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 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”
“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”
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”
The other day I read an observation about how adults teach ourselves that our bedrooms and beds should only be for sleeping, but then we turn our childrens’ bedrooms into playrooms and wonder why they fight sleep. Personally, I don’t know that I have ever personally had a problem with my boys sleeping in their rooms after playing in them, but I have historically had problems with insomnia that were exacerbated by treating my room as an office or student lounge and not a bedroom.
» Continue reading “Bedroom or playroom?”
Along the lines of a conversation I had online with some friends, today I implemented what I hope will be a new tradition in our house. Rather than fighting to get my older son to vaguely tell me about his day, I have five questions I think every family should consider answering at the dinner table.
What made you happy today?
What did you learn today?
What did you do to help someone today?
What was your favorite moment of the day?
What was the biggest problem you had today and how did you solve it?
» Continue reading “Roses and Thorns”
Only there’s no beer, no ping pong, no passed out sorority chicks, and no fun. What do we have? A riot of vomit all over my fucking house.
AUGH!
All winter we’ve been assaulted by a myriad of stomach viruses; it has been a plague to which no one has been immune. Tonight, it started with the tank telling me he spent recess in the nurse’s office because he had a tummy ache. Then at dinner, he refused sweet potatoes, chicken, and green beans. I told him if he wanted more white potatoes he had to eat three green beans for me.
» Continue reading “Like a Frat House Beer Pong Tournament”
I remember my father driving in the car, fumbling with the lyrics to an untold number of songs. I have been known on occasion to do the same, though usually late at night when I am driving, no one else is awake or riding with me, and I am trying to stay awake. It appears that my son, the tank, has inherited this predisposition as well, though amplified a million times over because of his astounding lack of vocabulary.
» Continue reading “Chronic Lyricosis”
