Well hello hello! How’s everyone doing this weekend? We had some chilly but great weather here today, and spent copious amounts of time at the playground. Good stuff. Anyway, what are you looking for today?
If you’re looking for….some parenting books:
Forbes suggests 5 based on science.
If you’re looking for….advice on what to tell the teacher:
An interesting take on when to brief your child’s teacher on things.
If you’re looking for….an intriguing charity:
This charity manages to recycle waste and make sick kids happy all at the same time. Neat.
If you’re looking for….your smartphone:
A good read on why parents should have a right to their smartphone time too.
If you’re looking for….some awesome activism:
Young Iraqis looking to spread science and rational thought. Awesome.
If you’re looking for….the gif of the week:
A stray dog helps kids jump rope. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawe.
If you’re looking for….some kids books:
This collection might be the largest in the world.
If you’re looking for….something gender neutral:
Try these clothes.
I *love* the gender neutral clothes article. It was even better than I expected. I hope that Hartman expands into tween/teen ranges!
That’s good advice in the “teacher briefing” article to teach children that they need to advocate for themselves. Everyone needs to be their own advocate at some point, although unfortunately some of us find that out when we’re in the hospital or taking care of someone in the hospital.
And I love the article about parents taking time to zone out on their phones. Before phones, it was newspapers and books (and sometimes it still is). When I was a kid, in the 80’s, I don’t remember parents going to *so many things* that their kids were doing. The recitals and big game events, sure, but not all the practices. Maybe that’s just what my town was like. If I spent every minute of the day staring at my daughter, I’d be exhausted after an hour.
I like the gender neutral clothing site too! Definitely adding that to a wish list.
Good set of links, as always!
Looking at our clothing stores here, in some the boy/girl divide is terrible, but there are plenty with clothes I could put on any kid, so to speak. The biggest difference seems to be in type rather than style: there are no dresses for boys, and blouses etc are different in cut for girls. Even so, it seems easier here so far to find clothes for my son that don’t scream boy. In case he’s not my son, like I’m not actually his mother (I wouldn’t want him to be 33 when he finally figures it out). People are sometimes confused because he’s not obviously gendered in clothing or hairstyle, but usually if someone isn’t wearing *all* pink and there aren’t bows and frills on *everything* most people still assume boy.
I love the teacher briefing article. The balance of when to step up and advocate for a child and when to step back and let them advocate for themselves seems especially difficult to figure out. I know I struggle already with it with my kids.
For me (middle school teacher in my past life), it was always frustrating to call home a couple weeks in regarding a kid who couldn’t control his/her behavior, only to find out the parents were “trying out” a new school year without ADHD or other medication. They would never tell the teacher because they didn’t want us to be biased against their child, and wanted to see if we would notice (hint: we noticed. every time.).
Telling teachers about that sort of thing is nice because we can be part of the team and let you know nuances of your child’s behavior that we see. Also, we can help with the little things that will help your child be more successful (seating arrangements, giving the kid a bit of a break as he/she adjusts, etc).