Once again, ClassDojo shows how much of its business model is built on creating feelings of parental inadequacy.

Cet été, j’ai beaucoup réfléchi sur combien mon travail de prof rend bien plus facile la vie de parent pendant les vacances scolaires.

Playing the Portal series with kiddo is going well, except that she is (understandably, tbh) freaked out by the Valve screen that appears when you first load it.

What kind of children’s performer has three different “no photos” reminders before the show even starts?

Kiddo’s Father’s Day card has been addressed to “Dr. Spencer Greenhalgh,” which is technically accurate but still feels off.

Has anyone ever tried Kagi’s Kid Mode? It sounds like a great idea but also ups the cost significantly, so I’d like to hear about experiences before deciding.

Every time I think my opinion of ClassDojo can’t get any worse, I discover (or am reminded of) another aspect of their grift.

“What am I, made of jokes tonight?” - kiddo, after telling two admittedly good ones

So, uh, is my kid’s dream about a peanut butter fountain a good or a bad omen for all the hours we’re spending in the car today?

Road trip tomorrow, so downloading Portal to kiddo’s Switch to see if she’s old enough to enjoy it.

Man, I really wanted to like this movie. I’m glad kiddo enjoyed it, I did appreciate some of the Jared Hess vibes, and some of the visual design was pretty good, but this was just an excuse to make a bunch of Minecraft references in a movie, and I have never been more aware of green screens in my life.

Kiddo just apologized for being the “baron of bad news,” and that’s how we’re all going to say it from now on, okay?

Kiddo: wonders why I am talking about disabling predictive text on the iPad she’s using spouse: “well, Daddy is a monster who doesn’t even use autocorrect” me: “excuse me, I think you mean I’m a ‘mnoster’”

Kiddo is a wild mix of adventurous and picky when it comes to food. She does not want the unobjectionable ravioli the rest of us are eating, but she is powering through the too-spicy-for-her curry leftovers in the fridge.

Bookmarking this so I can keep thinking about it.

My dad just now, describing the other guests coming to Easter dinner: “Oh, I’d say they’re about your age. You know, around [lists some ages a full decade younger than me].”

There was a Little Free Library just outside tonight’s restaurant, so kiddo’s working through a new book while we wait for food.

Setting up iMessage on an iPad for kiddo to use has immediately turned into Homestar Runner references, and I’m okay with that.

This got a dark chuckle from me.

Love a 2:30am tornado warning family huddle in the pantry during a week where I was already not getting enough sleep.

Whatever gets kids to read, I guess, but I have never encountered a less sympathetic protagonist than Greg in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”

Kiddo enjoys sending me messages encrypted in runes, and I enjoy brute forcing an interpretation like that scene in Cryptonomicon.

This afternoon was going pretty well until I totally spaced on kiddo’s orthodontist appointment. 😬

Kiddo accidentally emotionally traumatized a giant shrimp in her first D&D session this afternoon, and I honestly think that’s a great introduction to the game.

The guy who runs Kentucky high school speech and debate found my name somewhere, remembered me from when I was a student at those competitions, and invited me to help judge a state championship next month. I am dangerously close to Nerd!Uncle Rico territory right now.

It was really fun to introduce this to kiddo this weekend by watching it as a family. I don’t think this movie will ever be as good as it was when I was a teenager, before I could see the seams and tiny faults with it, but it will always be beloved in my family—and now including kiddo.

My office neighbor is starting a “department and friends” campaign, I asked if there was an age limit, and that’s how kiddo is joining her first D&D game later this month.

I’ll say this much: A snow day is a heck of a lot easier when the university (i.e., mom and dad’s employer) also cancels for the day.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what an uncaring dad I have!”

Whenever we visit my in-laws, it’s a tradition to put any kids who are present to bed and then gather around one of the big TVs to watch something together. Sometimes it’s something that one family is watching and introducing to another, sometimes it’s something that we’re all watching and are at the same place in the season, and every once in a while it’s something new. When we drove down to visit in January, I took advantage of that third possibility to get everyone to try Star Trek: Lower Decks, which I’ve wanted to watch for a while but never had the chance to.

Today is “getting siblings and parents on Signal” day.

Since kiddo was really little, her aunt has been sending her “notable women,” “notable people of color,” “notable Indigenous people,” and “notable queer people” books, which has been good for just setting a background level of what we want our kid to be aware of as she grows up. When she came home with a “famous American” project, she was pretty clear up front that she was not going to choose a dude, and she turned to her little collection of books to come up with the three names that she needed to turn in to her teacher for approval before she could start the project.

Kiddo just told me to “make an Insight check” after fibbing to me about something, so it sounds like that D&D actual play podcast we’ve been listening to is making an impression.

I want to be clear that I am not upset at my kid for checking out this soulless Grinch platformer—I am upset at whatever executives and IP holders thought a Grinch platformer was a good idea in the first place.

School district has explicitly said it’s not going to make a decision about tomorrow until between 2:30am and 5:00am, so we have to get everything ready tonight knowing full well that it might prove to be vain by the time we get up. Yayyyyy.

For what it’s worth, Calvin and Hobbes reruns also get me this morning.