The Joy of Pets

Many people in this country have either a cat or a dog as pets, or both.  These pets bring a lot of joy to many households.   In our household, we are guardians to six cats and two dogs.  They all want our attention and all need to be cared for.  Pets need more than making sure they are fed and their areas in which they live are maintained.  They need to be reminded often how much you care about them.  These pets need to be petted, held if small enough to be held, and nurtured.  Cats as well as dogs love it when you talk sweet to them.  Watch a cat and how that cat responds to being talked to nicely.   They will roll around and be really cute.  We say hi to our cats and say their names when they enter a room and they say hi back to us.  It is really cute.

A multitude of pet guardians find meaning in their lives by volunteering to help those who need them including animals without homes.   Pets have been known to provide a whole host of benefits for their guardians.  For example, owning and caring for pets have helped people who are struggling with high blood pressure in lots of ways from getting more exercise by walking their dogs to playing with their animals.  Spending time with animals can help people feel less depressed and it opens them up to be more involved with other people.  In our community we have a dog park.  People meet other people at this dog park because of a common interest, their dogs. 

Pets have been used to help those who have a medical condition or who have been in an accident.  Doctors refer to this as animal assisted therapy.  Dogs have been known to detect illnesses in people before they knew they had an illness.  Cats have been known to lie next to a person who was terminally ill to bring that person joy before walking to the other side. These cats act as if they are serving a purpose of providing comfort. It has been discovered that children who grow up in homes with cats and dogs have fewer allergies and skin conditions such as eczema.  Having a dog or a cat helps children stay healthier, with fewer colds and stomach problems.

Children who have pets in the home also learn responsibility.  Chores such as feeding, walking and cleaning up after a pet help children understand what taking care of someone besides themselves is like.  It is also responsible to care for ourselves as much as we care for our pets and we can do so by:

1.        Wash your hands after each time you feed or pet your animals.

2.       As cold winter weather approaches, remember to keep you and your pets warm.

3.       Make sure you pets see a veterinarian regularly.

4.       Research the type of plants you have and make sure they are safe for your pets.

5.       Approach a pet you don’t know carefully.

We love our pets and they give us love in return.  Rescue an animal from your local animal shelter and give this cat or dog a good home, you will not regret this decision.  We haven’t.  When I was volunteering at our local animal shelter, another volunteer said they know you are here when I walked into a room with a lot of cats in cages.  My response was “trust me, they do more for me than I can ever do for them.” He smiled and said he knew what I meant.  At the very least, go and walk dogs at your local animal shelter or talk and pet a cat.  They would love to get attention from you. 

Genealogy 101

On November 7, 2012 I attended a session provided by the Lake Superior Elders at Lake Superior State University.  Steve Gordon gave the presentation.

He said these were mistakes to avoid:

1.        Don’t put off talking to relatives.

2.       Don’t forget to document what you learn from relatives and others about your own history.

3.       Don’t assume that everything you find is true.

4.       Don’t accept family legends without question.  However, keep these stories.

5.       Don’t limit yourself to current spelling of surnames.

6.       Beware of generic family history

7.       Don’t misspell the word genealogy.

Where to start you genealogy search:

1.       Start with yourself and go down the line from your parents to your grandparents, etc.

2.       Go to these sites:

http://www.mymcpl.org/genealogy/family-history-forms

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/FREEFORMS

http://www.chippewacountymi.gov/clerk/html

3.       Check out your local libraries.

The Bayliss library in Sault Ste. Marie (the Bayliss library pays for the Heritage Quest for member to use)

4.       Search Census Information

5.       Michigan State Archives

6.       Register of Deeds

7.       University Libraries

8.       Transcription Project – www.stevemorse.org

9.       http://www.1940census.net (the 1940 census is now available to the public)

10.   The Ontario Genealogical Society at http://www.orgs.org

11.   Use forms such as the Pedigree Chart and Family Group Sheet located from the site mentioned above.

12.   When you are doing your search ask for vital records such as birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses.

13.   The Social Security Death Index is another place to do your search.

14.   Be aware of name changes, when your relatives went through Ellis Island, names were changed.

This was a very informative presentation and I think I will explore the 1940 census data information. Have you completed a family tree yet?

 

 

Stereotypes

I attended a presentation put on by Northern Michigan University entitled Community Partnering: Collaborative Strategies for Family-Centered Services to Children.  I was interested in this topic and I need to earn continuing education units to maintain my social work license.  Patti Beekman, the presenter, came with a great background from having books published on similar topics to managing child welfare services in Ohio for many years.  I found the presenter to be very informative and I enjoyed her approach to providing the attendees with a wide array of information. 

We addressed the strengths and challenges of child protection services in the Upper Peninsula for the first part of the day, then we covered strategies to strengthen the services continuum, very interesting. Ms. Beekman provided information about why collaborations succeed which included: shared values and missions; procedures for collaboration are clearly delineated; shared trust and respect; commitment; and cross training.  I am going to seek grants from federal and state resources and I found a lot of the information presented during the workshops to be very useful for my future endeavors.

 After a wonderful lunch was provided by the university, the workshops were resumed and we were provided information about Strengths Based, Family Centered Services to Protect Families and Preserve Families.  The presenter did a good job at establishing interaction between all the attendees to keep things interesting. During this presentation we were asked to meet in small groups and discuss stereotypes.  We were given a list of characters and small groups were requested to put down the first thing that came to mind. The first one was homeless people and our group came up with lazy, scary, mental health issues, and dirty. Another one was a single mother with lots of kids and the first thing that was said was slut (we were all women at our table), indecisive, and greedy were other terms we came up with. When a single father was discussed these words came to mind: wuss, doormat, and then widower.  Gay people were on this list and we used these words because we didn’t seem to have an issue with them: good dressers and good shoppers.

And then we discussed absent fathers, and fathers who don’t pay child support: selfish was the main theme for these topics and some of the people at our table did not have anything nice to say about foster parents.  I found that discouraging and disheartening.  I feel that they are a god send; but others thought they were just in it for the money.  The last topic was white women which threw everybody for a loop.  White women have stereotypes. In fact when we came to that topic we asked the participants at another table what they were saying about that area.  They were stumped also.  Then the adjectives started flowing: controlling; shoppers; gold diggers; snobs; etc.  Why do you think the presenter put white women as the last topic? I found that very interesting and thought provoking.  This was a great exercise and proved a lot about the stereotypes that we have all been exposed to. 

One of the women at our table stated that she finds it amazing that she turned out as good as she did.  She was raised by a mother who was a drug addict.  Her and her siblings had free rein.  They had to cook for themselves and look out for each other.  She said her mother slept with all her father's friends and she learned from her mother how to steal from her grandmother and shoplift.  This woman is currently a protective services worker.  I have to hand it to her that she did  turn out quite well considering.

The presenter covered information about the impact of trauma on children of various ages.  Ms. Beekman stated that she would send me the slides to this presentation.  She had to go over this quickly because there was a lot to cover.  It was very interesting and is definitely associated with my research.

One of the last activities we were involved in consisted of us picking a side that was invoked when we read a scenario.  We either had to dislike or disagree with the topic.  One of the questions was: Abuse and Neglect are less emotionally traumatizing to a child than separation from his or her family and placement in foster care.  What side would you take?

I am very glad that I chose to take these workshops.  It was well worth my time, money, and driving in very snowy conditions.  I look forward to driving to Marquette, MI next Thursday to attend the presentations on Pain Management and Ethics given by Northern Michigan University.  I also look forward to eating at Red Lobster and doing more shopping.  I think the weather is going to be better.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.