Bringing Up Geeks

I am the mom to two children, a 'tween daughter and an almost 'tween son. Oh how I miss the baby and toddler years! Ha Ha.

My daughter is an Honor Roll student. She comes right home and does her homework. Some teachers have even had her tutor other students in class and have often sat students next to her who are doing poorly in class in hopes that my daughter might "rub off" on them and they will follow her lead.

My daughter has also been on TV for winning and essay contest and won the 5th grades D.A.R.E essay contest and got to read her essay in front of the school, parents and dignitaries from our community.

I'm proud of my daughter. Even though she is very bright I don't consider her a "Geek", however after reading a book called "Bringing Up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kids Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World" I am happy to refer to my daughter (and my son!) as "Geeks".

In the book written by Marybeth Hicks, "Geek" stands for "genuine, enthusiastic, empowered kids", which I am happy to refer to my kids as.

As well as my daughter does in school, and as much as her teacher's compliment her all the time on being so well behaved, polite and an all around a good kid, myself and my husband have to deal with the typical 'tween angst at home.

Growing up my daughter was very much the "Alpha" personality. It was either "her way or the highway". The older she gets the more and more we find her being a follower instead of a leader (but when it comes to her brother she still "rules" at home. Ha Ha).

My daughter has friends and goes to school with kids whose parents give them everything under the son. My daughter had a friend (back when they were 9) who not only had her own My Space page but also was allowed to put pictures of herself on it... and she was 9 at the time! This same girl was allowed to go see the movie "Knocked Up" too (that was so NOT a kid movie!). My daughter's friends and classmates see "R" rated movies, get to stay up as late as they want, they can do their homework and study if they so chose to, they hang out at friends homes unbeknown to their parents, wear over priced "designer" clothing and walk around talking and texting on $$$$$ cell phones and iPhones. And these are KIDS!

We try so hard to make our kids realize that just because someone has an iPhone and wears clothes from Hollister and Abercrombie DOES NOT make them "better" then you. Not by a long shot. True, we live in an affluent area so many parents can afford to buy these things for their kids but at the same time we see A LOT of parents who buy these things for their kids either to "pacify" them or out of guilt because they work too many hours and cannot "afford" quality time with their children.

Society makes it VERY HARD to raise your kids to believe that they DON'T need to follow the trends, buy into everything that flashes before them on TV, or mold themselves into "clones" of others.

My kids are not allowed on the Internet except on the weekends (unless required for school work) and their Internet use is monitored. The are NOT allowed to do Internet searches without us and we MUST know who they are talking to on IM. We check their computers regularly to see what they are doing. My kids do have cells phones. They are pre-paid ones that are used for EMERGENCIES only. We don't buy into this texting craze. We shop at Walmart and we are not too proud to accept hand-me-downs. My kids have a bed time and a curfew and are only allowed to watch certain channels on TV and cannot see a PG-13 movie unless we know exactly why it's rated as such.

Sometimes I feel so alone in our "logic" on how to raise our kids. We are not purposely "depriving" them of "luxuries". We just want them to know that there is more to life then expensive things. We put a lot of emphasis on how one of us is always here for them 24/7. Both their parents are their to greet them when they get off the bus in the afternoon, we all have dinner together every night, we have family movie night and play games together and how neither parent has ever missed a class show or party. We try and show our kids that some things are more important then tangible things.

I am so happy that I read Bringing Up Geeks. Marybeth showed me that I am not alone in my thinking. She raised her children the same way I am raising mine right now. It was almost as if she read my mind. And I'm happy to see that her children turned out perfectly fine and didn't "suffer" and "damage" from not being a "follower" just to be considered one of the cool kids.

Bringing Up Geeks shows parents how it is possible to raise independent and morally strong children who do things because they WANT to, not because they are following others to try and be like them because it's "cool" or the "in thing" to do. Like we tell our kids all the time "If your friends jumped off the roof because they said it was fun, would you do it?". Sometimes being "cool" is just plain DUMB!

Bringing Up Geeks also shows parents what I have believed all along, we are not put on this Earth to be our kid's buddies... we are here to be their parents and to raise them to to happy, healthy and productive members of society. I am friends with my children, to a point. First and foremost I am their parent and that goes above and beyond anything else. As much as they don't like it they just have to learn to live with it.

Bringing Up Geeks has a bit of humor mixed in with a lot of serious issues. Although I might not have agreed with everything that was suggested in the book, I viewed this book more so as a "guideline" on how to raise our children in a GIVE ME! BUY ME! I WANT! world.

I honestly was truly amazed when I read Bringing Up Geeks. It's like Marybeth stepped into my mind and took all my thoughts and put them in the book. I feel so much better knowing that her children turned out just fine and that her children never "suffered" from not having followed the "cool crowd".

Bringing Up Geeks teaches you have to raise children to be themselves and stand out from the crowd which is a GOOD thing, not a bad thing.

For the record I referred to my daughter more so then my son because thankfully my son is not into the "cool" things. He doesn't even watch much TV by choice (except the Weather Channel).

Check out this great video about Bringing Up Geeks, narrated by the author herself. It's about two and a half minutes long. Subscribers will have to come to my blog to view the video.

Marybeth has generously offered two copies of Bringing Up Geeks to two She Scribes readers. Thanks Marybeth!

To enter please visit the Bringing Up Geeks web site at http://www.bringingupgeeks.com/. Look around and then come back here and comment on something you learned from the site.

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This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on May 20, 2009 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be chosen at random using a random number generator. Winners have three days to reply or a new winner will be chosen.

Don't forget to check out the other great giveaways by checking out the top right side bar under "Win It".

Bringing Up Geeks is available at most book retail locations including Amazon and B&N.