Pam Connell's comments

Early Education on the Rise - Blog Entry

17 Jan 2008 06:18 PM

Sometimes community colleges offer a nice compromise with their parent-child programs. The way ours worked is that there were two teachers for the children and one parent educator. Each week half the parents would be in the large room with the children and teachers, thus observing how the teachers work with the children, while the other half was in an adjoining room with the parent educator discussing child development, education, sibling rivalry, nutrition, etc. Next week the topic would be repeated with the parents who'd already heard it working with the teachers and kids. So there was a new topic every two weeks.

The classes end with a music time for parents and children together and parents receive one or two community college credits for attending.

Survivors of Melamine Poisoning - Blog Entry

17 Jan 2008 02:53 AM

Thanks for researching this question for me, Aimee. I really appreciate it.

Children Who Leave Too Early and the Families Left Behind - Blog Entry

17 Jan 2008 02:51 AM

I know "limbo" was a prevalent belief in my parents' generation, but I haven't heard of the babies being buried in unconsecrated ground (glad I didn't live in the Middle Ages!)

Although the official statement is recent, all the priests I've known since I was a child have believed that God takes these children to Himself in His loving mercy.

I do love the beautiful passages above--especially the first one from "History of the Church". Thank you for sharing them. I'm glad I had time to delve into some blogs i don't usually get to!

Suggested New Year's Resolutions for Adoptive Parents - Blog Entry

13 Jan 2008 04:16 PM

Welcome SL, I'm so glad you've found some helpful ideas here! Please keep us informed about how things are going!

No Child Left Behind Tutoring Makes Progress - Blog Entry

10 Jan 2008 08:02 PM

Who chooses the tutors? Can the parents choose a private provider and have the district pay for it? Does the district hire tutors? Or are the same teachers in the failing schools hired to tutor after hours?

When It's Time to Be Released - Blog Entry

10 Jan 2008 07:54 PM

Tristi--I think this blog, and also Dan's comment, have a lot to teach those of us in other churches as well. Thanks.

Children Who Leave Too Early and the Families Left Behind - Blog Entry

10 Jan 2008 07:49 PM

Thanks for sharing these beautiful and consoling words--but I also want to make a correction about Catholic belief. Catholics do not, and never have, teach that babies who die unbaptized go to Purgatory. Purgatory, in Catholic theology, is a temporary state where one is to be made worthy of heaven.

It was never an official teaching of the Church, but many Catholic priests and nuns taught a theory about "Limbo" taken from the writings of St Augustine. Augustine believed that Baptism was necessary for attaining heaven--defined as the "beatific vision" of being in the presence of God. Yet children who die unbaptized could not, if God is loving, be sent to a place of punishment or discomfort such as Purgatory or Hell. Augustine suggested "Limbo" , which he conceived of as a state where there is every earthly good thing imaginable, except for the beatific vision of God's presence. (My theology professor used to say, "I wouldn't mind a vacation in Limbo." )

Of course, this was still very distressing to parents who feared they would not see their child again in Heaven. The Church last year made an official statement backing off from the idea of Limbo.

I don't claim to be a theologian, but I was gratified because the statement seemed to use an argument I had made in graduate school. This is the "baptism of desire". The Church had long held that catechumens (adults studying and preparing for Baptism) could go to heaven. (They could hardly say otherwise since many catechumens in the early days were martyred for their new belief in Christ.) The Catholic Church also practices infant Baptism, where the parents and godparents take the vows on behalf of the baby and promise to teach them the faith (the child will confirm those vows on their own as a young adult). So if adults can be saved by their desire for Baptism, and infants can be Baptized if their parents so desire, then doesn't it follow that infants can be saved by the fact that their parents desired them baptized?

Regardless of theological wrangling and the latest pronouncement, which I am glad for as it doubtless will be a relief to many Catholics, my thoughts have always been that God loves these children even more than we do, and that He is smarter than we are (and thus not bound by our theological logic). I've always believed that innocents go to heaven.

Survivors of Melamine Poisoning - Blog Entry

01 Jan 2008 10:01 PM

Is this the same melamine children's dishes are sometimes made of?

When Towels Take Over - Blog Entry

29 Dec 2007 02:27 PM

How is this working? I just tried buying towels and cups in different colors but my kids don't seem to catch on yet...some of them are pretty little. I have also just put towel hooks in their bedrooms and labeled them, even with pictures of a towel for the youngest...but no one, including my dear husband, seems to grasp the fact that more than one drink of water can be gotten with a cup...

"Did Somebody Dial 911?" - Blog Entry

29 Dec 2007 02:22 PM

If anyone hosts foreign exchange students, be sure to inform them that if they accidentally dial 911 they can't get flustered and hang up..I've had more than one of them think that the best way to deal with it is not to bother the nice operator with an explanation. The officers said it's very common for exchange students to accidentally dial 911 because it is similar to many of the country calling codes.

I also had the one-year-old strike...I'd put him on my bed while I used the bathroom adjacent to my bedroom. We did get a phone call before the police actually came, but I had just made a resolution not to let stupid marketing calls interfere with my time with my son, so I settled in for a long peaceful nursing session and ignored the phone...I'm sure you all can take the story from here.