Emotional Training Helps Kids Fight Depression : NPR.
This is a brilliant effort at nipping the downward spiral in the bud when children are at their most formative, and it is definitely running parallel to what I am trying to work on with my son.
» Continue reading “Emotional Training Helps Kids Fight Depression : NPR”
I was daydreaming just now, thinking about a conversation I had earlier with another parent. We were discussing the issues his son was having in school, how amotivated his child was and their struggle to get him to make an effort. It got me to thinking about what motivates our children to achieve and then mentally, automatically rephrased it as what motivates our children to make an effort.
» Continue reading “An Open Letter to My Children”
I’ve been battling some wicked fatigue due to my sleep schedule going completely down the toilet. I am trying to get back on track and I am starting to see some improvement in my level of energy, but I will be happy when DST ends. Waking up in the dark is definitely no help to my low energy level.
lunasdad was scheduled to come home for good at the end of October but then his contract was extended through the end of the year. That means we haven’t seen him since September and won’t see him until Thanksgiving. The good news is that he was able to get a contract with his old employer; after a three week stint in Seattle starting November 1, he will be home for good at Thanksgiving and able to work from home from then on for the next year or so. This is a huge relief on so many levels.
» Continue reading “Long overdue update”
I’ve spent the time on leave from school, working hard on my project at work (summer is our busy season), spending time with my children and working on trying to declutter my house. I didn’t get all THAT far in the decluttering department, but I have made some important headway and that’s enough for me right now.
» Continue reading “It’s been quite a summer”
Someone recently related to me that they had received a diagnosis but weren’t sure they accepted it. I have seen this scenario played out in the bipolar community many times: “But I am not psychotic/manic/suicidal” etc. The “problem” with diagnosis, with any kind of labeling or categorization of a person’s personality or identity or deeply ingrained mental characteristics, is that it is an incomplete way to communicate information.
» Continue reading “Part 1: Diagnosis, Misdiagnosis, and Manifestations”
Two Families Grapple with Sons’ Gender Preferences : NPR.
I have a friend grappling with the fact that her young child identifies as transgender. She will have many decisions to make in the comings days, months, years, not the least of which is how to treat her child right now, this moment. Does she respect the preferences her child is expressing, or does she try to redirect her child to more “appropriate” forms of expression that validate the child’s physical gender?
» Continue reading “Link of the Day: Gender Identity”
“Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives (also known as Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s Law) is usually rendered:
One variant (known as O’Toole’s Corollary of Finagle’s Law) favored among hackers is a takeoff on the second law of thermodynamics (also known as entropy):
» Continue reading “Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives”
Not in my top ten list of things I want to discuss loudly while on the pot in a crowded tourist bathroom:
“What is that thing with the blue string?”
“That’s a complicated question. Can we talk about it later?”
“What is this box on the wall?”
“It’s a little garbage can.”
“What is it for?”
» Continue reading “Mothering Dilemmas: Sharing a Toilet with My Son”
Idaho Teacher Sells Advertising Space On Tests : NPR.
I am bothered by this on many levels. First, I go out of my way not to subject my child to the consumerism that is so rampant in our society. He watches TV and as much as possible it is TV with no commercials; I want him to understand American culture and not be picked on in school, but I also don’t want him being indoctrinated into the gimme culture that exists all around us.
» Continue reading “Idaho Teacher Sells Advertising Space On Tests : NPR”
I have never been a fan of perpetuating childhood mythology. I think it comes from being a perceptive child and not prone to believing the unbelievable. My brother and I spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to debunk these myths, wheedling my father in attempts to coerce him into confessing. We caught “Santa Claus,” after staking out our Christmas tree and discovering our parents in the act of trying to sneak a rocking chair under it. We never did manage to empirically disprove the existence of the Tooth Fairy, however.
» Continue reading “I Hate the Tooth Fairy”
