At the gym the other day, I overheard a conversation between two acquaintances who had, by their own objective assessment, the worst most miserable lives ever in the history of the planet Earth from the Australopithecines to the present day. Ungrateful children, galloping health concerns, economic problems of epic proportions,
Parents trying to raise healthy kids in our toxic culture frequently describe how alone they feel: “All the other parents let their kids play vacuous, violent, addictive video games.” Parents also feel overwhelmed. “We both have jobs. Do you know what it costs to live in this city?” Parents feel
Remember that kid who invented all those brilliant ways to cheat in high school? Even before electronic communications, he was making crib sheets in ingenious ways. Writing information on his sleeve, hiding notes in his sneakers, there was nothing he wouldn’t do. Except study, of course. Parents today have stolen
Our frothing ball-of-fluff terrier mix is dedicated to ridding the neighborhood of evil squirrels. On our early morning sojourns while my buddies and I huff and pant, Langley charges ahead, a squirrel seeking missile, a blinding streak of speeding fury. The squirrels ignore his slathering charge, blithely squatting. When Langley
In 1981 I purchased my first home, an 1100-square foot, two-bedroom house with jalousie windows and a wall unit air conditioner. Purchase price: $81,000. The mortgage–principle, interest, taxes, and insurance–came to $803/month. Having earned $780/month as a middle school math teacher the year before, I was concerned about my ability to
You can skip all the arithmetic and still get the point about how to help your kids grow up happy and healthy. If numbers are not your thing, you can start reading this essay at the photo of the teddy bear. For those of you who do believe that “numbers
“The frying pan was given to us by the Stewart family” replied Mrs. Edwards icily. “No. It. Wasn’t.” Mr. Edwards said stopping after each word as if it were a live grenade. “Tommy Stewart was my friend before we got married. You never even met him until after we got
I am the first to admit that perhaps I take privacy a tad too seriously. In the sense that possibly Noah was willing to acknowledge that he had seen enough rain. I live in a big city where “stranger danger” is all too real, so I taught all four of
1) I would prefer that my children read Cicero, Vergil, Ovid, and Horace in the original Latin rather than in English translations. The advantages of knowing ancient languages are legendary: insight into sentence structure, awareness of parts of speech, and understanding of the roots of modern languages. Kids who learn Latin
If my gracious readers can accept yet another marathon analogy, I respectfully ask them to plod through the initial sentences of this post; I promise to make a point about your children and your children’s education. Eventually. First though, join me for a thought experiment regarding that deep-seated, enduring foolishness
Copyright © David Altshuler 1980 – 2022 | Miami, FL • Charlotte, NC | (305) 978-8917 | [email protected]
