Relationships
How Far Would You Go To Protect Your Child
Scenario: You have been notified that your child has been arrested for doing something illegal. Your child has privately admitted to both you and your spouse that he did, in fact, do this thing.
Okay, it’s ethical question moment.
Would you make him accept the consequences, or would you hire the best lawyer you could afford and try to keep him out of trouble? Or is there some kind of middle ground?…
When "Neighborly" Doesn't Work
Given my solid track record in easily making new friends wherever I have lived, it never occurred to me that I might make enemies. …
School Is Not the Time To Make Friends
In 1976, we had so many opportunities to practice civility. It was okay to have a little chitter-chatter time built into our day. The classroom was where we learned our academics, but we also practiced our social skills. These days, I would imagine that most administrators would tell parents that there is simply not time for idle chitter-chatter. In fact, a few years ago an administrator told me that “school is not the place for children to make friends.” She argued that kids needed to get involved in extra-curricular activities to make friendships. That teachers needed to make the most of classroom time to prepare their students for standardized tests. That teachers have more to teach than ever.
In 2010, I would argue “the civility piece” has fallen out of the curriculum — along with idle time….
Friday Quickie #13: Caption This Photo
How do you react when you see this picture? What would the caption read?…
Teens Leavin' On a Jet Plane
In 1985, when I was a senior in high school, my parents allowed me to go on Spring Break to Ft. Lauderdale with my four closest friends. We flew on (the now defunct) People’s Express for $39 each way. (I know this because I still have the ticket stubs in my old scrapbook.) We stayed in a completely unfurnished condo, some of us sleeping two to a bed; we shopped and prepared an amazing spaghetti dinner which we cooked for ourselves (careful to put placemats on the floor so as not to get sauce on the new carpet). Now, we were “good girls,” so we didn’t get into too much trouble — but we did do some things that I am kinda sure our parents would have deemed questionable. (I will not post the evidence here.) I will simply ask:
If your high school-aged child asked if he/she could go and spend a week in Florida with friends — without any adult supervision, what would your answer be?…
Should Kids Be Using Cell Phones? Should Any of Us?
I knew a child who wouldn’t stop asking her mother to buy her a cell phone. Daily, this kid was working her…
Stuck Behind a Bus
Ever been stuck at a red light behind a school bus? Of course you have. You know that moment when the kids suddenly realize, “Hey! We’re not moving! And there’s a car back there with a person in it!” And then they all start frantically waving?
It’s definitely a decision moment….
The Teenage Years: It's All in the Brain
Apparently in the last decade, a fair bit of research has been conducted to gather biological evidence as to why teenagers go a little bit haywire. Apparently, the teenage brain begins a massive shift around the pre-frontal cortex around 12-13 years of age. The pre-frontal cortex is the thinking part of the brain that allows us to consider the consequences of our actions, and that part of the brain kind of stops working as well as it had before. Parents don’t always understand the neurological changes that their children’s brains are undergoing: changes that can cause their once docile children to take big risks and make big mistakes. …
Turn Down The Noise
I cannot tell you how many times I have sat in the halls at the community college where I work, and have heard students approach before I have ever seen them coming. So many of them wear their ear buds between classes, to get from point A to point B, I have often thought the constant noise has to be having some kind of impact on their hearing.
Turns out, it is….
The Empty Blue Desk
Fall Semester 2009. Last year. He sat in the back row. In the only blue desk in a room filled with brown…