A home is a place where we feel safe and loved. The warmth of a home doesn’t depend on its size or decoration (装饰). 【小题1】 So, everyone should take out some time from your busy schedule to spend with your family. Here is a list of some fun things that you can try at home.

·Have an indoor picnic

You want to enjoy a small picnic with your family, but neither the weather nor your daily schedule allows you to go to enjoy a nearby park. How about having a picnic indoors? You can have ice cream or sandwiches made in your own kitchen. The best part is that you don't have to wait for a long weekend for this picnic. 【小题2】

·Role play

Give each family member a different role to play. For example, ask your youngest daughter to play the role of Daddy. 【小题3】 This fun activity can go a long way toward building a strong connection between you and your kids.

·【小题4】

Family meetings are often held to discuss different matters with your family members, share happy memories and talk about interesting stories. It can be a meeting when the family is sitting together at the dining table talking on a Friday night.

·Watch a movie

【小题5】 It will never be as fun as watching it with the people you love. Pick out everyone’s favorite movie, prepare some popcorn, and enjoy a comfortable family night.

The vast majority of parents expect their children to grow up to be healthy, happy, and productive members of society. 【小题1】 If we don’t give parenting everything we’ve got, our kids will wind up unemployed, living in our basements, and there will be no one to blame but ourselves. That’s what I like to call the “perfect parent myth”.

The standards of perfection for parents these days are extremely high. Perfect parenting expectations begin with a drug free natural birth. Once our young are born we must breastfeed each baby for years. If we can’t breasted, we must at least feed on demand. 【小题2】 Let’s also not forget to organize our children’s days so they are engaged in educational pursuits in case they fall behind the curve (弯道). We must be involved in every aspect of our children’s schools. There is no free time for the perfect parent. 【小题3】

These standards are unreasonable. They’re also crazy. Parents can’t be perfect. Why? Because we’re human and so are our children. 【小题4】They are predictable and when they are unruly we can shut them down. Parenting is nothing like that.

【小题5】But, by the parent being less than perfect, the child will need to adapt and develop skills to overcome little disappointments. There is flexibility and room for real-life mistakes and limitations to our parenting abilities.

Mom was a teacher most of her life. When she wasn’t in the classroom, she was educating her children or grandchildren, correcting our grammar, starting us off on collections of butterflies, flowers or rocks, or inspiring a discussion on her most recent “Book of the Month Club” topic. Mom made learning fun.

It was sad for my three brothers and me to see her suffering in her later years. At eighty­five, she suffered a stroke (中风) and she went steadily downhill after that.

Two days before she died, my brothers and I met at her nursing home and took her for a short ride in a wheelchair. While we waited for the staff to lift her limp body back into bed, Mom fell asleep. Not wanting to wake her, we moved to the far end of the room and spoke softly.

After several minutes our conversation was interrupted by a muffled sound coming from across the room. We stopped talking and looked at Mom. Her eyes were closed,   but she was clearly trying to communicate with us. We went to her side.

“Whrr，” she said weakly.

“Where?” I asked. “Mom, is there something you want?” “Whrr，” she repeated a bit stronger. My brothers and I looked at each other and shook our heads sadly.

Mom opened her eyes, sighed, and with all the energy she could gather said, “Not...was. Say were!”

We suddenly realized that Mom was correcting Brother Jim’s last sentence, “if it was up to me...”

Jim leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom，” he whispered. We smiled at each other and once again shook our heads.