Tag: parenting
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Life without television
Did you know that Screen-Free Week is coming right up? It’s May 4-10. During that time, people are encouraged to “rediscover life beyond the screen.” These days, screens are everywhere, but once upon a time there was just the television. My husband and I decided to live without one many years ago. The old clunker we had…
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Flex time
Maybe you’ve read about grit, which education researcher Angela Lee Duckworth defines as “the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals.” Duckworth delivered a very popular TED talk revealing grit as the key to success in life. On the surface, it sounds good, but one of my favorite contrarians, Alfie Kohn, points…
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Kids and structure
In these times when structured programs and expert instruction are available for everything, people can come to believe that allowing kids an open schedule with plenty of free play will keep them from future success. How, they may ask, will kids be able to structure their lives if they just run around and play all the…
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The fuss over ’50 Shades of Grey’
Everywhere I turn the past week, I see news about the dangers of 50 Shades of Grey. It will teach our daughters that pain is erotic, for example, and it will teach our sons that women want to be controlled. I haven’t seen the movie, but I doubt one film could impart lessons that lasting…
A Potluck Life 