Over the last year—or whenever the recession (almost the depression) was officially dubbed the recession—I have become obsessed with a world that has been turned upside down or just plain inside out for millions of people.  My husband and I have been lucky, as we have survived (so far) through the thick of the mess.   We still have jobs, although instead of feeling warm and secure in our home each night, it’s hard not to feel like the reaper is lurking just around the corner.  .  .that nobody is immune to the instability of our current times.

What has been especially hard is trying to figure out how to prepare our children for the rest of their lives.  It seems like a different task these days.  Frankly, most of their short existence has been filled-up with “stuff all around them.”  And, that doesn’t mean an abundance of toys, clothes and all of the usual crap that kids desire after watching too much television in a family room that has been decorated around the big screen mounted above the fireplace.  It means that they have been sold the “easy and convenient life.”  It’s a life where you DESERVE to have a housekeeper versus taking the time to do it yourself, conveniently missing opportunities to teach your kids to how to clean.  God forbid—your kids might not be able to afford someone to scrub the toilet or mop the floor when they grow up.  What’s more likely is up to this point, they don’t have a clue how to do either.  We have also created generations of obese kids with the convenience of processed foods and have lost the art of cooking with fresh ingredients.  I’m ashamed to admit I have two children who think Velveeta is made from real milk (and is actual cheese).

People like to call today’s kids the generation of entitlement.  I like to call them the generation where the adults in their lives taught them about convenience, simple, easy, shortcuts—all the great adjectives that make life a synch.  But, do those adjectives combined with real life make for good children and eventual adults?  I don’t think so.  Not in times like these.  We have created a helpless generation who are trying to learn how to survive before they can thrive versus the other way around.

As I have thought about what this blog should become or how it might have value to someone if they take the time to read it, I came to the conclusion that I need to write about something I am passionate about.  So, what am I passionate about?  It definitely has evolved over the last year.  I’m passionate about being a nurturer—a happy and successful woman.  Men can be nurturers, but let’s get real—women seem to have the natural, God-given power to nurture in a more complete way.   I’m a nurturer of my husband, my children and those who surround me in my business.    What I often leave out is myself and I’m going to make it a goal to find ways to do this more successfully—and, I know by experience it’s not going to be simple, convenient or easy.

So, that’s what I want my O Should Know readers to find in this blog—a place to find ideas and thoughts about what women can do to nurture the new generation.   I plan to cover topics that the new generation will need to know about if convenience and abundance never return.  And, I have to say—I kind of hope they never do.  I think we can survive and maybe be better people along the way. . .even if we do have to scrub our own toilets.  Let’s teach not only teach our children how to fish, but show them how to gut and grill it in our own backyard.

For great recipes, I love this site:  www.tasteofhome.com.  What could be better than “taste of home?”  Taste of MickeyDee’s?  Not at my house.