For the better part of 20 years, I have been working with kids and therefore been working with parents. From camps to classrooms all over the map, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with all sorts of parents. I would never say that I’ve seen it all, but I have seen a lot. From the extraordinarily high maintenance to the extremely low maintenance and many, many shades in between, working with parents has taught me a lot about the kind of parent I want to be – especially when it comes to advocating for my child. Continue reading
Tag Archives: parents
The Playdate
1 DecWhy is it that “playdate” is not considered a compound word? My spelling skills happen to be atrocious (thank you spell-check for the assist with atrocious), so I typically don’t have a leg to stand on in these matters. But for some reason I feel strongly that playdate should be one word. This grammar/spelling conundrum is somewhat irrelevant, but I would like to share a tale about a playdate, and therefore am prefacing it by stating that I will henceforth intentionally ignore the annoying red squiggly lines. Continue reading
Thanksgiving
22 NovThanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the fall weather, I love the food, I love the non-denominational aspect of the holiday, and I love the classroom writing assignments on gratitude that it elicits. The following is from my daughter’s Pre-K classroom:
The Kind of Help We All Can Do Without
3 NovWe have reached a turning point at my house. I am beginning to realize that my kids’ attempts at asserting their independence are producing some positive results. Well….at least some of the time, but hey – I’ll take it!
Why didn’t anyone tell me what a life-changer it would be when my child could get into her own car seat and buckle herself in?! Underrated Milestone!!! Continue reading
Minimize the Use of Gender Labels (Solution 9)
27 OctLet’s jump right into it shall we?
Solution 9: Minimize the Use of Gender Labels
Everything has a label, a name, a title….We need to know how to refer to things. I use hundreds when talking to my own kids: Honey, Sweetie, Baby, Lovie, Kiddo, Dude, Babe, Sweetheart, Sugar, Lamb……When I’m speaking to both of them I will sometimes say Girls or Ladies, but I don’t think I have ever said to just one child alone, “Um, girl…could you please put your dirty clothes in the basket?” That’d be weird, right? But in groups we often use gender as a label, and often when it really isn’t necessary. Continue reading
Classroom Environment (Solutions 5 and 6)
24 OctWe’ve hit the halfway mark on the top-ten list! When I started thinking about writing-up this next solution, it made some sense to me to combine it with another. Both have to do with the classroom and the classroom environment. I know many of you aren’t teachers, but as parents involved in your child’s school, I think much of the following may be of interest. So today’s post is a two for one…..Solution 5: Adjust Physical Environment & Solution 6: Creating a Sense of Community. Continue reading
Sticky Fingers
26 SepMy child has sticky fingers. And I’m not talking about the kind that one remedies with soap and water. That’s right, I’m raising a thief. Not intentionally of course, but the evidence can’t be denied.
Exhibit A
Race You To Lakeshore!
19 SepI wouldn’t say that Lakeshore Learning is my favorite store, but it’s definitely in my top 5 (for those of you who have been following this blog, you know my heart belongs to Target). Since leaving the classroom, I don’t often have an excuse/reason for shopping there, but when I do….woohoo! I’m like a kid in a candy store! I’m not going to get into all the reasons I love Lakeshore because I will surely sound like a dork, but trust me, it’s GLORIOUS! And as good fortune would have it, today was my lucky day!
Super Sites
Incredible Reads
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
by Peggy Orenstein
Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps
by Lise Eliot, Ph.D.
