592. No, Virginia

The term “quality time” started getting popular in the 1970s. I think it was used as an attempt to make people feel better about not spending much time with their children. Somehow, the “quality” of the time parents spent with their children was going to compensate for the lack of quantity. It didn’t take long…

Since I can remember, most elementary schools have predictably taught reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, mathematics, science, social studies, music, art, physical education, and library skills. The last four were labelled “specials,” which usually meant that the regular classroom teacher was not in charge of teaching them; there were other teachers for them, and the classroom…

Sometimes, a child may come to you and say, “Look at this!” or “Listen to this!” The child has just created or discovered something. Whatever it is may or may not be amazing or even recognizable to you. I have mostly seen and given three categories of reactions. The first type of reaction is typical…

My article about grumpiness begins to tell a tale that will probably come out in bits and pieces. Nowadays, when I feel like complaining about something, I try to spend time and energy thinking about whether complaining would be an appropriate thing to do, and if so, how to do it. I don’t rule out…

Ideally, people don’t become parents until they’re ready to. I became a parent when I was twenty-one, and it could be argued that I wasn’t ready yet, but I did all right. Some people have children long before I’d consider them ready (if ever), and some are what I’d consider ready long before they have…

“Fun” is a little word. It’s nowhere near as big as “responsibility” or “accountability.” But I think it’s much more important than some people seem to think. I guess I have a broader definition of the word that allows me to make the statement, “Learning is fun,” without much reservation. In my mind, ignorance is…