Dunson Adventures

Grits? I’m from the South and I love a bowl of grits. Grits with butter. Grits with cheese. Grits with sugar. Shrimp and grits. I like every kind I have tried.  What does that have to do with my parenting class? Well the topic I wanted to talk to you about today is called grit and that got me a little bit hungry and homesick. What is Grit? “One researcher defines it as “a combination of passion and perseverance in the pursuit of a long-term goal” (see story of Angela Duckworth in Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2016, and cited in "The Virtue of Hard Things," by Emily Esfahani Smith). She offers a few examples: a cartoonist who submitted some 2,000 drawings to the New Yorker magazine before one was finally accepted; a below-average high school English student who became a best-selling novelist; a Super Bowl quarterback who, after a disappointing first semester in college, wanted to quit and come home, but his strong but loving father told him, “You can qu...

Let’s Talk about Sex Yes, that title is there for attention. No I don’t want to talk to you about sex. It’s an uncomfortable subject. But it’s one we need to talk about with our children. If we don’t talk to our children about sex their friends will or even worse they’ll look it up on the internet. “It is not just a talk about sexuality; it’s a conversation about our God-given feelings and our aspirations of what we can become as families.” (“How to Teach Children about Sexual Intimacy - Church News and Events,” 2015) “It’s important to start talking about it. You want to be sure your child is getting the facts and not getting information that isn’t appropriate or is misguided-whether from other kids or media. And if you are not talking about it, you are missing the invaluable opportunity to build a closer relationship with your child.” (Luff, 2004, p. 336) We need to address our standards. In the For Strength of Youth handbook there is a detailed section abou...

Spare the Rod As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I did not realize that the Church had a position on parenting and anger. I am a convert to the church and the one concern that my mother had when I had children is that I would have “wild Mormon kids”. I asked her what she was talking about and she said you know the one where the mother is sheepishly asking her child to do something and the child either yells back or ignores her altogether. That is one extreme of parenting. In contrast, you’ve heard the old adage, “spare the rod and spoil the child”. Doesn’t that mean that you should beat your kids? I mean it’s in the Bible, right? Let’s take a look at what’s actually in the bible. In Proverbs 13:24 it says, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” (“Proverbs 13,” n.d.) I’m not going to lie even after reading this I was still a bit confused. So I dug a bit deeper and stumbled upon a g...

Hello everyone, I haven't posted in forever. Let's see, I live in Tbilisi Georgia underneath Russia. I now have 5 beautiful children. I finished the Church's pathway program and am now finishing my last year of BYU-I online. For a class assignment, I have been tasked with making a blog with some helpful information about parenting that I have learned this past semester. I thought I would post it here since I already have a blog that captures my parenting adventures. Well, a few adventures anyways. What can I say I'm a busy Mom?!