It seems I’m destined to be in the news again, though this time hopefully the story will be more complete and less full of controversy and I’ll be in like-minded company… maybe. A few weeks ago a film crew and producers from ABC’s  20/20 came to visit; spending two and a half days to film some b-roll of my family, inundate us with interview questions, and see and what our normal lives are like, how we interact as a family, and what our views are on parenting, traumatic YouTube events aside.

The video that started it all

This Friday at 10 PM on ABC, the episode will air on television. I just got my glimpse of the footage myself, so like you, I’ll be watching with interest to see how it all turned out.

Previous ABC Coverage

ABC News 2/11/12 - Click to see the interview.

This won’t be our first coverage on ABC, but hopefully will be the one to finally move forward from the tone of previous ABC roastings. On February 11th, three days after my video went viral, ABC’s Dan Kloeffler tells the story, but his producers sure seemed Hell-bent on telling it with a slant. Both the on-the-street segment of his spot as well as the in-studio interview with Child Psychologist Michael Bradley certainly put the laptop-shooting incident in negative light. Most of you probably remember a much longer interview from Dr. Phil on the Today show six days later. The ABC one wasn’t as bad, but it wasn’t great either. Then they wondered why I didn’t want to go on their show when asked. Really? Seemed to me they already had their minds made up by that time.

GMA 2/21/12 - Click to See the Interview

Following that news segment by about ten days we were the subject of yet another ABC broadcast. On February 21st we were the subject of George Stephanopolous on Good Morning America. I just noticed in his piece that he says “and he’s defending himself now to ABC’s Andrea Canning.” For the record, I never spoke to either Andrea Canning or George Stephanopolous. It’s a nice play on words he uses there though. Still, you shouldn’t lie like that on national television, George. You’re supposed to be above that. However, whether I spoke to her or not, it remains true that Ms. Canning did a decent job of reporting the actual news, without a lot of political slant thrown in. She was even kind there towards the end, which I sincerely appreciate.

Closing the Book on the Story? Maybe.

Imagine my surprise when Muriel Pearson, a producer for 20/20 calls me and say she wants to do a piece for their show, but not a piece about the “Laptop Dad” she promised. After hearing what they wanted the piece to be about, I somewhat reluctantly agreed to think it over and talk to my wife and kids about it and let her know our answer.

Preparing for the Interview

We talked over the next few weeks a few times and in the end, we agreed to do the interview.  Great (insert sarcasm here) more cameras!

Having had to be on the other end of the camera as much as we have recently, I now understand why families who have been on television interviews always look so harried. After two and a half solid days of people saying “can you do that again” and “wait while we get set up” it can be a lot to deal with. They’re everywhere. Thankfully ABC only brought down one videographer and one sound man.

Muriel herself was awesome to get to know in person. She had a really good personality and tried her best to make us feel as normal as possible throughout the process.  Moreover she seemed to really to capture “us” being “us” more than asking us to stage things for the benefit of the camera, which has happened before, though we always refused. Our approach has thus far been “if you want to experience our life, turn on your camera and follow us around. We’re not going to put on a show for your benefit.”

On the final day I got the chance to meet Sharon Alfonsi, the correspondent who be the on-screen presence during the piece.

Fast forward three weeks and guess what? It’s on the air tomorrow! I’ve been feeling good about it all along, but I’ll admit to a little apprehension tonight when I saw the advertisement for the episode airing tomorrow.

Xtreme Parents - Airing Friday May 4th, at 10 PM EST on ABC

They are calling the episode “Xtreme Parents.” I’ll admit… that’s a little scary, but there’s nothing I can do about it now except hope that what we were told this story is going to be about and what it’s actually about will be the same thing. During two and a half days of b-roll footage there are a lot of opportunities to create spin for any number of stories, no matter what the premise was for their arrival.

The idea was supposed to be about what normal life here was like for us, how we parent our kids in general, and letting people see behind the “Laptop Dad” and the “Rebellious Daughter” and see our family as a whole; healthy, happy, and rarely possessed of a dull moment.

A lot of disavowing occurred during the interview. For example they were under the impression that everything around here is “Tommy and his kids.” My wife, who has apparently had enough of that idea being permeated, was quick to just about come across the table and set the record straight. Talking about getting her dander up. Whew. That was… intense. I just sat back and kept my mouth shut during that part. We parent as a team. We always have and we always will. I really hope that comes through.

And we’re normal. That’s the key thing we hope shines through all this. We have a normal house, normal yard, normal pets, normal problems, and normal kids. They have their great days and their less-s0, but so do we. At the end of it all though, we’re a wonderfully happy family. The initial impression I got, based on the request for the interview, was this was going to have little to do with the laptop-incident, but I guess I’ll find out tomorrow with the rest of you whether that’s the case.

Why am I telling you this? Well, for two reasons really.

First, I hope you’ll all tune into watch. We certainly will be. I’ve never got to actually see any of the interviews except on the Internet, so it will be interesting to see my living room from the vantage point of, well, my living room.

Second, I have a natural distrust of the media, though I do get a good feeling from Muriel and Sharyn both, irrespective of the scary logo show on their preview. I know what I can do with an editing both and my skills are amateurish compared to theirs.  If this turns out to be another Tommy-bashing episode from ABC, then I’ll have been here first to set the record straight, rather than following up with a lot of “but they said…” comments.

Well, there’s nothing to do now but sit back and wait for the DVR to cue up. Remember to watch tomorrow. All three of us, and maybe even Bonnie and Piper, will be on.

Watch 20/20′s Xtreme Parents Friday May 4th, 2012 at 10 PM Eastern on ABC 

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A gentleman by the name of Max wrote a blog post commenting on one of my own. (Thank you Max, by the way. It was a great article!) At the end of the article he mentioned something I’ve heard come up lately and people have asked my opinion on it. The issue is sending your children to bed without dinner.

Author’s note: I find it, and I’m not sure why, less polite to use the word “kid” instead of “children” or “child.” However, since I seem to be writing about them a lot lately, I’m going to simply state that I’m using the word “kid” because I don’t feel like typing the extra five characters every time I mention it. Hope that’s ok… 

I guess there is probably more than one approach to this question. Qualifying questions have to be asked, such as “What is the reason for sending your kid to bed without dinner?” Is it because they  didn’t want what you cooked for dinner or was it for actual punishment for some misdeed?

The sad thing is, parents across the nation seem to be split on this matter. In my completely-non-official research I see three camps of parents.

• 20% Oh God no, that’s child abuse.
• 20% Dang right I’d send my kids to bed without dinner.
• 60% I’m not sure if I can legally do that or if someone from social services will come take my kid.

Sad, isn’t it? It’s a shame that most parents I’ve heard from are actually scared to use this as a parenting tool because they’re not even sure if it’s legal! Wow.

Click here to take the survey.

IS IT OK to send your child to bed without dinner?

Let’s start first with the law, because I don’t like people who haven’t read child abuse laws trying ignorantly to throw them back in my face. According to the best legal definitions I can find from the ”Definitions of Child Abuse and Neglect” from the Child Welfare Information Gateway, which I can only assume to be the current “law of the land” on the subject, the answer is YES. You certainly CAN legally do this (at least where I live. Your mileage may vary)

Specifically you can locate the document itself at:

http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/define.cfm

The PDF file is currently listed as being last updated as of February 2011.

Since I live in North Carolina, I’m only able to cite the specific reference for my own state, but all the states laws are located within that document, so you can easily find your state’s regulations there as well.

The NC statute on the issue states:

North Carolina
Physical Abuse
Citation: Gen. Stat. § 7B-101
‘Abused juvenile’ means any child younger than age 18 whose parent, guardian, custodian, or caregiver:

• Inflicts or allows to be inflicted upon the child a serious physical injury by other than accidental means
• Creates or allows to be created a substantial risk of serious physical injury to the child by other than accidental
means
• Uses or allows to be used upon the child cruel or grossly inappropriate procedures or cruel or grossly inappropriate devices to modify behavior

Neglect
Citation: Gen. Stat. § 7B-101
‘Neglected juvenile’ means a child:
• Who does not receive proper care, supervision, or discipline from his or her parent, guardian, custodian, or caregiver
• Who is not provided necessary medical or remedial care
• Who lives in an environment injurious to his or her welfare
• Who has been placed for care or adoption in violation of law

In determining whether a child is a neglected juvenile, it is relevant whether that child lives in a home where another child has been subjected to abuse or neglect by an adult who regularly lives in the home.

‘Serious neglect’ means conduct, behavior, or inaction of the juvenile’s parent, guardian, custodian, or caregiver that evidences a disregard of consequences of such magnitude that the conduct, behavior, or inaction constitutes an unequivocal danger to the juvenile’s health, welfare, or safety, but does not constitute abuse.

So, nowhere in that definition of child abuse do I see the mention of the word “food.” Before you start yelling, go read the document. Many states DO mention food in their statutes. North Carolina isn’t one of them.

The beginning definition located on page 3 of the document, seems to be a little vague. It states:

"Neglect is frequently defined as the failure of a parent or other person with responsibility for the child to provide needed food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision to the degree that the child’s health, safety, and well-being are threatened with harm. Approximately 24 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands include failure to educate the child as required by law in their definition of neglect.6 Seven States specifically define medical neglect as failing to provide any special medical treatment or mental health care needed by the child.7 In addition, four States define medical neglect as the withholding of medical treatment or nutrition from disabled infants with life-threatening conditions."

I’m going to point out what I consider to be two important caveats in that definition.

• It seems kind of slimy to use the words “Frequently defined” in a document that’s supposed to explain something clearly.  However, as I read the document through, I saw that some states DO and some states do NOT have certain mentioned stipulations in their codes. Food is one of those. I showed you the NC statute earlier, but you can read the others yourself. California, for example, does have a line that includes the definition to be “the willful, prolonged failure to provide adequate food. (I‘ll also state that skipping a meal, in my parenting definition, isn’t covered under that caveat.)
• It would seem to me, if I restructured that sentence to discuss only food, it would read “the failure of a parent to provide needed food to the degree that the child’s well-being is threatened with harm.” Again, I don’t think missing a meal is defined as threatening my child’s well being.

WHEN is it acceptable to send a kid to bed without dinner.

There were a few rules about dinner when I was growing up. These rules applied at my mom’s house, my dad’s house, my aunt’s house, and my grandparent’s house. Those rules were:

• Take what you want and eat what you take.
• You will eat what I cook or you’ll go hungry.

That was basically it. The first rule was because we kids often had bigger eyeballs than stomachs, at least that’s how I remember it being explained to me. I saw that heaping pile of spaghetti and garlic bread and I wanted a whole plate full and then wanted to try to steal garlic bread so my brother wouldn’t get the “good” pieces. My parent’s broke me of that habit quickly.

Once I was old enough to be able to serve myself at the table it was an easy lesson to learn. The first time I grabbed a plate full of something I feasibly couldn’t possibly finish I didn’t understand that I was depriving the rest of my family of food they very well could eat. I was just a kid who wanted a plate full of food. Money was tight and my family didn’t have it to throw away, so what we cooked was important and what was wasted on my plate could very well have been lunch the next day if I hadn’t wasted it at dinner.

I remember saying “Mom, I’m full” and she looked at me and said “No, you’re not” and kept right on eating. She made the point to me that since I served it, I was going to eat it. Further, I could choose to sit right there and eat my meal and not whine about it OR I could go to my room for the rest of the night and it would STILL be there come breakfast time.

Now, to be honest, I actually don’t think I ever tested that particular theory. Maybe I did. If so, Mom might chime in on this post and share the truth with everyone. lol.

The point is; it didn’t take me long to figure out I could just serve myself less and then always get more if I wanted it. It’s a real simple lesson in sharing and not being greedy and it’s stuck with me all my life. My kids follow the same rules. If you put it on your plate, you’re going to sit at the table and eat it or you’re going to sit there until you fall asleep face first in it… then you can have it when you wake up. lol. If you don’t eat your dinner, you don’t get dessert. Simple basic rules.

There were times as well that my parents would cook something I didn’t like, or wasn’t in the mood for. I’d throw a temper-tantrum and say “I’m not eating _fill_in_food_here” and they’d quickly say something similar to “You’ll eat what’s put on the table, or you won’t eat.”

I actually remember puffing up my chest a few times and screaming “Fine!” and walking away. They sent me to my room and I stayed there…. all….. night. Truthfully it was probably only five minutes into their dinner that I decided I really DID want to have eaten dinner with them. Sorry. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go directly to jail…

It only took a few times before I got the hint that maybe if I asked Mom or Dad BEFORE they started cooking dinner, what we were having, and if I asked politely, I might have the opportunity to convince them to cook something I wanted. But when you walk in the kitchen halfway through Mom   cooking lasagna and then whining that you wanted chicken, well, too late bud. Suck it up! You can have chicken tomorrow. Only now, as a parent myself, do I know how irritating it is to go grocery shopping for something, spend time making something, only to have one of your kids whine because they’d rather have fish sticks!

So…. I’m sorry Mom, for all the times I know I did that. I know now what you were going through.

My own related story – from about two weeks ago:

It’s amazing to me how a kid can be “full” then be ready to gobble down a gut full of ice cream ten minutes later. I’ve seen my son say “I’m soooo full” then pat his belly and say “Oh, I just don’t think I can eat another bite.” Amazingly one of us can say thirty seconds later – I think I want a brownie and BOOM the monster appetite is back in full force!

So the other night this happened. My son had just eaten enough to feed a starving Somali village and yet asked for more, and a REALLY large amount more. I tried to stop him and said “You’ll never eat all that – don’t get so much”

His response was typical.. “Uh huh. I can too!” About three minutes later a comment about dessert was made. Then all of the sudden.. he’s full to the brim of dinner and can’t stomach another bite. (coincidence right?)

We told him, you can have dessert when you finish that huge plate you just served yourself…. or you can sit there and stare at it until it’s cold, or you can get up from the table now and you can finish it for breakfast instead….

You should have seen the look on his face! His master plan was ruined! lol. Guess what though? I bet we’ll only have to pull that trick two or three times to correct that behavior.

The next time he’ll either eat all his food and not waste the rest, or he’ll eat until he’s almost full on the bet that maybe one of us will make brownies, cookies, or something similar for dessert. Either way, it’s a win-win for our family and an object lesson.

The OTHER reason to send your kids to bed without dinner.

I would think the other reason for a normal parent to send their kids to bed without dinner would be as punishment for some other action or misdeed. Have I ever done this? Not that I can think of, but I would if I felt the need was there.

The day my now-famous-daughter came home – the day of the “He shot the laptop” incident, was almost one of those days. She came home and I sent her to her room. When it came time for dinner I felt bad eating without her and called her to eat. My wife was out in the field working still at 8:30 so we had to go ahead and whip something together without her. My daughter and I both ate in miserable silence and then I sent her back to her room. Was that being a wimp? I don’t think so. Would it have been wrong if I’d kept her in her room to miss dinner? I don’t think so either. I just didn’t in that particular scenario.

If my kids did something bad enough that I thought deserved a severe punishment, but that I felt didn’t warrant a spanking, sending them to bed without dinner would be a good alternative in my book.

At the end of the day, missing a meal isn’t child abuse. That’s my take on it.

So.. one more time.. I’d like YOUR view on it.

Click here to take the survey.

Have a good day y’all.

Wow… it’s been almost a month and the turn of events our lives have taken were never something we imagined possible only a few short weeks ago. If you’d have told any of us in my family that we’d be known world-wide for something, we would never have believed you. It’s just not something that happens to normal people. Looks like we were wrong about that, I guess.

Right after all this happened to us, we were bombarded with media requests, talk show requests, and interview requests on every available medium imaginable. Almost overnight, my daughter and I were tweeted about, Facebooked about, blogged about, written about, and more. We, or more specifically, I, was loved, hated, admired, despised, raised onto a pedestal (way undeserving), and kicked while I was down. We’ve dealt with everything from malicious users posting our home address on the Internet to telephone stalkers, to North Carolina Department of Social Services in our home at all kinds of hours investigating our family. All of this happened mostly within the first 72 hours of this event going live on YouTube.

As a direct result of this we agreed, and I posted repeatedly on Facebook, we would not be doing any media interviews unless we conducted them via email where we could be sure we have control of how our words are displayed; so no one can take what we say out of context. Fox news out of Houston was the first actual television coverage I saw and they completely misrepresented the context, the facts, and the actual words I used. It was amazing how a professional news organization could turn around and screw up something so badly. Imagine what the actual professionals could do to us if they had the chance on live television… *shudders*

So, for three reasons, we decided not to talk to the press.

Reason 1: Context

It was quickly apparent that even with my words in plain language, people were already spinning fabrications and twisting words with skill Dr. Seuss would envy; so there’s no way we were going to take the chance of having it worsened with an interview, especially a pre-recorded interview that would allow engineers to cut it up and clip it together. We didn’t know who we could or couldn’t trust. Suddenly these national figureheads are calling and showing up on our doorstep promising an open and honest interview, with no ambush tactics. Three weeks of research has taught me that a LOT of those were lies. One can spend a fairly small amount of time going online and quickly see video examples of ambush interviews performed by these shows and networks.  There was no way I was going to let that happen to myself or my family. So, we stood our ground.

Reason 2: The Lesson to My Children – and Anyone Else Watching

My daughter made a nasty Facebook post that was intended to be seen by her 400 or so Facebook friends. I made my  own response, intended for that same 400 or so friends. Hers was seen by a couple hundred people. Mine seems to have been seen by 31 million and counting. I’ve said this before, but it was truly a case where the punishment accidentally outweighed the crime.

I can’t turn around as her father and start taking advantage of all this publicity and “fame” and use it as a platform to to make money on a national or international stage. What kind of message does it send to my child to show her that it’s ok to embarrass someone as long as you profit from it in the end?

That’s not a lesson I want my kids to learn from me. That’s the kind of lesson that would have had me spanked as a child, and deservingly so, until I couldn’t sit down for a week!

Reason 3: The difference between a headline and a story.

After all the hoopla died down a little, this became my single core salient reason, so bear with me while I explain, because this sets the stage for my next thought in this post.

When all this happened, I could have had my pick of news outlets (and realistically still can). However, and maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like the only story anyone could have told three weeks ago would have centered around a few meaningless questions:

• Why did you shoot your daughter’s laptop?
• Do you abuse your daughter?
• Isn’t Hannah going to be damaged/scarred/irrevocably humiliated for the rest of her life from this?
• Do you think you’re a bad parent?
• Are you going to seek counseling as a parent or for your family?

That was basically it. It was a headline piece. It wasn’t a story.

Telling the Story

A story has a beginning, it has a middle, and it has and end. We agreed as a family that we weren’t going to talk to the press until we had the “story” completed first, if at all.  Then and only then would we consider talking to anyone on national television. No, we haven’t really publicly stated that caveat on Facebook because it would only encourage them to keep vying for attention.

By having our “story” I mean that we have collectively gone through this process we accidentally started, from beginning to end. We’ve had time to process the effects of our actions on ourselves, and on each other. We know whether or not we’re better or worse for having lived through it. We can look back with perspective and understand how this affected us individually and as a family. Then, after all that has been accomplished, do we feel strong enough as a family to subject ourselves to that?

The answer was, yes. IF we pulled through this ok, and IF there was something others could learn from it, and IF there were substantial enough reasons why we thought it would be important enough to do this, THEN we would consider a television network interview.

After almost a month of this circus lifestyle, we’ve all agreed that we’re OK. We’re good. I know some people have cheered us on while others have ridiculed us. Some think we’re a stronger family for it while others think we’re irreparably harmed and have sentenced our daughter to a life of drug use and dead end jobs. That’s ok. Those people are entitled to their opinions and no amount of verbage I can spew is going to change that. Time will prove, both to us, and to everyone else that we’re OK and we’re a happy and healthy family.

Sticking to your Guns

Yeah, I carried the metaphor forward there didn’t I? Sorry about that. We have received a lot of support from people about sticking to our guns and not letting the media take control of our story. That isn’t going to change. This story, when it gets aired, will be our story, not someone else’s version of what we were thinking, what caused our actions, or how it affected our family.

I have learned a really important lesson in all this that, while not part of the real message I’m trying to convey here, is deserving of a segue.

When, and if God forbid you find yourself on the other side of the door from every major national network news agency… close it. Then lock it.

Take time. I don’t know what your story might be, but if it’s important  enough to them, they’ll wait for it on your terms. Don’t be flattered with all the gifts, offers to travel to New York, or Los Angeles, dinners, and patronization. It will come in waves like you’ve never imagined. We said something to someone in a conversation about my wife loving Italian food. Two days later a package from a New York deli appears on our doorstep.  In the same conversation we were discussing favorite shows on television. (Networks always want to know what your family’s favorite show on their channel is. I’m not sure why.) Anyway, my wife loves the Food Network channel and said so, talking animatedly about her favorite chefs. Within two days a signed, autographed, copy of his book arrives in the mail.  The list goes on and on. I now have enough hats and t-shirts to start my own network little league teams. (Maybe we could donate THAT to charity too. lol)

No, we didn’t ask for any of this stuff. We’ve gone out of our way when we can to tell people NOT to do that kind of thing. My wife and I are both fairly intelligent people. The more you attempt to “buy” our affections, the more we know you’re not genuine about it. But apparently it works on most people because that’s how the networks do it. Personally if someone’s going to spend that kind of money tossing stuff our way, we’d  rather just have the money to pay the mortgage. The amounts of money networks will spend wooing you is staggering, but it doesn’t actually “help” you in any way. It’s just flattery. It’s just a shame because I can imagine that just the airfare alone that networks have dished out in the last three weeks would pay my mortgage for an entire year. If you’re going to spend all that, just send the money and let me call you on the phone. lol. I mean, really. It’s crazy.

No… I don’t want television or anyone sending us money. We’ve earned every dime we’ve ever made and we’d both prefer to keep it that way. I like knowing that I deserve something when I go out and buy it, because I worked hard for it, paid all the bills, and saved accordingly and then I finally had enough left to reward myself, my kids, or my wife.

Anyway, I digressed there.. a lot. The point of this part of the story is this. If you can evade the gifts lavished at you long enough the networks will eventually come to you and say “Ok, we want you on our show for our story. What can we do to make that happen?” Then you get to do something good with your fame. Then you get to do what we’re doing now.

Uh oh, what are you doing Tommy?

Yes, we’ve agreed to go on a news program. (and I’m literally cringing as I prepare to hit the publish button on this post) I’ve spent an untold amount of hours trying to run my own business, be a father, be a husband, and trying to juggle all this for three weeks now while somehow remaining sane at the same time.

In the end, it came down to a couple of networks that we believed the most in. From those networks, for our first interview we’ve chosen NBC. This isn’t to say we won’t go on other networks if they ask, but we’re only going to do it if we can tell the stories that matter… not the ones they want to sensationalize. ABC network really has put forth some amazing efforts and offered some great things for us to do, and if they still want us to do them, we probably will. However, we also realize that part of the allure in having us on the show is to be the first show to do it. Once that first bubble is burst, it’ll likely be over. And you know what? That won’t be so bad either! I’d actually like to get back to work in my wood shop and my customers would prefer I be working on their IT issues rather than what I’ve been tied up with these last few weeks.

In the end the big decision came down to the Today show and Good Morning America. Both are truly great shows and have great things to offer. At the end of the day it comes down to two things for us. First, NBC has treated us with kid gloves all the way. They’ve been the most respectful of every network that’s attempted to talk to us. That has to count for something. Second, it just seems from my research that Today has a larger following than GMA and they resonate more with the age group we want to share our story with. So, if it ends up only being a one-shot deal, then we’ve chosen this as the venue to host it.

Why Do It?

Like everything surrounding the video that started all of this, most of the unintended conversations that sparked across the nation have been accidental in origin.

Who knew this was going to blow the top on a volcano of parents who really want to be firmer with their children but are scared to because of the constant threat of “I’m going to call social services” screamed from their out-of-control teenage child?

Parents have been coming out of the woodwork these last few weeks asking for more information on how to protect their children. Some have the naive opinion that their kids don’t need protection in cyberspace. Others have no idea of the possible dangers, both immediate and far-reaching, that social media can have on their families and even their children’s future employment or college acceptance.

This news coverage has allowed us to bargain. The news wants a chance to tell the “Laptop Shooting Dad” story and ask all the tough questions parents and kids across the nation have been repeating for weeks now. Fine. We’ve agreed to give them that.

I want a platform that, even if only for one day, can allow us to the chance to get out in front of this issue and educate parents on the dangers out there to their kids. We have a chance here. We have, whether we wanted it or not, gotten our 8 minutes of fame, so we’ve decided to use them as best we can.

What’s the Goal?

If I had to put it into a simple phrase, I’d have to say the goal of this is to “raise awareness” on a national level. We’ve got the chance to get out there for one day and hopefully not stumble over our words too much; to use this brief time to let all parent’s know that they need to wake up! There are two calls to arms I’m going to be shouting as hard as I can.

The first is to protect your children and your family from the effects of social media, and I believe that no one right now can say that with as much experience as we can. We are literally the poster-children for what can happen!

The other reason is to hopefully inspire parents to stand back up on their feet and stop bowing to pressures from their children or from social services or anyone else; to take their job seriously and realize that their first job as a parent is to raise a fully-functioning adult that can survive and thrive in the world when you finally have to let them go. A parent’s job isn’t to be their kids best-friend.

If parents can do both at the same time, then I want to urge them to tell the rest of us how. Stand up and be heard. Get your own 8 minutes of fame and help the rest of us out. That’s what this site was designed to do and that’s the message we hope they’re going to allow us to  send on national television!

See you all on Wednesday morning!

Until then,

Have a good day y’all…

Lots of you out there have seen my page about eBlaster and I would LOVE IT if you’d share your stories of using the program so other parents out there can see how it’s helped you and your family.

I’m going to share some other stories from others, posted from the eBlaster webpage when I get the time, but I feel it better to start with my own. This is too long to put on the eBlaster page on our site… no one would ever read it, so I’m giving it it’s own page here.

Why Even Do This?

After my video went viral on Facebook and I refused to do press interviews I started receiving emails from the press asking me to answer questions. I agreed to do it in public on my Facebook wall, so my words couldn’t get twisted up or taken out of context. I got lots of press requests, a ridiculously high amount, from the USA, Canada, Germany, and a ton of other countries. To date I still haven’t been able to respond to them all. There just isn’t enough hours in the day.

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