Who Took My 7-Year-Old and Replaced Him With a Teenager?!
Over at Mommasaid.net, my friend and colleague Jen Singer lists some of the reasons parenting teens is harder now than it used to be (exhibit A: sexting. Shudder). Jen actually has a newly-minted, real-life teenage son. I do not, yet (though I do sometimes stare at the welter of kid-size sneakers, boots, and soccer cleats near the door and imagine them three times the size, and my heart aches for a mudroom and a shoeless infant in equal measure). So no, I have no actual teens yet — but geez, oh, man is my older boy acting like one lately! …Keep Reading
Smile, Honey! It’s Picture Day!
The other day, both boys came home with the familiar order form and info sheet in their backpacks: Gear up, mom and dad, it’s almost Picture Day! I hate picture day. To be precise, I don’t hate the day itself, since I’m not, literally or otherwise, in the picture. True to my meanness and aversion to being a Joiner, I don’t even volunteer to herd kids to the all-purpose room or comb hair and fix bows. What I hate is the form itself (murky, impenetrable); the packages offered (many choices, none of which make sense); and even the modifications you …Keep Reading
Kids (and parents?!) in Kindergarten
My mom recently told me a funny (well, not funny-ha-ha, more like funny-hmmmmm) story about the time she got a peek into my younger brother’s kindergarten classroom. Seems that one day, my brother missed the bus, so my mom drove him. After leaving him inside the school to be walked to his class by the secretary, she was about to hop in our 1974 Caprice Classic station wagon (with the fake-wood-grain panel outside and green shag rug in the way back) and head home, when she had an idea. What if she snuck around the building and just sorta peeked …Keep Reading
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Why I Wash Ziploc Bags
“Mom, what should I do with my applesauce cup?” I sigh. I’ve explained this before–the applesauce and yogurt cups are recyclable, so bring them home. The plastic utensils? They’re dishwasher safe, my son, so tote ‘em on home. What I say is, “You know what, Daniel? Just put everything in your lunchbox and bring it home — we’ll sort it out later.” Annoyingly, though the schools talk a good game about saving the earth (or, as James says cutely, “we have to save the Earf”), they don’t have recycling bins in the cafeteria. So in the giant garbage bucket go …Keep Reading
The Bus Stop Conundrum: To free-range or not to free range
Last fall, a new family moved into our neighborhood, and on the first day of school, there was a new girl at our little bus stop. They’d arrived at their house literally the day before school started. From Israel. That first day, the father took his little girl, Hadar, 6, to the stop. She wanted to take the bus (even though her English wasn’t very strong), and he was planning to follow in his car to complete her registration at the school. There were two other children in the family besides Hadar: an 11-year-old girl named Tevel, and Albel, a …Keep Reading
School’s Out For Summer… Why is That, Again?
The sign at the entrance to my son’s primary school reads, under the school’s name, “A First-Class Experience.” And it is, truly. So much so, that I wish he could stay there all year. And why not? I love school, and my son does, too — he just finished first grade, and this year we hit the sick-day jackpot, with a total of… wait for it… none. The only time Daniel missed school was the day I took him out to go to his cousin Tara’s graduation ceremony. Just recently, he actually did get sick, but returned to school the …Keep Reading
