ISRAEL: Interview With Susie Newday (Newdaynewlesson)
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
What language(s) do you speak?
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
What language(s) do you speak?
When you are the granddaughter of an Anglican minister and you marry an ardent atheist, religion is one of those things you discuss carefully before you have kids.
The brand of Christianity that I was raised on was very… metaphorical. I wasn’t asked to believe that God was actually a bearded man in a nightgown, or that Adam and Eve were real. My mother taught me that hymns and prayers were simply a way to reach God (whatever God may be) in a way which was familiar and comfortable. It was a matter of tradition and culture as much as belief.
My husband, on the other hand, comes from American parents who rebelled against their own parents’ Bible Belt values. His grandparents believed in the Bible in an extremely literal way which violates his scientific and logical mind. He associates religion with closed-mindedness, homophobia, creationism, racism, and sexism, all of which he detests. (more…)
Where do you live and are you from there?
Welcome to Illinois. Welcome to the weather, it’s fickle and untrustworthy.
A rush of change (Hey, it was 90 degrees with sky-so-blue! Where did this rain come from?) can be purifying and meaningful and I guess that’s the start of the story I share today. My family and I are on the settled side of a move from suburban Chicago (you’ve heard of the White Sox, the big lake and the big tower) to a small town in Central Illinois. My path is a circle, I suppose, because I am from this area originally, but my husband is from Chicago. (more…)
This week’s Friday Question comes from World Moms Blog writer Maggie Ellison. She asked our writers,
“Do your kids help with household chores? If not, do you plan on giving them any as they get older? If so, at what age? Do/will they get an allowance?”
Here are responses from some of our World Moms…
MamaRobinJ of British Columbia, Canada writes:
“I look forward to the day I can give my son responsibility for cleaning the floors! 🙂
He’s three, but he does help a little bit and we’ll definitely keep him involved. We started long ago with getting him to pick up his toys and if he makes a mess he has to help clean it up, especially if he did it deliberately. He also loves to “help” so we let him and show him how (for the things it’s safe for him to do). As he gets older, we’ll expect him to contribute to stuff around the house, but to me that’s just an expectation as part of the family – I don’t plan to attach an allowance to it. Interested to hear other moms’ perspectives, though, especially if they have older kids and know how well that will or won’t work!” (more…)
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I now live in Chennai,India. I am from a smaller town, around 350 miles from here. I lived in the same house and even had the same room for twenty-five years of my life.
I did my entire schooling, college education and even post-graduate education there. After getting married, I settled down here in Chennai with my physician husband and son.
I have never moved much in my life, have strong roots and hopefully don’t intend to move out of this home anytime soon.
What language(s) do you speak?
I speak English, Hindi (India’s National language) and Tamil (my mother tongue). I read and writer the same three languages. I am not great at picking up languages, rather I should say, the necessity has never been there. (more…)
Both times I was pregnant, my husband and I easily agreed upon possible first and middle names for girls (using the American format of first name, middle name, last/surname). So, of course, we ended up having two boys for whom we had no ideas.
When we learned we were having our first son, I asked my husband if he wanted a namesake, meaning our son to have my husband’s exact name in its entirety.
I grew up around the tradition of naming children after parents. My brother is actually a “third,” with my father being the “junior” and my grandfather being the “senior.” Having a son and father use the same form of the same name can be confusing. However, there is something special about the tradition of keeping a family name alive. If my husband wanted that father-son bond, it was fine by me.
My husband’s family keeps names alive in a different way… (more…)