I just set up a second computer for kids’ schoolwork in an upstairs bedroom.

More and more of the kids’ schoolwork is requiring the use of a computer — we definitely needed this. But an internet-connected computer in a private room makes this mom of growing kids worry.

So I decided to set up this computer with a wireless USB adapter. Now this school computer can only access the internet when 1) I say so and 2) I hand over the adapter.

No sneaking online … “just to check email.” And no surfing without supervision. But it’s quick and easy to go online when we want to. I love this easy solution!

Raphael’s reaching milestones this summer. Come read the details at Faith & Family Live.

Now here’s what it’s all about.

If God created the internet for no other reason, it surely was so that mothers could help and support other mothers through the potty training process.

Excellent advice. Moral support. Practical considerations.

It’s all there. Go now.

Already, we have boys who wear shoes that are too big for my feet. We have jeans in the laundry that I can’t imagine belong to any person once small enough to have grown inside me. We have wrestling in the backseat of the van that I dare not break up for fear of losing a limb. We have passionate discussions about sports in which I know better than to attempt to participate.

The mother in me knows that these small changes are just a hint of the bigger ones to come — car keys and girlfriends and going-away to college.

So today I am grateful for the sound of a young boy’s cry of “Snake!” I relish the fact that it does not fail to bring all of them stampeding outdoors to hunt. I cling to the whoops of victory that erupt from the gang of them as they seize their prey.

And I savor the sight of them, dusty-faced in grubby T-shirts, beaming boyishly before me.

Do your kids go online? I like to have bookmarked pages of “approved” sites for my older kids to visit when they have computer time and I thought we could share some good ones today. Where do your kids like to click?

Also, I don’t dare let my kids Google, even with a filtered search. Can anyone recommend a “clean” and kid-focused search engine or collection of links?

UPDATE: shutting down comments while I’m away

Technorati Tags: kids online, filtered internet, safe surfing

Kateri started work yesterday. That’s right. My little girl has a job. A job, people!

Well, she’s not actually getting paid or anything, but the stable where she has taken riding lessons for the past 8 years has offered her a “work for riding” opportunity. She works in the barn and grooms the horses in return for free riding.

Well now, riding is worth more to this particular 13 year old than any paycheck could ever be. Not to mention the fact that just being in the barn and caring for the horses feels more like heaven than “work” to her.

My mother heart can rest. She’s not leaving home yet, just going to the barn. All in all, a mighty fine arrangement.

It’s official. There’s a teenager in the house.

I know we are standing at the precipice of a whole new world as our older children mature, and yet somehow it does not feel as daunting to me as it did 13 years ago today when we first looked at this little bundle … and trembled.

But darling Kateri, colic and all, was exactly what this nervous parental unit needed. And today, as a beautiful young lady whose birthday gifts will include hermit crabs and Chinese calligraphy supplies, and whose requested birthday dinner will consist of pork pie and chocolate cake featuring a frosting likeness of her favorite crowing rooster …

1. If you are a boy and your mother tells you on Sunday morning that the pants you have on are dirty and you cannot wear them to Mass, you will have to change. But if she neglects to tell you specifically that you must put them in the laundry, anything is fair game. You can totally take them off, kick them under your dresser, and leave them there until the next day when you have a doctor’s appointment. Your mom will be in such a rush getting out the door in the morning that she won’t even notice you are wearing the dirty, wrinkled, offensive pants until everybody notices you are wearing the dirty, wrinkled, offensive pants because you are wearing them under the bright lights of an exam room.

2. If you are a mother embarking on a 90 minute car ride in the cramped quarters of a Toyota Corolla with a 9 year old boy and 11 year old boy in the back seat, check under that seat before you close the doors and leave the driveway. The kinds of things you do not want them to have access to are a foam baseball bat and a plastic ice scraper.

3. If you are a wife and you allow your husband access to the family Netflix queue, date night will roll around and you will find yourself sitting down in front of this.