Have you ever considered how often we, as a culture, communicate to parents that children are an inconvenience? It hurts my heart so much when I hear the things people say and do. As a culture, we have become so self-focused that children are often seen as an interruption. It was an old adage "children should be seen and not heard". I feel as if that adage is unknowingly reinforced by how people treat parents and their children. I was explaining to my mom why we don't invite any guests over for Christmas Day. When we have guests over, we try to make sure they are comfortable and receive our attention. We do have guests over on Christmas Eve. It's a tradition with the family that comes over--one that we look forward to every year. But, on Christmas Day, we want to focus on our family--our children, our parents, and siblings, and celebrate with them. On Thanksgiving this year, we had family over and a couple who has spent several holidays ...