Study: Bad marriage could damage heart

[FatBastard]

I'm telling you guys, just come to terms with the simple fact that she is always right.

[Brian Ellis]

Marital strife and other bad personal relationships can raise your risk for heart disease, researchers reported Monday. What it likely boils down to is stress -- a well-known contributor to health problems, as well as a potential byproduct of troubled relationships, the scientists said.

DUH!

Another waste of public research funding.

[Fat Tone]

Never mind the marriage, its the bloody kids that are killing me. When I hear myself repeating the same thing again and again and again I get so stressed I'm surprised I'm still able to write this.

[Umfriend]

I'm with you FT, it's draining.

[Fat Tone]

Yeah, I don't think it is unusual.

Don't get me wrong, they are good kids. I love them to bits and I'm really proud of them and their acheivements. Maybe this is rose coloured specs, but I'm sure I was never that argumentative as a kid, and I think we've brought them up with the same morals & standards as I was (albeit a lot less biggotted, but that's another story). I find I say something, it is ignored, I keep repeating, getting louder and louder until I suddenly realise I've blown a gasket. Not good for anyone.

[Dr Mordrid]

Ours weren't/aren't argumentative in the annoying sense. It's just that sometimes their contrary logic is so good mom & dad feel like we did too good a job for our own good, especially with Erik - AKA "the Philadelphia lawyer"

[Umfriend]

Same here FT. And yeah, Doc, especially our 6 yo son knows how to use our words against ourselves in just a tad different situation. Trouble is, he's not doing it for fun, he actually always believes he is right (which is something he must have gotten from his mother as I have not lost it).

[Fat Tone]

Sometimes Adam's (just turned 5) view makes us laugh and we have a hard time hiding it Last night he was really playing up and eventually I tried 'Do you want to be a horrible nasty little boy that noone likes, or a nice good boy that everyone does like?'. The honest reply was 'It's too hard to choose"

[Dr Mordrid]

Sounds rather familiar

[Jammrock]

Never mind the marriage, its the bloody kids that are killing me. When I hear myself repeating the same thing again and again and again I get so stressed I'm surprised I'm still able to write this.

You must have a 4-year old!

EDIT: ...and behold you do (close enough at least):

Sometimes Adam's (just turned 5) view makes us laugh and we have a hard time hiding it...

I have a 4, 2, 1 year old. The four-year old was hyper and out of control to begin with, but now that he's in the ferocious fours he can drive me absolutely crazy. More so than usual. Like yours he's a good kid, but when he gets hyper or out of control (the entire 2-3 hours before bedtime) he just grates on my nerves.

[Fat Tone]

I guess we are lucky that we very rarely have 'hyper' to deal with. With Adam there's a bit of naughtyness (running at me and thumping me as a greeting for example) but its really just both of them (Luke is nearly 10) being disobedient or selfish.
I think I'm gonna have to get my parents to refresh my memory about just how 'perfect' I really was as a child. I was exceptional academically as a kid, and Luke is apeing that, Adam isn't. Are bright kids generally better behaved?

Did I mention Luke is already deemed capable of passing (and passing well) the SATs normally taken at the end of the next school year? I hope he doesn't get bored.

[Dr Mordrid]

Are bright kids generally better behaved?

Did I mention Luke is already deemed capable of passing (and passing well) the SATs normally taken at the end of the next school year? I hope he doesn't get bored.

Boredom is a huge issue for smart kids. Middle son Chris ran into that until mom & dad intervened and convinced the teachers to give him next-grade work.

As far as bright kids being better behaved....

Far more often they just find more creative ways to get in trouble

Can't really say that about Erik though. The only times we've had to deal with behavior is at bedtime (most kids are cranky when tired) and when he's hammered some bully into the ground. Erik's wiry, but he can press his weight already (80lbs) and has a helluva left hook. We didn't punish him for those, but of course he got the obligatory 1 day suspension for fighting back (dumb IMO).

2-3 of those last year and they moved on to easier targets

[Fat Tone]

Over the years I've been pressing for more granulated streaming at the school (it has always only been 2 tiers as there were two classes of 30 yer year group), and finally this year we have got support for more able-children (there's always been support for less-able children, which is great). Luke is doing maths from year 6 (one of only two in the school) and then in year six he will be doing high-school stuff. He's also doing the more-abled literacy class and we are told is well ahead on his reading and (to our surprise) written ability. If only he'd slow down a little and not make the silly mistakes sometimes. His karate is black-belt level now so if the bullies do come looking they'd better watch out!

[Dr Mordrid]

Erik started attending college classes this summer as part of the TAG (talented and gifted) program. The nice part is many of the credits are transferable later, and under a new program he can attend college half days while in high school. Bottom line is he could have his BS within a year +/- after graduating high school. Thankfully the campus is only ~2 miles from us.

This year's been a bit hard on his teacher given that she has 4 TAG kids and has to figure out how to keep them busy. Upper level material helps, but she also has them tutor the other kids and once every 2-3 weeks they go to the self-contained building and help tutor the functional autistic kids. Erik really likes that.

BTW: this years pictures just came in....

[Fat Tone]

Will all proud parents please take one step forward...