"My Personal Policies"

I've never done a meme before, but have certainly seen quite a few floating around out there in blogland. This one looked interesting, and kittyhox tagged everyone, so I guess that means me!!

Here's the description:

"My Personal Policies

I think it would be safe to say that we all have personal rules that we live by. Surely it's not just ME. I'm not talking about moral rules, like "Do not kill." I'm talking about the silly policies we impose on ourselves, like "Never eat anything you can't identify," or "Don't step on sidewalk cracks." For some reason, I started mentally listing the quirky rules I follow and got curious about other people's personal rules.

As an added bonus, I will include parenting policies I USED to think I would follow before I actually became a parent: (feel free to add yours, too!)"

Okay, trying to think of some self-oddities here -- it's always fun to see what really weird things other people do because then you feel more comfortable with your own weirdness. :)

1. Eat a hamburger every day. But I can ONLY have one a day. If I had a burger for lunch and am REALLY craving one for supper too, then I will allow myself a veggieburger as a substitute, though I attempt not to do that terribly often as I KNOW I need to eat other things too!! (I'm really not kidding about this...it's an addiction, I'm telling you!)

2. No pop allowed except rootbeer (since most rootbeers have no caffeine) and even then, ONLY when eating in a sit-down restaurant.

3. If a muscle clenches for any reason on one side of the body, the other one must do so to match it. Same thing with touches. If something brushes against one arm, the other arm must be equally brushed. If one eye closes tighter than the other, the blink must be repeated with the other eye tighter. It can sometimes take several back and forths to get both sides of the body balanced out correctly.

4. Spend twenty minutes at the computer upon awakening. I do fine to break this rule when at other people's homes; this is just a rule for at MY house. I can only break this rule at my house in case of an emergency, which of course almost never happens. I need that twenty minutes to transition from sleep to awake.

5. Go to Disney World every year. I LIKE this one!! :) I can't remember the last year I missed but I think I've gone pretty much every year for at least the last ten or so and usually more than once. I'm a Disneyite. :)

6. Read before falling asleep. Even when I'm soooo tired I can't keep my eyes open, I still have to read a couple pages before turning out the lights or it just doesn't seem right!!

7. No bare feet in the house. Strangely enough, I'm fine with bare feet outside. I used to be fine with bare feet in the house. Now I can't stand to be without socks inside. But if I'm walking around the house in socks and need to go out to get the mail or take out the trash, I don't put on shoes to do so, I just take off the socks (so they don't get dirty), leave them by the door and put them back on as soon as I get back inside. I know it doesn't make sense... but that's okay! :)

8. NEVER peek ahead in a book or read the end first to see what's going to happen. Totally ruins the book. Can't understand people who do that!!

As for the parenting principles from before one was a parent -- well, I'm in the before stage, unfortunately, so I'll go ahead and post five principles I anticipate living by, and if I ever have the privilege of becoming a mother, then I can look back and laugh at myself as my child breaks all the rules! :)

1. Tv time will be LOW. Only occasional during infancy. In toddlerhood, they can watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Sesame Street (based on current programming available :) ), plus a Disney (or similar) movie together as a family once or twice a week. That's it, unless they're sick or some other extenuating circumstance is going on that makes more on a particular day reasonable. I will probably get a little more lax as the child gets older because I know kids have to watch certain tv shows to be able to fit into conversations with friends, but I will always be very cautious as to the content of what they're watching.

2. Hands-on learning will be incorporated into everything we do, and I want them actively playing throughout most of their day. Thus the small amount of tv time. I want them outside running, jumping, and climbing when weather permits, and inside reading, constructing, and playing games when it doesn't. NOT sitting in front of a screen all day. Being an early interventionist and doing this all day long with other people's kids anyway, I do think I'll probably manage to keep this rule.

3. No junk food (including sweets and fast food type items) when little except when necessary to fit in socially. Cake and ice cream at parties, a few pieces of candy at Halloween, Christmas, and Easter, snacks at preschool if they go, etc. I think I really will be a real stickler on this the first 3-4 years of life at least, and then will get more lenient as they get older.



Now then, I guess I'm supposed to tag someone. Since I don't know too many people who blog personally, I reckon I'll tag KiwiRia. :)