Hi neighbors. I suppose we've all been watching the news of elections in Iraq, or trying to avoid watching them. Whatever speeds up the process of things settling down there I'm all for.

I have had to ask myself, would I go vote if I knew someone might shoot me for doing so? What if someone is taking names of those who they see go vote to attack them later? Would I risk my family getting blown up to vote? How many of us decline to vote for much lesser reasons? It's too hot or too cold, too windy, too calm? We don't have time or we haven't decided on who we want to vote for or we haven't followed the campaigns and feel we know too little about the candidates to vote -- these are all excuses I've heard. Some are excuses I've used in years past.

Hopefully the children of today in Iraq won't think voting a luxury they can afford to ignore when it's their turn to hit the polls in a few years.

They are the ones who will determine if the efforts to make Iraq a democracy work or not. The children of Iraq today have all been born under the reign of Saddam Hussein. Freedom from fear and oppression are only words they are just beginning to understand. I would like to think they will grow up in a country free of war and free of fear.

Children are resilient. Even now I've seen photos of children laughing and playing in areas of large bomb craters in the pavement of the streets and burnt buildings in the background.

There are so many lessons to learn as children -- how to avoid roadside bombs shouldn't be one of them.

* Discipline is a topic all parents have to address more often sooner than later. My daughter called the other day to discuss three-year-old Alyssa's latest outbursts when she gets reminded to behave.

We've gone through, "well fine -- just FINE!" and "leave me alone!" and most recently, "you're just mean!" So when she came up with "get your own life!" we were too busy laughing to be impressed with her tantrum.

Jenny doesn't spank and more often than not Alyssa is easily distracted from whatever she was doing that might not be the best for her.

Jenny laughed and said, "I don't remember you ever spanking me," and then added, "once you tried but after one swat it hurt your hand so much you gave up." That's a standing joke with my children. Mom can't spank because of her arthritis. Mom can't catch you if you run because the kids are faster. And recently, Mom can't wait to catch you for punishment later because she's forgotten what you needed punishment for by the time you come back in range.

Well, what goes around comes around so I'll be glad when both my children have children of their own! * Another lesson we all eventually learn is some things stay and some things well, don't stay so well. The lessons of science start early with preschoolers who always ask "why, how, and can I hold it?" Once someone sent me a version of this little poem by that famous author Annon O. Muss.

Last night I laid upon my pillow

Little snowmen I'd made at play.

I cried this morning to discover,

They'd wet the bed and ran away!

When getting Alyssa out of her car child seat after school, Jennifer noticed her coat was wet. Thinking she may have had an "accident," she checked other places and found them dry. "Why is your coat wet?" Jenny asked.

"I did it at recess outside," was the explanation Alyssa gave her.

When they got inside, Alyssa pulled a large chuck of ice out of her coat pocket. "I got this for you at recess, Mom. But it used to be bigger." Of course, then Jennifer had to explain that ice doesn't stay ice when in a coat pocket hanging inside a classroom for two hours. Of course, Alyssa had a great solution.

"Let's put it in the freezer!" So now it is there, safely waiting for Grandma's next visit.

I teased Jenny by warning her that this was just the first of many such "bonus packages" she'll be finding in coat pockets, pants pockets, sacks, backpacks and anything else that will hold "treasures" over the next several years. All parents have found anything from pebbles to snakes in children's pockets. Laundry duty becomes a wildlife safari or archeological dig.

Until the next time friends remember; childhood is a time of wonder and hopefully a time of joy for all children.