This article ends by saying that the best way to stay positive is to keep up with activities. Get out a visit people instead of waiting for them. Sitting and waiting for people will leave a person alone more. Keeping connections as strong as possible and never losing the positive attitude.

I understand this idea and can cause serious issues because of it. When older people don;t want to ask for help they are left alone to deal with issues. With no one around for social interactions loneliness can easily become depression. Depression can bring down a persons physical and mental well being.

This is a good quote and explains almost all the points that i bring up in my paper. I would like to use this just to show the affects of being alone for older adults.

This quote is a god example of how many older adults live by themselves with out much social interactions.

This article gives ways for older adults to stay motivated. All these examples giving could be good to include in my paper.

Overall staying in contact with others keeps people motivated to keep moving and looking forward to more in their lives. This keeps them from staying isolated and feeling lonely in their life. I can use this to say that older people in nursing homes need more ways to interact with others and make more relationships with people.

This is a good quote to add to my paper just as a basic sentence to explain in short what social relationships can bring to people.

As time goes on and the longer we wait to fix this program the more money we will go into debt because of the amount of older adults needing money from the government. This eventually will cause a crash and the younger generations will have the burden of this problem.

The program is not working anymore. with so many people needing money and not enough to go around the program is bound to fail. every way to fix the problems "increases taxes while cutting benefits".

With more older people growing in our country the more money is going to be needed for the people. Which there is already not enough so adding more to that will for sure not work.

The money put into Social security and Medicare isn't even enough to pay for the benefits people need and put their money into it in the first place.

Knowing that Social Security is a government benefit for people with Disabilities could be important background information to include in my paper.

"first step toward a better-embraced aging sector, one that is not diminished by prejudice born from misunderstanding."

This is a good quote to explain that experts know the problems that are occurring involved with older adults but other Americans use their prejudice to judge these people. Judging people just by the way the look is not helping anything because now nothing is being done because no one cares.

"Finally, the public asserted a belief in “mind over matter.” That you are as old as you feel and that people’s experience of aging is determined by their attitude, willpower, and choices."

This quote explaining how the public believes that older adults aging is based on will power and attitude i can use in my paper to use as a counterargument saying that older adults make their own life by their actions. I can rebuttal this talking about Alzhiemers and how this diseases affects older adults taking memory away. This makes it difficult for adults to complete daily tasks for their life. Not only is their life influenced on their age but money isn't always the easiest for all Seniors.

" The public believes the well-being of older adults is exclusively the result of individual lifestyle choices and financial planning"

This quote has a good meaning that i would like to bring up in my paper. Someone who believes this most likely has not had anything go wrong in their life to the point that they need to make financial adjustments. When older adults grow into the age that they need help and don't have that much money to pay for all their expensives, I don't believe that they should be 100% put to blame. No one is perfect and with the high cost of medical bills that older Americans pay its hard to save and have money for everything when about 15% of older adults already live in poverty. That not including the people in our country who have other problems to worry about in their lives.

"The belief that older adults are “other” contributes to a zero-sum thinking wherein policy discussions about aging are characterized as more resources for “them” means less for “us.”"

When Americans talk about Social Security and think about older adults, the resources of money for them is going to be eventually us. Everyone grows old and when Americans see older adults as Slow and fixed, that is going to be the younger generation one day.

"With the right contextual and social supports, older adults remain healthy and maintain high lives of independence and functioning"

This quote is a good rebuttal to the argument that older adults become "fixed" in their personalities and skills. I can even find another source to talk about someones story of aging and success

"The public characterizes the aging process as one in which identity, knowledge, skills, success, and other aspects of life become increasingly “fixed.”"

Thinking about this, older adults do not change and cannot do anything more than what they have accomplished so far. So learning new information might be hard to do So there is not much need for them.

" The most common language about aging was of “loss,” “slowing down,” and “breaking down.” "

This quote is a good example of what Americans this of older adults. This information can be used as a counterargument from some people saying that older adults aren't as important as the new generation.

Another good quote to add to my information and also add that Psychologists help patients through this time and help them cope with their stress and anxiety.

This is also another good statistic to add to my information to explain how many people are affected with these awful diseases everyday

This would be good to explain and use in my paper to explain what dementia and Alzheimer is and what is does to people as the age.

This is a good statistic to know about the amount of older people that actuality have mental issues.

This sentence would be good to add to the paper just as background knowledge about what type of job people can go into to make a difference.

With 15% of elders living in poverty is a serious issue. With all these elderly people coming to nursing homes and hospitals for help with mostly mental issues its going to be hard to pay for and take of of all these people with the shortage of Psychologists. I can use this to talk about mental issues related with seniors and explain how we need more help to treat all these people.

" In a community sample of non-demented Swedish persons age 85 years or older, 16% of the sample had either active thoughts of taking their own life or passive suicidal ideation (e.g., wishing for death or feeling like life was not worth living) within the previous month (Skoog et al., 1996). Also, in the community-based Great Britain study cited above, 16% of the sample age 81 years and older endorsed a strong wish to die (Rao et al., 1997)

This is a long quote but will be useful when explaining how many people or what percentage of people actually think of committing suicide at an old age.

The author at the end of the article tries to explain some factors or key components that can help catch signs of someone who is suicidal. He explains that depression is one the the most common diagnosis when dealing with suicide. But other factors can play a role in determine someone for suicide including physical looks (Illness, not eating, etc), Mental health(Anxiety, hopelessness), and not communicating with the society.

"It is crucial that nurses use terms endorsed by the Institute of Medicine, Mrazek & Haggerty (1994) when discussing the prevention of suicide. Preventive interventions are classified as either “universal,” “selective,” or “indicated.”

This section of the article i can use to talk about different ways the author believes needs improvements within Older citizens lives, and within nursing homes.

", there are approximately four attempts for each completed suicide " This is a really good quote to add to show the amount of people that attempt to commit suicide compared to how many actually do commit suicide.

". Suicide is the thirteenth leading cause of death in persons age 65 years or older (National Institute of Mental Health, 2004) and these individuals are at the highest risk for completed suicide"

This is a good quote to start off the topic of suicide involving seniors.

Many problems in nursing homes affect the happiness of residents "These concerns included lack of continuity of care, the use of agency staff, staffing levels and lack of resources. Some of these factors may be related to the current economic climate and are difficult to tackle."

Basically, becuase economy is so bad and nursing homes don't have the money to staff, the residents don't have the money to pay, and the family has problems staying connected, these residents are stuck in these homes with a hard end to their lives.

Sometimes visits aren't as easy as people think they are "Similarly, Maggie said: ‘I’m almost afraid to take him out because I remember the time he broke his hip. We can’t actually physically do it.’" The fear of even hurting them just to go out to have some quality time with them outside of the nursing home is a sad thing.

", Liam described an administrative role in caring for his father: ‘I suppose we’re very active in terms of his care, outside of the physical side of things... We’ve transferred all the stress from aspects of day-to-day life away from him; he doesn’t have to worry about paying insurance or his bills.’ "

Liam is a good example of times when family can help Seniors of the family in other ways than physical and mentally. He helps his dad economically which takes a lot of his fathers stress away.

"Eileen described supporting her husband who had cognitive impairment: ‘Well, I come in the afternoon to see him... and sometimes he’s grand and sometimes he’s agitated but I think I have a calming role." I would like to use Eileen's quote to show some of the effects that family can have on the residents.

Knowing that families want to help and those that do some things that stop them are what the author calls "Barriers" and explains that "Main barriers to family involvement include negative staff attitudes and poor relationships between staff, families and residents"

The author says that most families want to be included in the residents life, knowing about their well being, and knowing gernarl knowledge of their daily life but "family members often feel excluded and disempowered when a relative is admitted to residential care "

"Barriers identified in the literature include resistance to change in the institution, inadequate staffing, ineffective communication, uncertainty of families, and lack of support from staff " This quote explains some of the problems when it comes to keeping a relationship with family members when they go to nursing homes.This could be implemented into my paper when talking about what its like dealing with family in nursing homes.

"When a relative is admitted to residential care it can be traumatic for family members and they might experience feelings of guilt, loss of control, sadness and disempowerment" This is a good quote to show how families can feel as parents grow older and have to be sent to a nursing home because the younger generation cannot take care of them.

I can use this article as a source in my paper to show the importance of caring for the elderly. Not only medical caring and need, but the small things that make people happy on a daily basis.

The importance of the Little things is a huge topic to talk about. When families come into the nursing home and they see things like nails need to be cut, hair could be washed and put up nice, etc. But these small things are what makes residents smile and feel more alive. I can use this in my paper to explain the importance of the little things.

"long period of caring for their relative at home during which time these family carers developed new skills and knowledge. Because of these factors, they wanted to remain involved in their relatives’ care"

This quote is good to show how families can get involved more with there elders. It's important for families to stay close to their loved ones to keep the relationship strong and the motivation coming.

"order to understand the ways in which family caregivers of institutionalised relatives with dementia perceived the relocation of their relative to a more home-like setting of care"

This sections explains how residents feel more at home when family is there to support the resident. The study also talks about how residents who have family around during their time in the nursing home have a more enjoyable time and have positive results from being at the nursing homes. these results could include better attitude or just sign of happiness.

"The study concluded that a rhetoric of family partnerships is prevalent in some nursing homes. As reported elsewhere (Hov et al., 2012; Nakrem et al., 2012), the author highlighted the need for a new model of practice that views collaboration with families as a legitimate and necessary part of the role of care home staff."

This quote is one of the main points in my argument. If a senior goes to a nursing home they still have family. Its not just up to the nursing home to do everything. Yes they should complete their job, But that person who is growing old is going through a hard time and needs family support also. With the help of family big changes can be made i. a persons daily life and personality.

"argued that antagonistic relationship can develop between staff and relatives as the former seek to take over care and the latter to develop new roles"

This is really interesting and i never really thought of the family having bad relationships with the staff. But i could use this information to explain how When family is there for residents, they are able to monitor the staff and make sure the the resident is getting the proper care that they diverse.

This is a good point and could be used to rebuttal the counter argument about how elderly should be left to die and less money should be given to them.

Making efforts to focus on more important things could really help us save money. Doing research on medical treatments that could have more effects on helping with pain and suffering would be more useful than looking for ways cure patients. Everyone dies in the end, so why spend money looking for ways to stop it.

This argument is very controversial. The idea that we could save money by limiting what we spend our money on for elderly's health reasons. So if an elder is dying, they are less likely to get more money because, they are dying anyway. Why spend money on surgery for a 90 year old man who dies the next month anyway. I believe people deserve the chance anyway because everything they have gone through in their life. But the money should be limited as some surgeries and medical treatments are not needed.

This is a good quote to just show that elderly abuse is shown all throughout the world not just the US

This is a big debate among lots of people. This issue of where this tax payer money should go. Seniors need some sort of benefit to pay for all the health bills that occur. Its only life but with Medicare going bankrupt, there wont be any money for the seniors to use for the outrageous bills.

This section talks about how Medicare is used for patients that "Need Care". The payments are based on the level of care they need. I can use this in my paper to explain more how expensive it can be to go to a nursing home

This is the starting information just about Medicare I can use this information to show the regulations of Medicare as i begin to talk about the pricing of nursing homes and how it can be a struggle for a lot of people, even with government funding.

The interview part on page 64 could be very good to include in my paper to show the different interactions between residents good and bad.

The article after the research gives strategies that could have a influence on the residents lives. Some of the points are having fun, not complaining, Getting needs met by the staff, and creating a positive atmosphere. These are good ways that nursing homes can make the environment more enjoyable for residents.

"m, but rather as unintended consequences of resident efforts to have a life in the nursing home." This quote really explains what the research done was about. Residents need relationships in the nursing homes because it helps have a meaning in life. With out having relationships, these residents are stuck in this building without friends, feeling lonely as they grow close to the end. It may not be easy to make friends but most of the residents here say that it happened by consequences. But the people that don't have the luxury of making friends are stuck by themselves. Activities can help people make relationships. But other wise this doesn't sound like the best way for the end.

"This knowledge was used to probe residents who spent considerable time attending structured activities about their relationships to determine if their relationships were different than those of residents had who attended fewer activities." This quote explains how residents who don't attend as many activities are less likely to have as many friends. This point is obvious but i can still use it to show how activities are a big part of residents lives because there is not much else for them to do. We can't just leave them in the nursing home bored. Staff is there to help them with daily tasks and keep them motivated to keep moving.

"The length of stay was 1.75 years" this quote is good to explain how long these residents stay in the nursing homes. This is a long time to be stuck in a facility with others toward the end of their life.

2.1 Residents make better relationships by having more stuctured activities. this helps them work together making friendlier relationships making their environment a better place for them to live

I believe that this is the best solution to help our nursing home society. By making the environment a better place for seniors it'll make lots of the residents feel more at home and not so depressed as they grow old.

This would be a good counter argument as Nursing homes cost way too much

Quote to bring into the fact of how many people use Medicare

When talking more about money and government in my paper, and topic i could bring up could be about how the money is spent towards patients. Is it fair to spend government funding money(the Medicare and Medicaid) for surgeries for patients that are already old and wont live much longer anyway.

This quote could be used when talking about the issues when paying for treatments for seniors.

For my own career, I have an interest in becoming a physical therapist. With the big range of problems that Seniors receive, they require a lot of attention from nurses, aids, and physical therapists.

The amount of room there is for patients/ residents is decreasing over time. This could mean many things saying there are less people going into nursing homes. This could be because more people want to stay with family or want to stay away from nursing homes in general. This will be tough with all the new "baby boomers" coming into old age.

This would be a good quote to add somewhere in the paper

This article gives lots of good facts giving both sides of how nursing homes are good and bad

This article is good to just show all the different things that nursing homes bring to seniors. It may have all these benifits but how well are they executed. Is the house keeping done well. Is the food what they residents want. Not everyone is the same and everyone lives differently. When put in a building with 100 other people, problems occur.

This also says how staffing can be difficult for nursing homes with the wages low and low staffing, the crew may not be 100% qualified or the right people for the job.

The part with the amount of residents that have instances of abuse is some of 550,000 residents.

I can use this section to show more examples of how crazy and outrageous these seniors can get.

This is a quote o can blend into my paper to show the hostility of some residents.

I can quote this showing the different cases that residents have had. Also the fact that they said other residents are causing injuries as well. These seniors should fell safe in these homes, but with others attacking them, it gives the fell of a war field.

Seniors are living in these environments and dealing with this kinds of problems on a daily bases. We need to be more involved. I can use this qoute to say that its not just small abuse, its severe to almost cause death or serious injury.

This is a story about two young boys who grew up in the same high school but had opposite outcomes in life. These stories of the boys helps show my argument about what can influence people to become who they are.

This story of the 2 boys in high school really helps my paper because it talks a lot about how kids have a hard time in high school and what they make of it can change their lives entirely. In my paper i'm going to talk about the different problems with child youth and things that affect a person growing up. These stories really help shine light on the problems that kids have and how we need to make changes because not only are we losing lives, but passing on bad traits to the next generation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9BEsJPGTYI This video is of a child who has no respect for his mother. As she tries to control him she clearly needs help. She goes on Dr. Phil and still the child does not care and slaps his mother. In our world today people don't think that children can do this to the parents but it's almost becoming a normal thing in families because so many divorces and single parents are taking care of their children.

Some parents have trouble controlling their kids. When kids are able to just leave the house like Eric, they might feel like they can do what ever they want. If the parent isn't going to punish them for their actions, the child is not going to care. Eric Ran away right before his report card was sent. Most likely because it showed bad grades. Eric needs to have respect for his parents otherwise hes just going to do what he wants. Some single parents have a harder time with this because kids can take control and parents are powerless. We need places like military school or government funded programs for kids like this. I have seen families torn apart by 14 year old who feel they can do and say what they want. they call their mother names and walk out of the house when they feel like it. Some metal problems might be a cause of this and still we don't have much help for the kids with them. If we could have more than just teachers to try to help kids with mental problems maybe these outbreaks would be less likely to happen.

I feel like this isn't done enough at some schools. They might have the power to do this but there are still tons and tons of drug problems at schools that are not being stopped. Even if we try, the kids that are using drugs need to want help or want to try to succeed. If they don't try then teachers trying to help them with their school work would be for nothing.

Eric didn't end up like Curt because he fell down like a snowball. He wasn't very popular with kids but when everyone at school knew he was doing drugs, he was instantly known as the "druggie". As the years went by, it was hard for him to catch up in school and eventually gave up.

Between the two boy's outcomes of high school, there was huge differences. Curt was able to see what he didn't want to be with his group of friends. instead of joining them with drugs and not doing well in school, He helped others that were having a hard time. He still stayed around his group of friends, but never fell into the spell of peer pressure.

This paragraph has a good explanation on how everyone can have problems no matter what they look or act like. Getting through these problems is hard but there is a way through it. Judging someone on looks may not always be the case. Just like the author says in this paragraph, the high school hero could have a dysfunctional family, or quiet child in class might be fighting depression. Kids and parents need to work together during this time of hardship.

John Sullivan talks about his father who died of smoking and explains how it was for him growing up with a parent who was always sick. This story helps me explain what kids go through when their parents makes bad decisions and how hard it can be for that child to grow up wondering, worried, and scared for their loved one.

This article explains how parents need to be careful about how they congratulate their kids because it can have negative effects on the child that no one would think of. This research is helpful in my argument because it talks about how kids become less motivated to complete school work when praised a certain way. The research done in the article gives lots of credibility to the topic.

Parents have a hard job determining the right amount of praise because without it, children are left to themselves to determine their own intelligence. There is a lot of pressure on kids and giving praise can be good or bad, its up to the parents to determine how much, how they will say it.

The author explains his story about his son and how he only praised him on specific things and a limited amount. instead of saying "you played great" after his soccer game he would say " Good pass" or "Good effort getting the ball". This way the child sees what he is doing well and isn't over praised. If he was to be over praised, they when he grows older and tasks become more difficult, he is more likely to give up when the praise is not present.

Baumeister and other researchers are now looking at if praise actually helps students. Depending on the type of praise and who is giving the praise can have a big effect in different ways. A parents praise has a big effect because the self esteem of the children is "Largely tied to parents' pride in their children's achievements".

The research that Carol Dweck did showed that kids that were praised for their effort had better test scores than the kids that were praised for their intelligence. But Sue Needleman doesn't care what the research shows. She is a mother of 2 and is an elementary-school teacher. She tries to keep her praise specific that way students know what they did to earn the praise and eventually want to keep doing that. The reasearch still shows, with the kids knowing the idea that the brain is a muscle helped improve their math scores.

I can see how this can help students by teaching and telling the students that the brain is a muscle can help kids see that if they put effort into learning it can help them get better grades. I can relate to this because my younger brothers now are having a hard time in school. I am not totally sure why but i believe it to be they do not put effort because they do not care or they dont think they can do it. If they were told that they don't need to be "smart" to get good grades, they just need to give their brain a challenge.

It's public proof that you can;t cut it on your natural gifts." Kids that have gifts at certain topics may not put as much effort into that work. So just because you don;t understand something doesn't mean someone should give up. But in the research it showed giving praise to kids can affect their performance in school. therefore what parents say to their kids could either positively or negatively influence their school work.

Almost everyone becomes proud of there kids for something. I sure they all say something between the lines of " your so smart!" or something like that. but what the research says is that the kids might feel that they are too intelligent to put effort forth. Some things they may be good at, but the lessons or topics they can't do, they decide to give up. This could also be turned around with parents bring down kids. What would the effect be if a parents was to call kids names or bring down there self esteem?

This article explains how parents can make a big difference if their kids lives. This article goes with my topic becuase i can use this information to show how kids grow up differently with parents and how their parents influence them. I can also use this to show my own view point and say that kids grow up to be who they want to be with their own dicisions based on life.

This paragraph talks about how race does not affect how kids get into trouble. It is more about their environment and surroundings. Kids in the middle class, black and white, had similar results of getting in trouble. but when put up against kids that live in poverty, then the results were vastly different with poverty kids getting into more trouble.

I understand what the author and researchers are trying to explain but i still don't fully agree. Maybe this is just my own opinion and as a Human being i feel that the way that i act is controlled by myself. Genes may be the reason some kids are more likely to fallow what their parents do, but that is not the only factor. If a child wants to change his attitude then he has the power to do so. I am not talking about children with mental disorders because i know that could also cause problems with emotions. Parents to me have little effect on emotions to their child because they decide how they want to behave. (In the end)

I don't fully understand how this could be possible because that child who was taken under the wing of the adoptive parents should have started to show some sort of similarity as they learn the ways of life through those parents. Everyone grows up differently and the way i know this is when i go over to a friend of mines house. Some of my friends i know to take my shoes off some keep their shoes on through the whole house. Everyone has preference and as they learn through their parents how they want to live they have living styles in common.

When i hear about parents shaping who people are, I start to think about what really made me who i am today. I know that there are tons and tons of different factors who have made me Justin Alberico. To talk about each and everyone or to try to specify what was the greatest impact is a difficult tasks to accomplish. Not only are their friends, families, memories, past history, there is also what that person believes on the inside too. I could have parents that smoke all the time or friends who get in trouble. I could have a past experience that traumatized me for life. But in the end, to my understanding and what i believe makes a person who they are, is the decisions they make in their life and what they see as important to them. Yes their may be factors that influence them, but if they decide to stray away and be their own person, they have the choice to do so.

This is a good point, saying that kids are learning who they are and what they want to be when they grow older. As they hang around different group types, they see what interests them. Kids find their identity though their parents and friends because they search for who they want to be.

Kids rebel what they are restricted on. If a child can't have a car then they steal one. Kids feel invincible so they feel like they can do what ever they want.

In these paragraphs the author is trying to talk about how kids who dress differently or aren't the school "Walton" are cast out and even treated differently by teachers and students. One teacher says though that these "Longhairs" the same amount of opinions to say than other kids that dress really nice and try to look smart. People should not be judged on how smart they are or what kind of person they are. The so called "Walton" appearance was proved wrong when kids from Walton brutally murdered another by stabbing him multiple times. So, appearance is not everything you need to know about a person.

This phase that the school uses could be a good way to motivate kids to not be the one to "fall through the cracks." But kids like Eric, when they are having a hard time and need help, having this thought in his head he may already believe hes falling. This doesn't help Eric because now hes just going to lose motivation in school and be an outcast to all the other kids. I am not saying this phase is terrible and should not be used to motivate kids to do well, i believe that the school system should be careful what they say to their students because what they say has a big influence on students, whether thats good or bad..

For lots of people, hitting rock bottom is the only way for them to realize what they are doing needs to stop. Not just kids only but parents with smoking or drinking problems. Some may never stop until they meet the grim reaper himself and some unbelievable miracle comes and saves them from his grasp. This could be that they don't want to leave their family or just because they realize that if they keep up their habits, their life will not end happily

This is a good describtion and explaination about highschool and how it can have a big effect on a person's life because of the big changes student are going through, the difference in age and experience, and all the emotions that students can feel during this time. High school kids at this point start to see and learn more about the world as it really is instead of being sugar coated because of their age. This is a big time for people because the chances, risks, and goals that people do or make can determine how they will end up after high school.

What i wonder is what the parents did to help Eric. He has a drug problem and won't do his school work. Parents have the power to influence and discipline kids. It seems to me that the parents didn't treat Eric the way he should have been. If they would have put more effort into helping Eric maybe things would have been different for him.

The outcome to someones life can be changed to anything depending on the choices that person makes. In this story Curt goes through high school with flying colors, keeping up grades and going on to college. With his friends, teachers, and family that most likely influenced him to do well in school he was able to be successful in high school.Eric did't do so well because of his decisions to do drugs and not keep up with his school work.

I don't know why this is but, kids get the feeling that they could have done more to help their parents, or even want to take blame. they want to find some reasoning to why the problems happened and start to believe that it was their own neglect

When a child sees a parent that has gone through hard times, its hard to look at them. Watching your parent grow unhealthy and depressed is not something someone wants to see. People have different reactions to this type of thing. This could be running away from them, maybe anger towards them, or even depression them selves.

Divorces can be hard on parents and children. Even though in today's world there are more and more divorces than ever, the kids are affected greatly. Divorces cause issues when parents try and slander the other or cause fights with each other. fighting over kids can be a big struggle with kids going back and forth between homes. But not only with the kids parents can become depressed and not care about their own life anymore. Like John's father, they just let themselves go.

This is similar to the relationship that i have with my brothers and father. We don't talk much because i'm at the age that i'm on my own and only talk to him when i need something signed or need to talk.Just because we don't talk doesn't mean we don't love each other neither of us put much effort to talk but maybe that's what more families need in our world.

Having a father i know this feeling that i want to prove or be seen by my father. i want to make him proud any way i can. Being able to go to work with his dad, John was able to really connect with his dad, or try to at least.

This really explains well how kids go through "Torture" as their parents endure in these terrible habits of smoking, drinking, and not staying healthy in general.

People can pass out for lots of reasons, considering their health. Growing up with family of smokers can affect your own health and also influence kids to believe smoking is OK.

A parent getting hurt can be one of the scariest things for a child. Growing up for me my mom has always been skinny, so I have always been concerned about her health telling her to eat more. If something were like this, I would be just as freaked out as John.

Dads, or moms, can be very encouraging or helpful when they need to be. Whether its problems at school and you just need some motivation to keep going, or an injury happens and you need to be calmed. Parents know exactly what to say at the right times because they are the people who know you as a person the best. These are times that kids will remember about their parents the most.

Going up with a sick parent can be hard. John worried about his dad like any kid would but the parents continue to do what they do, damaging their bodies and not thinking about what could happen to their kids.

This would be a good strategy to winning the arm wrestling.

All the games and rides reminds me of the taste of Joliet.

I am starting to see his humor more as he overly describes things, there are more jokes within the descriptions.

The author explains some of the animal treatment at the fair and this one swine was having respiratory problems, he goes on to talk about what they did to help.

The company Help Me Grow put artificial grass on top of the old grass to help attract customers.The author notices and even finds the real grass underneath the math of artificial.

I love how he describes Mrs.Edgar. Anyone else catch this?

I think anyone who lives in Illinois knows what corn looks like. Miles and miles of corn everywhere. No matter where you go, corn will be there.

I know people who do this all the time, Like my mom i find my self tuning them out because they like to brag about how much they know about a topic.

The author seems to talk about how hot it is during the time of year, and I know this feeling because Illinois can get really hot in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. The fact that the men are "sweat-less" shows that they are used to the area and the temperatures.