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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Cool time in the summer -> *'; 1 i >». y a*?* ■ ,fasm& l 'Xi:j£^" < JWgW'^T^rrfP^nrrMMrirr - 1 ffi 'irvPß ' $ _. . .. k... _ ....la^.^„ , aw^£gfamTW/aßSWft«i£eafl ENI/Gary Harmon Jordan Bonner and his mother, Leigh Anne, both from Perry, cool off from the 100 degree temperature recently. Vacations tempt children to re-examine boundaries QUESTION: Why is it that children are often the most obnoxious and irritating on vacations and at other times when parents specifically try to please them? On those special days, you’d think the kids would say to themselves, “Wow! Mom and Dad are doing some thing really nice for us, taking us on this great vacation. We’re going to give them a break and be really good kids today.” Isn’t that reasonable? DR. DOBSON: Sure it’s reasonable, but children just don’t think that way. In fact, many boys and girls mis behave even more at these times. Why is this? One rea son, I think, is because chil dren often feel compelled to re-examine the boundaries whenever they think they have moved. In other words, whenever the normal rou tine changes, the tougher kids often push the limits to see if the old rules still apply. QUESTION: So how can parents preserve their own peace of mind and maintain harmony dur ing car trips and family holidays? DR. DOBSON: Sometimes it helps to redefine the boundaries at .the beginning of your time together. Let the children know exact ly what you’re doing and what’s expected of them. If they still misbehave, respond with good, loving discipline right from the start. No parent wants to be an ogre on vacation, but it helps to show a little firmness at the outset that can make the rest of the time together fun for the entire family. QUESTION: What does research tell us about the personalities of new borns? How to make pine straw useful By Dan Rahn University of Georgia Georgia pines have start ed raining pine straw early this year. And yes, somebody has to rake it all up. But pine straw can be more of a blessing than a chore, said University of Georgia spe cialist Bob Westerfield. “If you use it right, pine straw can actually help you have less yard work to do,” said Westerfield, a UGA Cooperative Extension con sumer horticulturist. Pine straw can free you, he said, from having to do so much: ■ Mowing. Contoured pine straw islands, with just a few plants, can replace large areas of high-maintenance lawn. Where you already have groups of shrubs or trees, use pine straw to tie them together, he said. Then you won’t have to mow around them individually. ■ Watering. Sunshine and wind will take away much less water if the soil sur face is covered with mulch, he said. Reduce water needs DR. DOBSON: One of the most ambitious studies yet conducted took a period of three decades to complete. That investigation is known in professional literature as the New York Longitudinal Study. The findings from this investigation, led by psychiatrists Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas, were reported in their excel lent book for parents, “Know Your Child.” Chess and Thomas found that babies not only dif fer significantly from one another at the moment of birth, but those differences tend to be rather persistent throughout childhood. Even more interestingly, they observed three broad categories or patterns of tempera men t s into which the major ity of chil dren can be classi fied. First they referred to “the difficult child,” Dr. James Dobson Focus on the Family who is characterized l}y negative reactions to peo ple, intense mood swings, irregular sleep patterns and feeding schedules, frequent periods of crying and violent tantrums when frustrated. Does that sound familiar? I described those individuals many years ago as “strong willed” children. The second pattern is called “the easy child,” who mani fests a positive approach to people, quiet adaptability to new situations, regular sleep patterns and feeding sched ules, and a willingness to accept the rules of the game. The authors concluded, “Such a youngster is usually with pine straw mulch around shrubs and in flower beds. ■ Weeding. Mulches help control weeds, he said. That provides two advantages: One, you don’t have to pull weeds yourself. And two, you don’t have to spray chemi cal herbicides around your yard. Extension foresters say pine straw actually falls year-round. But needle-fall MINI-STORAGE (478) 397-2519 5' X 10' $25 lO'XlO' S4O 10" X 12' SSO 768 SO. FT. WAREHOUSE FOR RENT! LOWEST PRICES AROUND! (HH).V79SK a joy to his or her parents, pediatrician and teachers.” My term for the easy child is “compliant.” The third category was given the title “slow-to warm-up” or “shy.” These youngsters respond nega tively to new situations and they adapt slowly. However, they are less intense than difficult children are and they tend to have regular sleeping and feeding sched ules. When they are upset or frustrated, they typically withdraw from the situation and react mildly, rather than exploding with anger and rebellion. Not every child fits into one of these categories, of course, but approximately 65 percent* do. Drs. Chess and Thomas also emphasized that babies are fully human at birth, being able immedi ately to relate to their par ents and learning from their environments. I doubt if that news will come as a surprise to most mothers, who never believed in the “blank slate” theory, anyway. It should not be difficult to understand why these findings from longitudinal research have been exciting to me. They confirm my own clinical observations, not only about the wonderful complexity of human beings, but also about the categories of temperament identified by Drs. Chess and Thomas. Dr. Dobson is founder and chairman of the board of the nonprofit organization Focus on the Family, P.O. Box 444, Colorado Springs, CO. 80903; or www.family. org. Questions and answers are excerpted from “The Complete Marriage and Family Home Reference Guide” and “Bringing Up Boys, ” both published by Tyndale House. is heaviest in fall, winter and early spring. If you have more pine straw than you can use in the fall, just find an out-of the-way place to pile it up and save it. Next spring, you could be happy you did. For all the reasons it’s so good in your landscape, pine straw can be just as valuable as a mulch in your vegetable garden. 10'X20' SSO 20'X20' $75 (PER MONTH) LOCAL I r —j Diana Dougerty and her companion Samson, entertain the Sr. Wildlife Group at Bonaire United Methodist Church on Tuesday. Clay Dehlart feeds a hungry Samson. Macaws eat basi cally the same foods as humans. ENl'Gary Harmon JUI W,a illltS ~ Sajr j? . '■£. 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