(One of) The Soul-Draining Part(s) of Pandemic Parenting
A Story In Three Timestamped Pictures
Saturday, 10:57 AM
Saturday, 12:45 PM
Monday, 10:37 AM
Won’t somebody please just LEAVE THIS HOUSE???????
Once I was listening to Gretchen Rubin’s podcast and she repeated some advice she’d been given about parenting through the early childhood years with your wellbeing intact: do one thing each day that can’t be undone. It’s a mantra that has served me well.
If you like reading Extra Credit, would you consider sharing it somewhere, or with someone? Parenting can be hard and isolating even in non-pandemic times, and lately…..well, you know. It helps to connect!
Ask A Teacher
I didn’t have an answer in the column last week, but you should really really read it. The opening letter was jaw-dropping, and my fellow columnist Katie Holbrook nailed the response:
Honestly? I doubt that your husband will be persuaded by a pros-and-cons argument of private versus public education. Your husband wants to send your son to a private school despite the increased cost, the lack of services for students with ADHD, the previous negative experiences you had with private preschool, and the fact that you yourself received an excellent education from public school. Why? Because he’s racist. That’s why he’s refusing to acknowledge the issues you’ve raised with private schooling; for him, the most important factor is keeping your son in a de facto segregated school. What could I possibly say to counteract that?
Recommendations
It was my turn to pick the movie for Friday Movie Night last week, and let me tell you what: I nailed it. Please let me remind you of the 1995 movie Babe, streaming on HBO Max and available to rent on Amazon Prime! It is funny, utterly cute and charming, and also slightly weird and dark in parts! (Ed. note: older kids do need to know and accept that the meat we eat comes from animals that have been killed, otherwise this movie is going to set you up for some tough conversations.)
This oral history of how Disney’s best movie—The Emperor’s New Groove—came to exist is amazing. Did you know that it was originally written to be a Lion-King-style sweeping drama called Kingdom of the Sun with a score of songs written by Sting?! Thank God it’s not that!
The best part of Twitter is letting other people find the good TikToks:
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