As an English teacher in public school for 17 years, I always felt frustrated by, and a little jealous of, the Phys Ed. teachers. Phys. Ed. class seemed to be a kind of outlier in school, and the teachers were able to operate in a value system totally different from the rest of school. I wished the value system of … Read More
Relationships are the Heart of It
Positive, healthy, and caring relationships are at the heart of raising and educating our children. Of course. Relationships can be complicated, but the truth of this idea is not. Humans are social animals and the quality of those social relationships has to play a large part in all aspects of our lives. I read an article in the New York … Read More
Honing a Hyperfocusing Habit
If you didn’t read my last blog post on hyperfocusing, you’ll want to do that first. There I delved into what hyperfocusing is and is not. Here I would like to address the chaotic nature of hyperfocusing with some practical advice. If you did read that post, you know that the trouble isn’t hyperfocusing per se, but the challenges it … Read More
Thoughts on Screens and the Internet
I am no expert on technology, the internet, social media, or the use of screens. I have a phone. I also have a 12-year-old daughter who does not have a phone. I am trying to figure all this stuff out. I have no answers. What I try to do, in navigating technology, particularly regarding parenting, is parse out the rational … Read More
The Indistractible Child
Schools call it a problem, the flip side of distractibility and an identifying feature of ADD (ironically). Entrepreneurs and some progressive corporations call it a superpower, the heartbeat of “Deep Work”. For good or for bad, ‘’hyperfocus” has our attention, mine included — not as an academic or scholar on the subject, but as someone who has lived with it my … Read More
Courage is Fear Walking
This is a phrase used by psychologist Susan David in her book Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change and Thrive in Work and Life. It illuminated for me the fear that we all have for the “unknown” and the bravery required for a young person to start a new school year with all the attendant unknowns. Peers are either new, or … Read More
It’s Not a Mystery
Let me start with a simple fact: a lot of teenagers don’t like school. (Shocking, I know.) There are a lot of reasons for this, but one of the big ones is that many teens don’t feel like they have much say in their day-to-day lives — the work they do, who they interact with, their schedule. This lack of control … Read More