Category: Parenting

In a more patient age, discussions—rather than polemics—about what books students should be encouraged to read were still a thing. I’m not sure how these conversations turned into narcissistic death matches involving power hungry small-minded, big agenda bullies. But here we are. If you don’t want your children to read

On August 29, 1939 Angela‘s parents told her to pack a bag, that she and her two younger brothers were leaving Campobasso, the Italian town where the family had lived for as many generations as anyone could remember. You can bring whatever you can fit into a suitcase, her parents

Remember Dion and the Belmonts in 1959 crooning, “Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love”? “Each night I ask the stars up above, why must I be a teenager in love” I don’t know that my eighth graders and I substantially improved the lyric with our homage (parody?) in

I have been accused of championing mediocrity. In these weekly newsletters. Ouch! Untrue! These denunciations follow a familiar pattern: you disparage highly selective schools, you tell us it’s okay if our kids don’t get As in advanced math courses, you suggest that a good relationship with our kids is more

The good news is that the newsletter today has no references to the life-lessons bestowed on those of us unfortunate enough to be obsessed with running. The bad news is that there is a home appliance repair metaphor. Our good old reliable Artisan Series 5-quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, repository of

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means” suggests the incomparable Many Patinkin as Iñigo Montoyo.  I read *Can’t Hurt Me* this week. It’s not just one word. I don’t think the entire book means what the author thinks it means.  David

My request last week for vignettes about your children was met with an overwhelmingly pleasant response. Here is one of my favorites: On the first day of school, the teacher noticed one of her new first-graders packing up and starting for the door at noon.  The teacher asked him what

“Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed” suggested Samuel Johnson, father of three 18th century children. And indeed parenting can be viewed as a slog from 2:00 am diaper changes through 9:00 pm, “can we go to the store

You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Twilight Zone! Or possibly a location much closer to home, the school down the street. The school where your children attend

It took a while, but she looked in the mirror Then she glanced at the license for my name A smile seemed to come to her slowly It was a sad smile, just the same… suggested Harry Chapin in his lyrical and poignant 1972 “60 % biographically true” song about