Anxious but trying spouse and dad. Trying (and sometimes even succeeding!) to introduce my kid to bikes, games, books, French, and more.
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camping and being present as a parent
- kudos:Tomorrow morning, I’m leaving for 3ish days of camping with kiddo. This is the first time that I’ve gone camping for well over a decade, and I’m a bit nervous, even though I’ve got lots of (rusty) Scouting experience to draw on and even though we’re also going to be staying in a cabin at a semi-structured church camp. Probably not too much to worry about in terms of camping.
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We’re building quite the little collection of junior versions of classic Eurogames, and they’re ranging from “almost as fun as the original” to “this is Candyland with higher production values.”
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Kiddo believes that Star Wars stormtroopers are robots, so she started singing beeps and boops to the tune of the Imperial March (which she learned from a yoga video??).
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Kiddo was worried about today’s medicine because box described them as “tablets,” and she thought that meant chewing up something shaped and sized roughly like an iPad.
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Kid just called me out on a No True Scotsman fallacy, which makes me feel a lot better about all those episodes of Smash Boom Best we let her listen to.
reflections on digital journaling of analog letters
- kudos:One of the most interesting parts of teaching information communication technology classes despite not being formally trained in that field is picking up terms and concepts that I never learned as part of my degrees. One of the most interesting concepts I’ve picked up along the way is the formal distinction between digital and analog phenomena. I often use clocks or thermometers as examples of this in class: Analog phenomena can take on any number of values within certain bounds, whereas digital phenomena are limited to discrete values within those bounds.
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Today’s dadding: hidden pictures during Zoom church, making homemade muesli while kiddo’s chicken fingers were in the oven, and introductions to Bananagrams and the 1951 Alice in Wonderland.
🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Kids 5 to 11 get FDA OK for COVID-19 booster doses | Ars Technica'
- kudos:Kid’s elementary school principal claims COVID is over, but pretty clear that’s not the case. Glad we can get her boosted now. link to ‘Kids 5 to 11 get FDA OK for COVID-19 booster doses | Ars Technica’
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After coming with us for primary voting this morning, kiddo has announced she’s setting up her own voting booth as this morning’s imagination play.
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Selling kid’s pedal-optional balance bike today because it’s just been hanging in garage since she outgrew it and graduated to a full-on pedal bike. Proud of her for skipping training wheels.
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Nice day out with the family yesterday; only regret was not getting home in time to watch Eurovision.
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Would like to give teaching the kiddo French another try this summer and would be happy to receive advice. Have an app and some videos in mind—may also add some light TTRPG elements to efforts.
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There are A LOT of perks to working in the same unit as a Library and Information Science program, but ‘we keep getting children’s books delivered, please take some home’ is high on the list.
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Behind on grading, but today’s victories include a thank you note from a high school English teacher for a book I sent b/c it reminded me of him and my kid’s insistence we read through a D&D sourcebook together (complete with beholder impression).
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Our school district is surveying parents about moving their spring break to align with my employer’s, and I am SO on board for this.
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One confirmed fever in the family the day before we’re supposed to drive to family holiday gathering, just in case anyone was wondering if COVID anxiety still sucks.
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We were already planning to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol today, but on such a hard day for the Commonwealth, we especially need some goofy puppets preaching social justice and spreading Christmas cheer.
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There are certainly overblown claims about games and learning, but I don’t know if I’ve seen my kid less failure-averse than when playing Mario Kart or more willing to read than when trying Stardew Valley.
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I feel a lot of anxiety about being a parent, but at the end of the day, I take comfort in knowing I’m trying my best—and that I’ve done my part in introducing the next generation to Queen’s Live Aid performance.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Lexington opens key pedestrian bridge over Man O’ War | Lexington Herald Leader'
- kudos:This sounds like a great place for a family bike ride! link to ‘Lexington opens key pedestrian bridge over Man O’ War | Lexington Herald Leader’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Pfizer Says Vaccine Trials For Kids Show Its Shots Are Safe : Coronavirus Updates : NPR'
- kudos:Crossing fingers! link to ‘Pfizer Says Vaccine Trials For Kids Show Its Shots Are Safe : Coronavirus Updates : NPR’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'How Far Can You Go to Resist Being the Subject of a Viral Video? - The New York Times'
- kudos:Compelling case for asking about the tech environment adults are creating instead of hand-wringing about what kids are doing in it. link to ‘How Far Can You Go to Resist Being the Subject of a Viral Video? - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read '“Sharenting” Is a Threat to Children’s Health and Personal Development | by Michele DeMarco | Aug, 2021 | OneZero'
- kudos:Datafying yourself is one thing, datafying your kids is another. link to ‘“Sharenting” Is a Threat to Children’s Health and Personal Development | by Michele DeMarco | Aug, 2021 | OneZero’
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Big parenting milestone today: kid’s first tabletop RPG character. Glad that there are game designers with this young an audience in mind because it was already hard to wait for this age!
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Just booked family Amtrak tickets and I’ve never felt so alive.
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Dear authors of children’s books: If you want the book to rhyme, please fully commit instead of leaving parents confused about how to read the dang book. Also, rhythm is just as important as rhyme and a big part of the problem.
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Il paraît que j’ai choisi la bonne année de commencer à regarder Eurovision ! 🇫🇷🇨🇭
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The New York Times is liveblogging Eurovision, which I find surprising, delightful, and genuinely helpful.
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This afternoon, we begin what will hopefully become an annual tradition of watching the Eurovision final.
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It seems to me that if you’re going to make the (already weird when you think about it) choice of gendering numbers and letters in a kid’s book, you ought to go ahead and make sure it passes the Bechdel test.
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Small parenting victory of the day is kid’s reaction to watching The Magic School Bus: “This is the coolest thing I’ve ever watched!”
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A Star Wars recap/remix from my house this morning: “The piggy galactic emperor wants to rule space so he can stop astronauts from going into space! But we NEED astronauts so that we can study space!”
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Lunchtime conversation: “Daddy, how long have we lived in this house?” “Well, we moved in right before the sickness, so over six months now.” “No, Daddy, it’s been nine billion months. I’m right.” “… Yeah, you are.”
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The apparent significance of particular numbers is largely a factor of culture and our choice of number system—that is, more arbitrary than actually significant. That said, this is still a bummer of a summer for a tenth wedding anniversary.
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Pandemic parenting is full of frustrating moments—but also gems like this morning’s inventing games using the pieces to Ticket to Ride while listening to Indochine.
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Not sure what I expected less today: To explain the concept of death to my kid or for my kid to grasp the concept well enough to burst into tears.