Laura decided to take her training wheels off her bike more or less permanently this weekend. We went to this big paved playground nearby and she practiced while I shot hockey balls against the wall. I showed her what a figure-8 is, and she worked on that with unusual concentration for a long time. When [...]
Archive for July, 2001
New Moon
Demanding, high-minded stuff from the girls’ resource site that I mentioned somewhere below. It’s related to this excellent site for dads. (I hope I linked this one before Cathy did.)
Fruit of the gods
Mangos are Laura’s favorite fruit, by a long shot, which makes me happy because they were my favorite too when I was a kid. (Lately edged out by the blackberries I’m growing in the back yard.) I just wish they didn’t cost a buck each most of the year.
Pulp II
More on that thing about pretentious literature (see July 18 entry). Here is a summary of the rant in the Atlantic, and here is a nice exposition of the remedy, if you like that kind of thing.
Don’t read
A funny bit about raising a non-reader, from a classy children’s literature magazine called the Horn Book.
Expression
I finally got around to scanning some of Laura’s recent art and some photos that have come back from the shop in the last few weeks. For the photos, click the link over there in the right margin. I’m sorry the files are a little big. Pictures are time-consuming, so I have to use the [...]
OK
The U.S. drug warriors responsible for shooting down the missionary airplane in Peru a couple of months ago have now absolved themselves with the obligatory Official Investigation, vacuously retailed by CNN. It all appears to come down to the problem that the Peruvian pilots didn’t speak good enough English to understand the gringos’ orders. Well [...]
Disobey III
Cathy writes this in response to the exchange (see 7/6 and 7/11 below) about “disobedience.” Reprinted with permission.”Gail’s experience with Lee is instructive, I think, on how our intentions have unintended consequences. A five-year-old lives in a concrete reality and can only apply these ideas in their most literal sense in every situation. All [...]
Good job
I think Alfie Kohn is exactly right on testing (and I say this as someone whom testing has been unreasonably good to), but he can also get a little excited. There’s been another small revival lately of the backlash, never too far under the surface, against “over-rewarding” kids for achievements or behavior we like. Sparing [...]
Pulp
All my English major friends and relations will want to look at this guy’s rant (you have to scroll down to Monday the 16th) on how all the good stuff to read is consigned these days by the high-brow to “genre fiction,” meaning mysteries, thrillers and sci-fi. Of course it is; always was; the real [...]
Backpack
People argue over the real point of school – teach kids stuff, or just keep them off the street? – but I know what it is. School is a stock exchange for germs. Anywhere kids get together more than a couple of days in a row, their multiple diseases put on a big derivative trading [...]
One for you, 19 for me
We found out last week that we overpaid our 2000 taxes (I was working as a contractor that year and had to prepay, and figuring out how much to prepay is not easy), so we’re getting some back. That was nice to hear, but in the same breath our tax accountant said that at least [...]
Let’s talk
Two items whose writers ought to get in touch with each other:
California mother battles system over marijuana muffins for sick child
Cooking With Kids: Recipe For Easy-Bake Oven Favorite Brownies
Narnia Schmarnia
C.S. Lewis was a big figure in our house when we were growing up, and the damage was minimal, I guess. I wallowed in Narnia for years and yet I don’t hate Arabs or celebrate people dying in train wrecks or have an opinion on Turkish Delight. Last week my Dad sent around an article [...]
Verily-Verily Dept.
Despairing letter to advice columnist Garrison Keillor in Salon this week: “Just about all of our married friends have kids, and any contact we have with them is ruled by the children and their schedules. I don’t understand why these people, who once had lots of different interests, are now so fixated on their children.” [...]
Disobey
“Obey” and “disobey” are not the kind of words you hear around our house, or at the preschool. When I was a kid, they were big concepts. Whether you were obeying or disobeying had a lot to do with how your day was going to go. To disobey was a very bad, dangerous thing, and [...]
Disobey II
Also sprach Gail, who said it was OK if I reprinted her response to my rant on disobedience (see the July 6 entry). (Please feel free to joinin; click on my name anywhere on this screen and have at it.) “I check out your blogger site every now and again, and I was reading the [...]