Motherhood – KMZ Digest

Sen. Duckworth took her daughters to see ‘Barbie.’ Because she uses a wheelchair, she had to wait outside.

wordpress — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 20:30:12 +0000

Published July 31, 2023

Thirty-three years after the Americans with Disabilities Act legally required access, much of American life is still inaccessible. This is true even for a U.S. Senator. (BILL CLARK/CQ ROLL CALL/AP)

Over the “Barbie” movie’s opening weekend, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, like many Americans, went to see it with her young daughters and a few friends from their play group. “Barbie” has been the No. 1 movie in America since it opened on July 21. Many viewers have put on their pinkest outfits for showings, and Duckworth’s family was no exception.

^{Sara Luterman
Caregiving reporter}

“We got all dressed up in pink, and my girls put on their sparkly shoes,” Duckworth told The 19th.

But there was a problem: When they arrived, Duckworth could not enter the theater. She uses a wheelchair, and the single elevator was broken. She ended up sitting outside while her daughters went up to the movie without her.

“They didn’t have [information about the broken elevator] posted anywhere. If I had known, I wouldn’t have come all that way and disappointed my girls,” Duckworth said. Her ticket was refunded and she was given a pass to come back when the elevator is repaired, but it is unclear when that will be. The 19th called the theater multiple times to ask, but did not receive a response.

Claudia Center is legal director for the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, also known as DREDF. The organization was founded in 1979 by disabled people to fight for their civil rights. According to Center, Duckworth’s experience is not unique.

Violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Center told The 19th, “are exceedingly common. They permeate our environment in all areas of life.”

The problem, according to Center, is enforcement. People can make complaints with various federal agencies online, but enforcement is underfunded, and the sheer volume of complaints means that a response may be slow.

The federal government’s ADA website says that reviewing a complaint can take up to three months, but Center said individuals do not always receive a response in that timeframe, if they receive one at all.

“There are thousands upon thousands of complaints. There is no way for the Department of Justice, at its current level of staffing, to respond to them all,” Center said.

Because of these barriers, some people choose to pursue private action to enforce accessibility, by hiring their own lawyer. But that option is cost-prohibitive and time-consuming.

“You have to find a lawyer — one who will work on some kind of contingency, because most people with disabilities don’t have the money to pay out of pocket. There’s a filing fee to even file a complaint. Everything is very expensive,” she said. There are also no damages that can be awarded, so there is no promised payout for a lawyer later, as there may be in a personal injury case.

Less than 1 percent of housing in America is wheelchair accessible, according to the most recent data available, and many stores, restaurants, movie theaters and other sites of public accommodation are not accessible to people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities.

Some older buildings can be “grandfathered in” and do not need to meet ADA requirements until new construction or renovation occurs. Center calls this “the great compromise” of the law.

“If you build it new, or you redo it, the new construction or the new alteration is supposed to be accessible. The idea is, over time, we’ll have a more accessible society,” Center said. But even that compromise is frequently not met, and much new construction remains inaccessible.

Additionally, businesses that meet some technical requirements may be inaccessible in a practical sense. A movie theater may have wheelchair seating available, but the elevator may be broken, as was the case for Duckworth and her family. There may be a ramp into a restaurant, but the bathroom may be down a flight of stairs.

Unfortunately, there are no legislative or regulatory fixes on the horizon. Congress continues to introduce bills that would further weaken ADA enforcement, which makes it difficult to introduce potentially successful legislation to strengthen protections. Duckworth highlighted the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017, which ultimately failed, but received bipartisan support.

“The problem is, we’re always playing defense. We spend more time defending the ADA than we do expanding access,” Duckworth said. “There’s not much we can do about this other than highlight this for folks. I would love to be able to pass additional support for the ADA. In 33 years, you shouldn’t be hanging your hat on the building being grandfathered in when you could have put in a fix in that amount of time.”

Mama, don’t let your baby grow up to be a snowflake…

kim zolotar — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 19:49:48 +0000

I do not want to raise a kid that can’t do anything for himself. I want Alex to be able to function on his own when he goes to college in a few years, to do his own laundry-especially to get dirt stains out of baseball pants-and to manage his time so that he can study and also have fun. So far, Alex is learning most of the skills he needs, so now I am tackling the biggie-money management.

One of the best lessons I did as a parent was during the summer when Alex was about 12 years old and he wanted to buy fast food all the time at lunch. Of course I did not indulge him, but it made me think of how much this convenience food would add up to if we ate it every day. I asked Alex to find out the minimum wage was in California. Then I made a list of things that Alex liked to do, plus other things he might do or need someday:

Lunch at Chipotle, Subway, etc.-usually about $10

Movie ticket

Ticket to Magic Mountain

Price of new baseball glove

Cost of one tank of gas

My goal wasn’t to shame him into feeling guilty about the stuff that makes life great for a kid, but just to illuminate how challenging it can be to afford the stuff we like. I wanted (and still want) Alex to value “stuff” and not feel entitled to things just because he wants it. Often, when Alex wants to do or buy something, big or small, my question is…

Would he pay for it with his own money?

Now that Alex is in high school, my financial goals for him include…

-saving, spending, and debt

-tracking his spending

-credit cards, debit cards, and banking

Below are links to other articles on kids and money that you might find helpful.

Money Management for Teens by Cherryl Hanson Simpson

Cherryl is a financial consultant and coach, and founder of Financially S.M.A.R.T. Services. See more of her work at http://www.financiallyfreenetwork.com and http://www.financiallysmartonline.com

Contact Cherryl.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?Money-Management-For-Teens&id=2391484] Money Management For Teens

Money Managing Tips For Teens By Lizzie Ducking

http://EzineArticles.com/?Money-Managing-Tips-For-Teens&id=6506554] Money Managing Tips For Teens

About Lizzie Ducking

I am a License Practical Nurse. I have been in this field for over 25 years. I enjoy helping and encouraging others. My main hobbies are reading and writing. I am a Wife, Mother and Grandmother. I am also President of the Parent Teachers Organization. President of the Parent Supporter Task Force and a member of the Parent Leadership Institute.

My website:

[http://www.lizzieschristianbookstoreandmore.com]http://www.lizzieschristianbookstoreandmore.com. I sell a variety of Christian Products such as E-books, Poems, and Teachings. Free weekly Devotions. Inspiritional products like Crosses, Bible covers, Plaques, Figurines and more.

How to Teach Teenagers Money Management in a Way That Actually Works!

Jayce Broda

The Tao of Dad

http://thetaoofdad.tv/

The place for entertaining, but meaningful parenting advice for when you feel over-whelmed and tips that will help you parent in ways that you can be proud of in the long run.

http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Jayce_Broda/391877 Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2741219

San Diego

kim zolotar — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 18:28:20 +0000

I loved living in San Diego. I moved there in 1990 to begin my freshman year at UC San Diego, a school that I would probably never get into today if I applied! UCSD was perched on the cliffs of La Jolla, and if you had the right dorm room, like my friend Natalie did, your dorm room might even have an ocean view.

I met my now husband, Greg, at UCSD in 1992. He’s from the Bay Area, but I did not hold that against him as long as he didn’t limit my paper towel usage.

We are a mixed marriage-I’m Catholic and he is Jewish, he is a SF Giants fan and I am from LA. I now know they are serious baseball rivals.

This is us at graduation in 1994.

I also graduated from UCSD in 1994, the same weekend O.J. Simpson committed the “Crime of the Century.” I don’t know why that random fact sticks in my mind, but it is a reference point for how long ago I was in college.

The fun began the following year with a numb pinky finger.

I had never thought about my central nervous system until it stopped working at random times!

On May 26, 1995, I was diagnosed with MS in this building:

Scripps Hospital Encinitas

This was the only treatment for MS in 1995. I gave myself injections every other day for over 6 years. Betaseron made me feel like crap, but it kept my MS in check for a while.

Greg and I got engaged in December 1995

Greg and I got married in July 1996.

San Segundo di Asti Catholic Church Ontario CA (Guasti).

I began a teaching career with the Encinitas Union School District that lasted for 10+ years, and hopefully will resume in a few years-just where we live now.

Alex was born in 2002.

We bought our first house in San Marcos.

The “old people park” at the San Marcos Senior Center-Twin Oaks Valley Road. I took Alex to play here all the time when he was 3. The gate around it kept Alex on “lockdown.”

We moved to Rancho Cucamonga in 2005, a few months after I stopped teaching full time. I miss the weather in San Diego, and I miss the cute little porch on our house in San Marcos. When we go down there for a weekend, usually Labor Day weekend, we always drive by so I can visit the house with the cute little porch.

Moms in a puddle of goo…

kim zolotar — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 20:26:43 +0000

Windrows Elementary-Cutest neighborhood school ever!

First day of kindergarten 2007

5th grade promotion, 2013 Windrows Elementary, Rancho Cucamonga CA

Picture a video of our little cherubs while these tearjerkers played in the background. Not nice, Windrows!

Where did the time go?

kim zolotar — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:58:40 +0000

Early driver training

Alex takes his driving test on Friday. He is not all that excited, probably because driving adds an entirely new level of responsibility that he is not eager to embrace. While I am excited to have Alex drive for practical purposes, like his baseball games, I am sad too. He was a little boy five minutes ago, right?

2018-Alex could not even deal with his mom taking her annual “first day of school” picture, but since he got his driver’s license over the summer and he was driving to school for the first time-I was going to take his picture no matter how irritated he was.

Can We Actually Stop These Student School Shootings?

kim zolotar — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 20:06:49 +0000

By Arnold Nadler

Just so you know my father was a passionate person about hunting! Downstairs in our finished basement we had a wood glass case he built for his gun collection. It was situated adjacent to a full bar where my parents entertained. He was proud and knowledgeable about his guns showing explaining about them. The gun case had no locks, myself nor any of my friends wouldn’t have ever considered taking a gun out without permission. Safety was priority on how I was taught to handle and carry them. Dad was proud of his two pointing dogs, as well as being part of his prestigious hunting club. When I was a baby he started calling me skeet, this is a type of shooting sport with clay birds. My mother wasn’t thrilled when he bought me my first gun at 10 years old. As matter of fact he had written on the handle, can you guess, “The Skeet”! We lived in a suburban area, my father would make a target at the back of our garage, we would stand at the end of the driveway outside teaching me precision. The neighbors were never alarmed or called the police, they knew it was just Jerry doing his thing. In those days people could go buy a gun and ammo at any local hardware or sports store, no license, criminal check or anything. I would also bet after reading my background with guns above, no one would have guessed I’m Canadian! I thought it was important to share this info prior to my opinion why there are so many school shootings.

I just published anther article here called ‘Are We Setting-up Our Children to Fail”. The people who know their children best are their parents. It really saddens me to think that a teenager could be so unhappy they have the courage to kill themselves. As well as feel the need to takeout innocent fellow students with them. It seems most of these teen student shooters didn’t do this spontaneously, but after a fair amount of consideration. How did their parents not detect their child having issues before these unfortunate school shooting situations? Was there a lack of daily communication with their teenagers? When my son grew-up and even now I asked questions like how was your day? Even more delving when he was younger what happened at school today, do you have homework, what did you do at lunch? If I felt knowing him there was any detection of a problem through body language, how he answered me, or tone of voice we would talk. I know somethings wrong, tell me what happened at school or with your friends? He might have said nothing at the beginning, but with kindness I kept probing until it came out. Our way of assisting him not to have enraged anger with us as an outlet, if he had been depressed we would have taken the proper measures. No sane parent would want their child to feel the only solution was death. Even more outrageous is a teenager taking some other innocent students with them, cause other families such unacceptable pain and misery.

My last article named at the beginning which is a basic concept of old world child rearing. If we teach our kids to have manors, be respectful, and a healthy fear of authority. Those for me are the major reasons why I never removed guns from my fathers unlocked gun case. I knew that if I did something wrong there would consequences for my actions. My parents also monitored what I watched on television. Perhaps parents now might want to see what is going on their kid’s cellphones, computers, social media, and not allow use of video games that are based on killing and violence. I don’t think the problem is needing more gun control laws, but parenting providing their children with more home training for life in the real world. These are my suggestions on how decrease these epidemic school shootings

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Arnold_Nadler/56474

By Arnold Nadler
Just so you know my father was a passionate person about hunting! Downstairs in our finished basement we had a wood glass case he built for his gun collection. It was situated
adjacent to a full bar where my parents entertained. He was proud and knowledgeable about his guns showing explaining about them. The gun case had no locks, myself nor any
of my friends wouldn’t have ever considered taking a gun out without permission. Safety was priority on how I was taught to handle and carry them. Dad was proud of his two
pointing dogs, as well as being part of his prestigious hunting club. When I was a baby he started calling me skeet, this is a type of shooting sport with clay birds. My mother
wasn’t thrilled when he bought me my first gun at 10 years old. As matter of fact he had written on the handle, can you guess, “The Skeet”! We lived in a suburban area, my father
would make a target at the back of our garage, we would stand at the end of the driveway outside teaching me precision. The neighbors were never alarmed or called the police,
they knew it was just Jerry doing his thing. In those days people could go buy a gun and ammo at any local hardware or sports store, no license, criminal check or anything. I
would also bet after reading my background with guns above, no one would have guessed I’m Canadian! I thought it was important to share this info prior to my opinion why there
are so many school shootings.
I just published anther article here called ‘Are We Setting-up Our Children to Fail”. The people who know their children best are their parents. It really saddens me to think that a
teenager could be so unhappy they have the courage to kill themselves. As well as feel the need to takeout innocent fellow students with them. It seems most of these teen student
shooters didn’t do this spontaneously, but after a fair amount of consideration. How did their parents not detect their child having issues before these unfortunate school shooting
situations? Was there a lack of daily communication with their teenagers? When my son grew-up and even now I asked questions like how was your day? Even more delving
when he was younger what happened at school today, do you have homework, what did you do at lunch? If I felt knowing him there was any detection of a problem through body
language, how he answered me, or tone of voice we would talk. I know somethings wrong, tell me what happened at school or with your friends? He might have said nothing at
the beginning, but with kindness I kept probing until it came out. Our way of assisting him not to have enraged anger with us as an outlet, if he had been depressed we would have
taken the proper measures. No sane parent would want their child to feel the only solution was death. Even more outrageous is a teenager taking some other innocent students with
them, cause other families such unacceptable pain and misery.
My last article named at the beginning which is a basic concept of old world child rearing. If we teach our kids to have manors, be respectful, and a healthy fear of authority. Those
for me are the major reasons why I never removed guns from my fathers unlocked gun case. I knew that if I did something wrong there would consequences for my actions. My
parents also monitored what I watched on television. Perhaps parents now might want to see what is going on their kid’s cellphones, computers, social media, and not allow use of
video games that are based on killing and violence. I don’t think the problem is needing more gun control laws, but parenting providing their children with more home training for
life in the real world. These are my suggestions on how decrease these epidemic school shootings
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Arnold_Nadler/56474
© 2018

Moms with MS

kim zolotar — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 18:18:35 +0000

First day of kindergarten

First day of high school

Alex sported a new haircut on his first day of kindergarten and, as I recall, was both nervous and excited on that warm August morning a decade ago. His first day of high school last year was definitely less warm and fuzzy. Note the contrast in both photos between the innocent five-year-old and the grumpy teen. However, despite Alex’s eye rolling, I would not be deterred from capturing his “first day of high school” image for all eternity.

Alex turned 16 a few weeks ago, and the months until he goes to college seem to be accelerating. I would love to press the rewind button for a year and get my bearings, but time marches on and I have no choice but to hang on for the ride.

Several mothers I know also want to press rewind-but for a much different reason. These moms remember their lives before they were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and everything changed. Before MS, they did not have to go to the neurologist and take powerful medications with sometimes nasty side effects. Before MS, they did not have to think about the summer

heat or consider whether they have enough energy to help the kids with homework and cook dinner before soccer practice. Before MS, they did not have to explain to their kids why they sometimes can’t walk straight or why they need a cane some days but not others. Before MS, no one accused her of being drunk when They want to do all that they used to do before MS interfered, and sometimes they can, but not always. Before MS, they could be spontaneous, and peace of mind was more easily attained. Life was simpler before MS.

When Mom is diagnosed with MS, she has to make room in her life for a chronic, unpredictable disease. She instantly becomes a patient. One day she might wake up with blurry vision or numb legs, or she might drop a carton of milk on the kitchen floor because her hand did not grip it strongly enough. She might need to have frightening tests at the hospital or start giving herself injections. Sometimes her MS is invisible, so only she knows that her legs are numb or her eye hurts. A mom with multiple sclerosis instantly learns she cannot take her body for granted anymore, and while MS will probably not shorten her life, nothing will ever be the same.

Almost everyone knows someone with MS. We are moms, grandmothers, aunts, daughters, cousins and, of course, sons, husbands and fathers. Not all of us use canes or wheelchairs, but we are all fighting the same battle. Women of childbearing age are diagnosed with MS more than other populations.
I realized the value of meeting other moms living with MS years ago, after I met another mom living with MS through Alex’s Little League team. We formed “Moms with MS” in 2010, and our group still going strong nearly 8 years later.

First day of high school

Moms with MS is the only MS support group for mothers in Southern California. “Moms with MS” meets monthly in Rancho Cucamonga and is sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The moms in our group offer support, share experiences, and exchange ideas with one another as we navigate the sometimes bumpy road of MS and motherhood. Most of our group members were diagnosed after their kids were born, but several (including me) were diagnosed before we started our families. I was diagnosed seven years before Alex was born. Our children range in age from newborn to adult. The moms in our group share experiences, offer advice, and discuss current medical research, and vent. It is so helpful to discuss our illness with other moms who understand how we feel.

We are building friendships as we learn from each other.

March is MS Awareness month. I am certainly aware of it!

If only…

kim zolotar — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 21:13:05 +0000