David Altshuler, M.S.
(305) 978-8917 | [email protected]

Category: Parenting

Run On

Kim is marginally faster than I. Jim is a tad slower. Tim and I train at the same pace. No, this is not one of those annoying aptitude test questions (If Tim is faster than Jim but slower than Kim and a train leaves Philadelphia at 10:00 am…) Nor is

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Love, Baseball, Medicine

“You can’t hurry love” suggested Diana Ross. Swiping left notwithstanding, long-term, committed relationships take time to evolve. Love at first sight may be a thing, but a conversation about family finances at some point wouldn’t be a bad idea if you’re hoping for love at second and even third sight. “It’s

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Over the River…

A recent column elicited sufficient response—some of it arguably positive—that I’m going to pontificate for a few more paragraphs. Apparently how to support without enabling is a thing. Supportive versus enabling is used in the curriculum of addiction and recovery. But supportive versus enabling applies even more broadly to parenting:

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Enabling vs Supporting

Two insights from an undergraduate accounting course completed in the late Pliocene: 1) I was not destined to be an accountant and 2) sometimes a product can be used for that which it was not intended originally. Consider a warehouse full of unsafe football helmets. The helmets have a crucial

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Shell-Ter

In addition to an impressive sunburn and bug bites covering just over 140% of my body, I picked up a seashell of the genus, “no idea” and the species “I didn’t even know seashells had a species” on the beach at Cayo Costa. Actually, my kids found it. The shell was light

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Stupid Is

Why do adolescents acquiesce to suggestions from their dumb-ass peers? Why will they do pretty much anything that their ignoramus classmates recommend and almost nothing that their more erudite parents suggest? In short, why are adolescents–there’s no way to put this politely–so staggeringly stupid? Don’t misunderstand: I know stupid. Stupid

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Informania

Don’t misunderstand. I am in favor of information. When I am in a canoe on a river, for example, I like to be informed as to whether or not there is a dangerous waterfall up ahead. “Hey, you there in the canoe! There’s a dangerous waterfall up ahead!” The information

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Opposites Attack

The opposite of red is not blue. The opposite of dog is not cat. The opposite of Dartmouth is not Colby. And the opposite of hyper-controlling authoritarian parents is not bourgeois-decadent, spoiled rotten, out of control, snotty-nosed, non-compliant kids who expect to make a lot of money in their first

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Whom

“Cui Bono?” means “who benefits?” Before giving advice consider whose interests are being served. Especially when talking to 20-somethings. Try to determine if the listener is going to benefit from your guidance. As always, consideration of time, place, and occasion are useful guides. Lastly, make every effort to consider whether

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Rainman

I’m not saying that I am any good at my job. I’m not saying that I do good work with spectrummy kids. But if in fact I am able to do a good job with kiddos on the spectrum, it’s because I “get it.” I connect with spectrummy kids because,

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