Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Mar 5th, 2014
At the end of the last grading season, my attention turned to the notion of paying kids for grades after the subject came up on Facebook. Now I’m just thinking about grades in general: what they mean and whether and how much Simon needs to know about them. Let’s start with what they mean. At […]
Posted in First Grader, Friends, Jessica, Simon says... on Feb 27th, 2014
Up ’til this year, Simon has had a knack for choosing friends he’s not completely compatible with, while I’ve (largely fruitlessly) attempted to steer him in other directions. For three of his four years in preschool, he most loved a couple of boys who were much rowdier than he was. One of these boys was […]
Posted in Jessica on Feb 23rd, 2014
This is a companion piece to an earlier entry about judging—and sometimes finding wanting—other people’s parenting. The flip side of judging other people’s parenting is judging other people’s children. That sounds harsher than I mean it to. What I mean is that it is very difficult at times to maintain third-party neutrality and/or detachment when […]
Posted in Jessica on Feb 16th, 2014
Thus far, this year has been notable for its snow days. It began with temperatures too low to return from winter break on the 6th and proceeded through the rest of January with cancellations due to snow and ice. February brought no improvement at all, the highlight of which must be the Valentine’s Day cancellation […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Feb 7th, 2014
Sometime in these past 1,048 posts (Geez, do I ever shut up?), I wrote about the odd juxtaposition of little boy and big boy qualities in Simon. Actually, now that I find it, it was about Simon’s ability to vacillate quickly between his little boy and big boy selves and how fascinating it was to […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Feb 5th, 2014
Historically, this is not Simon’s strong suit. I’ll give you exhibit A: Today we were playing Yahtzee together when I rolled a five 6s. This good roll ensured my victory and came after at least three losing games in a row. “You’re going to win,” Simon sulked. “I don’t want to play anymore.” I understand […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Jan 31st, 2014
Yesterday on Facebook, a friend of mine launched what turned out to be a lengthy conversation about paying kids for grades. Her position was that kids should feel pride over grades and get a small reward, something like ice cream, but not be paid big bucks for academic performance. About a third of those who […]
Posted in Jessica on Jan 27th, 2014
Right now, snow and unusually cold temperatures (go back whence you came, polar vortex) have combined to cause several school closings and delayed starts. It’s also school choice time, when thousands of families in Jefferson County fill out paperwork to select a public school for their child to attend in the 2013-2014 school year. If […]
Once upon a time, Matt and I used to read. Actually, Matt still does and I do sometimes, but neither of us is plowing through serious novels and important non-fiction like we used to. Also once upon a time, Matt and I were averse to the library. A weekend night frequently ended up in a […]
Posted in First Grader, Jessica on Jan 17th, 2014
Between the preschool, Brandeis, and various sporting leagues I have a chance to observe a lot of other parenting. Sometimes I get ideas from peers: I’ll never forget the day I watched Caroline’s dad effortlessly redirect Caroline and Simon when they were about 3 years old and realized I was making things harder than necessary […]