Parenting and family stuff

People shying away from having babies because they heard that it’s so hard are making one of those category errors that are inescapable in this rotten decade in this awful century: they think that hard is the opposite of good.

The best parenting advice i once heard is, ‘If they are crabby, add water.’ This has served me well over the years and believe it or not, with a 2, 7 and 9 year-old. Run a bath, take a shower, water the garden, have a hot drink, have a cold drink… just add water. It works 99% of the time.

It reminds me of the Isak Denisen quote:

“The cure for

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Giving kids the agency to follow their own curiosity seems right for a lot of obvious reasons: it will make them happier, intrinsic motivation will fuel them to learn more, it keeps the youthful flame burning instead of extinguishing it with routine...But it’s also important for a less obvious reason, one that will be even more important as things... See more

In 1995, Putnam was concerned about teens who were alone 3.5 hours per day. But nowadays teens spend up to nine hours daily staring into screens, according to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychology.

Meanwhile, the amount of time spent with friends has dropped markedly The number of social outings has declined too. Almost every metric... See more