In the past week, a couple things have happened in my world. First, we learned that our 5 1/2-year-old needs a nap after school. Luckily, it only took us two days to realize what was going on. Unluckily, we haven’t figured out how to make it really work yet, so sometimes it happens, and sometimes…it…
Read MoreAll articles filed in parenting
Fragility and Indestructibility
This is a post about this boy… …who yesterday, while I was running siblings to various lessons, punched (yes, I did say punched) the light switch in the kitchen, with this result: But at three this morning, the cries started up in his room. I hauled myself out of bed and across the hallway to…
Read MoreAn Unexpected Aldi Hack (i.e.: Friday Funnies)
I stumbled across a wondrous thing yesterday: how to get through the grocery store in record time. I’m sure it’s going to be universally useful to every person who reads from the fount of world-changing information known as Kate’s Blog. How To Get Through Aldi In Eighteen Minutes Step 1: Invite over two extra elementary school-aged…
Read MoreIn Which A Recovering Social Loser Processes Her Kids’ Social Status (or lack thereof)
Elementary school and junior high were no picnic. I had my first breakup in the fifth grade, and it wasn’t even a romantic relationship. My best friend…okay, let’s be honest, my only friend…came over while I was sharpening my pencil by the coat rack and said, “I think we should be friends with other people.”…
Read MoreParenthood: A Series of Un-Winnable Battles
It’s happening more and more often these days. I find myself frustrated with something my kids are doing (or not doing), saying (or not saying), and I think: Did we act like this when I was a kid? How did my parents deal with this? There are long stretches of life when you sort of…
Read MoreA Manifesto on Parenting
When I was newly married, I spent one year substitute teaching in the local schools. That was a very educational experience. There was the elementary school that was universally viewed as the worst in the district (it has since been closed and reopened as a Title One/gifted/Early Childhood location), which started requesting me after I…
Read MoreHow We Taught Our Kids To Be Good Eaters
My kids are really good eaters. I’m kind of surprised at this, frankly, because I am and always have been a pretty picky eater. And the thing is, we approach food all “wrong,” according to all the parenting advice I ever read. We’ve almost always forced our children to finish what they’re given—unless it’s starch,…
Read More
The Gift I Have To Give Is Me
We just came through parent-teacher conference season again, and what we learned in Julianna’s home visit was that although she can read a page that looks like this: her comprehension is stuck on pages that look like this: For anything more complicated than Corduroy, I have to sit with her, read with her, and stop…
Read MoreThe Minor Frustrations Involved In Raising My Chromosomally-Gifted Girl
When the phone rang during my oh-so-precious work time the other day, I almost decided to ignore it without even checking the caller ID. But there’s always the chance it’s somebody’s school. Which in this case, it was–Julianna’s. It turned out there had been a minor altercation on the bus. Julianna kept touching a boy’s backpack, even…
Read MoreKate’s Universal Laws Of Parenting
Ear infections always and only come up after the doctor’s office has closed for the night. Or during a 20-inch snow storm. The child who gets chronic ear infections is inevitably the one who’s also allergic to penicillin. Paperwork is evil. Where children, there noise. If no noise, beware. Just because they don’t react doesn’t…
Read More
Kathleen M. Basi 