following God is hard.

Getting married is easy, Staying married is hard.

So why is all this true?

Because nothing in life that is worthwhile comes without effort.

Thanks for stopping by…

See you tomorrow.

ODC

“March Madness Blogging Series”

Are 6 Y.O. boyfriends REALLY harmless?

As you all know I have 4 daughters and as you all know…

I am the right man for the job.  I had a conversation with my wife about a conversation she overheard my daughters having concerning “liking” someone of the male persuasion.

You know it was addressed with the quickness.

What she explained to them was it was great to “like” other kids…Meaning boys and girls, but you will not have a “harmless” “boyfriend” because we don’t believe they are harmless. Not at any age.  We are hurting our children when we allow them to play dating games at such an early age and stand around thinking that the game is harmless.

I had a conversation with a parent the other day who I told 16 was to young to be dating.  She disagreed.  That’s okay.  I told her I hope she is ready to be called G-Ma or Me-Ma.

In our society we allow small children to play the “is that your boyfriend game and then we wonder why we have all the challenges we have as they mature. This behavior is contributing to the breakdown of our families.

We all can agree that dating is a HUGE PROBLEM!!

I like to say dating is practice for getting divorce and we do not want our children participating in the setup.

So NO a boyfriend at any age is NOT HAPPENING, but “guarding their hearts” is the way to turn this cruise ship called dating around and it will take more than just us on this block for this to become a success.

But we believe our children are worth every effort.

We are teaching our daughters to “guard their hearts.”  We believe and pray for them daily that they know the importance and keep a pure heart and body until marriage.

Many of us have made all the mistakes of not following this path and I want those that feel their lives and marriages are better to SPEAK UP!

Otherwise,

We will be instructing our children NOT to discuss or participate in “liking” and “so-called harmless boyfriends/girlfriends” AT ANY AGE!

We will only be “GUARDING OUR HEARTS.”

ODC

“March Madness Blogging Series”