We’re throwing in another installment of Podcast Playlist pre-Spring Break. It’s been quite a haul to get through all these blog posts, leading up to our two-week Spring Blog Break. So if you are hitting the road for warmer climes or enjoying a staycation with your kids, download a couple of these parenting podcast episodes and see if you like them.
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The Georgia pre-k lottery is in full effect, but my husband and I have been dealing with the decision to redshirt our twin girls for a while. They are August babies, born very near the September 1 cutoff. I’m admittedly a little jealous of parents with September-June babies, because this is something that they most likely don’t even have to consider.
We have talked at length between ourselves and with friends/family, in addition to reading a bunch of research and studies, to figure out if giving the girls “the gift of time” is the best option for them. I’ll tell ya, even after all that data collection, the verdict was still not cut and dry.
Continue readingWe are in the doldrums of winter, but we know things are going to switch gears very quickly. Just a reminder in case you were “waiting for things to slow down.” We hope buying packs of class valentine cards didn’t sneak up on you too badly. Now that the love is over, here are the Things We Loved.
I thought it relevant and a natural extension to the big, baffling behavior conversation to talk about our kid’s behavior at school. While our kids are at school, they are 100% out of our control and that can be nerve-wracking.
I would be mortified if our kids acted at school the way they act at home. Not to say that their behavior is particularly bad or challenging; they are fairly typical but today’s breakfast outburst was super annoying. I think we all have a fear that our kid is going to cry/scream/throw themselves on the floor on the daily when we’re not there.
We’ve also been told that bad behavior at home is age-appropriate. It means that your kid is comfortable enough to lose their sh*t with you. But a kid who misbehaves at school means that the kid is in fight/fright/flight mode with parents and this is indicative of problems at home. The reverse psychology of it has us feeling like any hiccup is a direct sign of bad parenting.
So what do we do and what role does the school environment and teacher play?
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Yay for my third Resolution post! My planner and I live for this.
Last year was a bit crazy in our household. While some amazing things happened (our student loans and cars got paid off!), some out-of-the-blue things happened as well (emergency home repairs, deaths in the family, job insecurity).
TBH, it was a season of life and a change that was due to come. So now instead of a clear, long-term view, I can’t really see past the next couple months. But we keep going and make changes as needed.
So with a renewed flexibility, here are my 2024 Resolutions:
Child(ish) Advice 