DIFFICULT TIMES ARE NECESSARY

DIFFICULT TIMES ARE NECESSARY By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist We are becoming a culture where everyone wants to be accepted for whatever they want to do. If they are not acting kindly to others, they still want others to be kind to them. They seem to have forgotten the golden rule: "do unto others as you want them to do unto you.” Many understand that what you give out to others somehow comes back to you good or bad. However, there are too many others who expect people to be especially considerate of them without earning it. In their thinking process, they are special and should be treated “with kid gloves.” This is not how most strangers react to other strangers. Many of them make a quick assessment from their first impression of an initial encounter. If an individual greets someone in an appropriate, respectful manner they will generally receive a positive reaction in return. Many people want to make a good impression keeping the conversation general and pleasant. There are some who have a “chip on their shoulder” and may be bitter about their lives because of the death of a loved one, a serious physical ailment, past serious setback or critical personal issue. Instead of putting their problems into the context of their lives they blow it out of proportion to the point of anger. Instead of realizing the non-serious crisis will soon fade into memory. This positive realization will help the person become emotionally stronger and mentally wiser. On the other hand, when a person hangs onto their obsessions and anger without accepting and tolerating it as another difficult but important learning experience. The person tortures himself for no reason. It can ruin the person’s emotional and mental stability. Hanging onto anger and pain can become intolerable and result in mental instability and even mental illness. On the other hand, accepting the intolerable as well as the magical is an indicator that a person is gaining wisdom. Positive and negative, wonderful and horrible days are all part of one’s life. All of us should need to learn that if everything and everyday were perfect we would be living a delusional existence. The difficult times are necessary to teach us to appreciate the good ones. The ups and downs of life exist for all of us. Those difficult events are an essential part of life. Without down days we would be ignorant of recognizing the up ones. People must accept difficulties and even tragic events to appreciate the pleasant and even glorious ones. Life has both unpleasant and pleasant events. Remember in life all of us will experience both negative and positive. Accept the difficult experiences since it is the main way humans are able to appreciate those magical ones. Everyone who is alive will have miserable and delightful days in their lives. Remembering those wonderful days is a great method to place one’s life in an overall positive perspective for their sake. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

ONE TO ONE LIMITATIONS IN LEARNING By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Many home-schooled students have become successful adults. Certainly, they have become readers, writers, and communicators. They have excelled in many professional endeavors. Some have come from an upper economic status with highly educated family members and high socio-economic levels. Some have been provided with incredible experiences that augment their childhood education. The upper class has had the opportunity to educate their children in this unique way while the average family had to rely on government, public education. Now some families have turned to teaching their children at home. They may hire teachers to teach in their home or joined private home school groups with a few children. Some have purchased online education programs where the child sits in front of a computer for most of the day, getting an education. When compared with large public-school environments these increasingly individual learning environments have pros and cons. The student’s individual learning style can be catered to better in a one-to-one or small group of ten or less students. The smaller number of children usually means the teacher can give more individual attention to their learning. This greater individual learning time usually means the teacher can tailor make a unique learning environment and give greater attention to each one. This can be positive for the student and limiting as well. This one-on one teaching can at times have a negative impact. In a larger group of students, a group discussion will give many different viewpoints from others. These other students can stimulate other ways to view the issue. A group discussion is a wonderful method of encouraging individual thinking and skill development. Furthermore, this unique method of presenting material usually increases with the size of the group. The more people presenting slows down the completion of the topic but offers the group more methods of approaching and developing their project. A one-on-one teaching experience with a student allows the teacher to learn about the student’s learning style and overall knowledge base. However, it does not provide the student with the opportunity to learn from other students’ styles and methods of communicating their ideas. Students in school not only learn the subject matter presented in class but also must learn to follow directions and learn to interact appropriately with other students and teachers. In other words, a student learns what it means to be appropriate in an academic setting with numerous others. Besides academic subjects most discussion-oriented schools help students learn correct social skills in a well administrated school program. Home schooling often has a lack of time management opportunities as children can take their time on activities and tests. This means that they do not learn to work under stress. Parents need to be conscious of this drawback of one-to-one learning and figure out ways to make time management more prevalent. There are advantages to home schooling children in individual families, small groups, online, in homeschooling programs with several students. There are also some disadvantages that should be considered. With the changes and reported problems in public schools it is understandable that parents are looking for alternatives to public school for their children. If parents are going to home school their own children or hire an educator to instruct their children, they should consider the limitations of home schooling as well as its advantages. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

IN A HEALTHY FAMILY EVERYONE SHOULD PARTICIPATE By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Yes, many family psychology experts have accepted that everyone should do “their own thing” during their free time. This usually means the children are in many activities such as dance, sports teams, drama, bowling, weightlifting or modeling. While the parents have their own activities, clubs and regular activities to satisfy their own interests. Many families have outside helpers to complete almost all the necessary maintenance projects that keep up their homestead. Someone or a company maintains the outside and others do the inside of the home. There are organized activities to go to every day and night for each family member to be entertained in their so-called “free time.” Everyone has their own scheduled events to keep them interested, active and fill their time. Yet, there are things that must be done to keep up the homestead. Instead of using the many businesses to complete household tasks, parents could pass on their knowledge and skills to their children rather than use these specialists to perform various functions around the home. Yes, it is easier to bring in professionals, but it is a lost valuable opportunity to pass on the skills of the parents to their own children. Training one’s children to be self-sufficient has always been a goal of a thoughtful parent. Emphasizing the future skills that might be necessary and important in a child’s life is wise and prudent time spent. Spending time to learn a host of tasks such as cooking, cleaning, yard work, painting, or repairing things is necessary and invaluable to learn. Regardless of their family financial status, the children should learn skills and methods to complete tasks and projects should their family financial status change. By fathers and mothers passing their knowledge and skills onto their children it allows the next generation to be more prepared for future economic changes. Besides these valuable and necessary skills will give them a heads up in successfully completing many projects and activities in their future. By explaining, demonstrating and having children participate with them in as many home activities as possible parents allow the children to have their questions answered to better function when they reach adulthood. The greater the participation of the children of the family, the better prepared they will be to become high functioning adults. Having children help can slow down the completion of the tasks at first but prepares the children to be competent to take care of the constant number of tasks that arise around the home. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

BEING KIND TO OTHERS PAYS DIVIDENDS By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Traditional Realist We are becoming a culture where everyone wants to be accepted for whatever they do. Even if they are not acting kindly to others, they expect others to be kind to them. They seem to have forgotten that what you give out to others you often get back exactly what you gave out. Some people do not understand this truism that how you treat others will come back to you as good or bad. The Golden Rule still applies. However, there are too many who expect others to be especially considerate of them without earning it. In their thinking process, they are special and should be treated with kid gloves. This is not how most people react to other people who are strangers. Many people make a quick assessment from the first impression of a stranger by their initial encounter. If an individual greets a stranger in an appropriate, respectful manner he will generally receive a positive reaction in return. Most people want to make a good impression keeping the conversation general and pleasant. However, there are some who have a chip in their shoulder. Many of them are bitter about some aspect of their lives, a recent death of a loved one, a serious physical ailment, or past serious setback of another personal issue. Instead of putting their problems into the context of their lives, these people blow it out of proportion to the point of outrageous anger. It is better to realize their seemingly momentous crisis will run its course and fade into a past memory. This realization often will help the person become emotionally stronger and mentally wiser. On the other hand, a person may hang onto their obsession and anger without accepting and tolerating it as another difficult but important learning experience. It can ruin the person’s emotional and mental balance and cause unnecessary problems in other aspects of their life. An individual hanging onto anger and pain often becomes intolerable to their loved ones. This intense emotional anger can result in mental instability and even mental illness. Instead of focusing on how another person hurt them, they should place themselves in the position of helping another person in need. By extending their energy and caring to others, the emotionally wounded person feels uplifted rather than passing time feeling angry. Being kind to another leaves a person in a positive mental state. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

COMPLETING CHORES PROVIDES A FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Farm children usually have the reputation for being excellent academic students because they were taught how to work. Many of these chores had to be done often without specific instructions. Of course, the farm children had to improvise to get the chores done correctly and in a timely manner. These varied experiences give these youngsters the opportunity to become competent individuals in many areas. They can quickly and confidently repair or replace many items in various situations. What children living on a farm experienced to make them competent is not what children of today experience. Many children do almost nothing around the house to help out the family. The normal chores expected of children in the past are done by others such as landscapers, home cleaners, painters and others robbing the children of common knowledge they could use for their future. Today many parents are busy doing a million things inside and outside of the home. As the children grow older it should become possible for the children to take over some tasks. “Clean up your room.” Usually the mother informs the child where they can put their clothes, toys, electronic gadgets and other objects. It might take many reminders and explicit instructions where everything belongs. Eventually a misplaced object becomes an exception to the rule. As the youngster attempts different types of chores he develops new skills. They try new methods of attacking different problems and thinking through a series of solutions. This process of rationally attacking a difficult situation is an indication the child is developing the skills necessary to become a fully functioning adult. Helping set the table, putting the silverware in the proper place, emptying the dishwasher are a few of the many chores that even young children can do to help the family. As a child develops into a teenager, the number of ways they should help out with activities for the family increase in number and intensity. The adolescent is expected to figure out the best way to complete the chore they need to do and complete them in an efficient way to be helpful. It is incumbent upon the parents to make sure the growing child has age appropriate things they can do to help out with family chores. Unfortunate children are those whose parents do everything for them never giving them a chance to learn simple tasks that are necessary to maintain a home or even prepare a meal. As youngsters grows into adults, they normally will want to demonstrate their abilities to plan and complete more sophisticated projects to show their competence. The child may not realize the reward for doing the chores correctly is to develop competence in doing many different things that will benefit him all his life. Knowledge of various methods of efficiently completing chores and experimenting with different methods to determine which is best to complete a task is a terrific method of self-learning. Learning to do many different chores around the house is a definitive way to help a child learn diligence, time management, and the perseverance needed to be an academic achiever. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

DEI IS A FORMULA FOR FAILURE By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist Presently progressives have slid a new socialist concept into our economy. DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) will undermine the traditional American virtue of hiring the best person dedicated to doing their duties to the greatest extent of their abilities. What made America great was we did not care what race, ethnic group, or socioeconomic class you were from. Instead, it was the economic worth you brought to your employer, your own business or large corporation. It was the work ethic of the owner and/or the employee that brought success to the business. It does not matter what the person or group of people wants to accomplish, a DEI social system is a formula for failure. Any team that wants to win a competition strives to pick the best teammates to accomplish the goal of winning. The team does not pick teammates for diversity, equality, or inclusion. They pick those that have the best talents, or high motivation level, and do not pick just anyone who fits the DEI requirements. Obviously, they want people who can win and augment the best players giving the team the best chance at winning. “Diversity, Equality and Inclusion” is a social goal. It is not supposed to enhance the chances of winning or even to improve the group. DEI is a goal that is supposed to improve society by increasing the diversity, equity, and inclusion in our society. It may be interesting to live in a society that holds DEI as extremely important to their cultural value system. It would appear that diversity, equity, and inclusion would personally apply to each and every member of this society. This would substantiate that every citizen would be guaranteed equal acceptance in this type of society. The problem with DEI is not only with its over-promising but how a society accomplishes this utopian progressive goal. This “pipedream,” like all previous others, is nonsensical and needs to be rejected on its outrageous over-reach. We know everyone is unique, having strengths, and weaknesses as compared to others. These factors as well as social, intellectual, economic, and family background ensures that no one will be a duplicate of another. In fact, each person is unique. DEI can sound great but in practice would never happen nor would it be a positive for society. Presently we are free to make our own choices and follow our own decisions. Our present society promotes freedom of individual choice and hopefully will never morph into a totalitarian one that arbitrarily determines winners and losers. DEI will fail as an experiment. What made America great is our meritocracy to ensure the quality of our economy and society. An example of DEI going awry was seen at the near assassination of former President Trump. There were two average size women on the Secret Service team who were not able to cover the body of the president no matter how hard they tried. The men on the team had large, tall bodies and were able to do the job of protecting the larger body of the 6-foot-2- inch-tall president while the smaller women left him exposed. America has been a nation where it was not very important who you knew or what political or religious group you belonged to as long as you did the job well. The excellence of your total performance is what counted. Merit in performing ones’ duties is the best overall criteria in judging a person’s advancement or reason to even hold a job. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.

MAKING THE UNACCEPTABLE ACCEPTABLE By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist The United States has been and is increasingly becoming a obtuse culture. What was Black and White has become grey and subtle and at times extremely confusing. Things in the past were mostly right or wrong. There was consistency of expectations at home, school, church and in public. Many of us followed biblical values and practices. Things that protected oneself, family, and nation have radically been weakened. Our “woke” news media reports on certain incidents that attempt to delve into the life story of the perpetrator to give the reader a more empathetic view of their brazen and often destructive acts. The “whitewashing” of unjustifiable actions is undermining the individual and the public’s ability to enforce standards and blurring the line between right and wrong. The less clear the distinction there is between these behaviors the weaker a person’s power to decide which choice is better. Blurring good and bad, right and wrong, is weakening our moral code. When this difference between positive and negative behavior is weakened, so is the general public’s ability to make good decisions. We must understand which specific actions are advantageous or destructive for a person or nation’s future. We need to return to biblical values that have been the fundamental foundation of successful people and countries throughout history. We see the use of scientific theories and confusing words to minimize despicable acts. This is an attempt to reduce negative feelings toward the criminal behavior. It also tries to make the harmful act more acceptable to the general public. When being punished rightfully for his unacceptable behavior he is also a victim even though he started the whole thing. For instance, a pedophile is a person who preys on young, innocent victims but now has become a “minor attracted person” to lessen the evil connotation. An illegal immigrant is rarely sent back to the country of origin but is now considered as a “newcomer” to this country. At this time abortion is “a woman’s right to choose” even though a newborn child’s life is snuffed out. Everything is blurred even someone born as a female can now become a “male.” Justifying the unjustifiable is now commonplace. Our media is even attempting to change what the public sees what their own eyes. For example, during the summer of 2020 which was called “the summer of love” even though behind the broadcasters was seen burning buildings and vehicles, while it was said to be a “peaceful demonstration.” The reality was many people were killed, police officers were injured and many businesses were destroyed leaving many people without income. Our media is no longer reporting and showing the news as it happens. It is creating the news by making wild interpretations about what is happening in front of them. This is being done by the reporters according to their own viewpoints. Instead of showing and reporting the facts of what is in front of them they are creating the storyline according to their own value system. Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers and blogs, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN and the latest book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglioblogspot.com.