Hello parents of kids over 5! I hope you all are hanging in there today. I’m excited to be bringing more parents together with these threads. To start off today, why don’t you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your family/kids (including anything you’re particularly struggling with right now, if you’d like to share)? Beyond that, free to also ask each other questions, vent, tell funny stories, etc. This thread is yours and you can take it wherever you’d like — however I do expect you to adhere to my thread ground rules, which are outlined here.
Hi~my name is Annette. I’m actually a grandparent of a 5 year old girl, but we have her every day after school so I’m hoping that counts. Also, parenting has come so far since my kids were little. You, Melinda, Dr. Becky, Mary Van Effigan and others are telling me how to be gentle and compassionate with my girl. That was NOT the message I got in my group of friends in the 90s if you know what I mean. I’m excited to be here.
Hi, I'm Matt. My wife and I parent a 15 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. We live in a rural area and homeschool. I would like to find more ways to get my kids around other kids, which has been extra challenging the last two years. The 15 year old will probably start learning to drive this year, which is both exciting and terrifying. I've started trying to figure out what things we still need to teach before the kids "grow up", things like money management, how to do the laundry, how to shave, being responsible with alcohol, etc.
I really liked the fact vs fiction newsletter recently. I thought all three points of advice were really good, though the bit about lateral reading stood out to me. Coupled with an awareness of what confirmation bias is, I think lateral reading is a really really useful part of sorting out what's more credible or less credible and also a good way to test my own biases and assumptions. My 9 year old read it over my shoulder and it was a good chance to talk about trust online.
Hi~my name is Annette. I’m actually a grandparent of a 5 year old girl, but we have her every day after school so I’m hoping that counts. Also, parenting has come so far since my kids were little. You, Melinda, Dr. Becky, Mary Van Effigan and others are telling me how to be gentle and compassionate with my girl. That was NOT the message I got in my group of friends in the 90s if you know what I mean. I’m excited to be here.
Hi, I'm Matt. My wife and I parent a 15 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. We live in a rural area and homeschool. I would like to find more ways to get my kids around other kids, which has been extra challenging the last two years. The 15 year old will probably start learning to drive this year, which is both exciting and terrifying. I've started trying to figure out what things we still need to teach before the kids "grow up", things like money management, how to do the laundry, how to shave, being responsible with alcohol, etc.
I really liked the fact vs fiction newsletter recently. I thought all three points of advice were really good, though the bit about lateral reading stood out to me. Coupled with an awareness of what confirmation bias is, I think lateral reading is a really really useful part of sorting out what's more credible or less credible and also a good way to test my own biases and assumptions. My 9 year old read it over my shoulder and it was a good chance to talk about trust online.