love hurts, but it's worth it.

it sounds strange, but it is true.

there should be a class to teach about the feelings of love!

When i was in 6th grade i was "in love" with a boy named Bradley. He was so dreamy!

When i was in 7th grade, his name was Chad. Chad broke my heart.

In 8th grade his name was Andy, oh i was so young for Andy!

in 10th Grade i was once again "in deep love" with a boy... he turned out to be a stalker, but my heart didn't see it.

My mom wasn't really the best at explaining love and relationships to me. And my older sister would rather steal from me or beat me up than share her wisdom. So i was pretty much lost in the land of love and how to love and what it meant to love and be loved.

I think there are probably more kids than we realize who are unaware of LOVE. i don't mean the "i love you mommy and daddy" kind of love, but the "i want to spend the rest of my life with you (or at least the next few months of our relationship)" kind of love. To tell a person that you love them with those feelings is a very big deal. Then there is the love you create by bonding with a close friend. i never fully grasped love as a kid - i loved everyone! I told everyone that i loved them and didn't think much about it. i was a free spirit with my love and just gave it away all of the time. Now i am very guarded of my love and the use of the word love. Almost to a point where i do not share it enough.

Love hurts! and through the years i have come to understand that be it a friend or a family member or even in the past a boyfriend - when you put love out there and it gets beat up a bit, you lose part of that love and it is hard to get it back. i spent several years holding in my love and only sharing it with those that i truly felt deserved it (mostly hubby and my kid). But slowly i have been trying to put myself back out there by telling people that i care about - that they are loved by me, that they mean something to me as a friend or a family member. I've been hurt bunches in this adventure of putting myself back out there. But i am learning!

If only they had a class in school about love. How to love. How to be loved. What love is exactly... maybe there would be less pain in the world?

age limit for kids online?

We live in an online world these days. I could see this back in 1995 when i got my first Window's based computer and went online and started my first website (it was cheesy!). But the world that we live in is quickly moving to a world where kids NEED to know about the online world at a much younger age.

Claire was playing online at Playhouse Disney when she was 3. She could turn on the computer, she could open the Internet, and she could type in enough of the web URL that the rest would pop up and she would then click on the link to take her to Playhouse Disney.com. She had and used her own e-mail account starting at age 3. She had her own website (still does, its just not up at the moment) at the age of 2 and by the age of 4 she was helping me design it and work it. She had her own twitter at the age of 8. She had her own Facebook by the age of 9 and the list continues to grow.

i have many friends who shelter their kids from the online world thinking that it will protect their kids. My wonder in their thinking is this, Protect them from what? It is true that the world is a big place and the internet brings it right to your doorstep. But it is also true that if you are a good parent you can still shelter them from the world online by being a positive influence and by keeping tabs on what they are doing. I have not had any issues to date with Claire being online. she is 10 and still growing in her love of the internet.

For me it was the simple fact that the internet is the wave of the future. Heck, it is the wave of the NOW! If your kid doesn't get small doses of it during their youth, when they do get the ability to be online they will go over-board and perhaps feel lost. I'm not saying let your kid loose online and find their way to a porn website! but giving them their own e-mail account to connect with friends and family near and far,