Patti’s New Year’s Resolutions: 2023

This Christmas, all of my cousins bought our grandparents Skylight frames. It’s a digital frame with an app that allows people to add photos and video directly. I sent four years’ worth of kids pictures to each of their great-grandparents and Lolo and Lola.

It gave me a chance to go through my phone and sort all of these photos of the girls. Reflecting back on everything we did with them when they were little, and now as school kids, the highlight reel really is heartwarming. That doesn’t mean that our day-to-day is any less challenging or that burnout isn’t perpetually looming on the horizon.

I did accomplish what I said I would do last year: to be more selective with my time and attention. I said no to more things and didn’t overschedule or overcommit. But that’s not just what it’s all about.

In a recent news article about Yale’s viral course on Happiness, it’s not about being time-rich. It’s about actually having fun. While we can spend time recovering from work or winding down, relaxing things are simply just relaxing. They are NOT invigorating.

Full transparency: I signed up for the Yale “Science of Well-Being” course on Coursera right after I finished listening to this article.

So now that we have this context, I’ll jump into my Resolutions.

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Mary’s New Year’s Resolutions: 2023

Wow, Child(ish) Advice is now three years old. Thank you for all your continued support and trusting us to provide meaningful content as we begin the new year.

For me, if 2022 was all about laying the groundwork for personal and professional development, then 2023 is about reinforcing and refining these goals, trimming deadweight, and being more efficient and purposeful in my actions. So what do I plan to accomplish during this trip around the sun?

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Mary’s Favorite Posts: 2022

My, we have covered a lot of material this past year that it’s difficult for me to pick which one is my favorite post from 2022. But if I had to choose one, it would be From Only to First: Siblings.

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Child(ish) Reads: I Left My Homework in the Hamptons

“There is a commonality among all parents, riven with fear, wanting something better for our children and not knowing how to go about getting it.”

I decided to switch up our usual Childish Reads. Most of the books I choose are on child or parenting development, but this book covers a completely different age group and parent demographic.

I Left My Homework in the Hamptons: What I Learned Teaching the Children of the One Percent by Blythe Grossberg

I Left My Homework is a collection of personal stories and lessons from a former tutor of the children of the 1%. We’re covering not just high schoolers but those from super-rich families. What can their experiences empirically tell us about parenting and how our best intentions can sometimes create the perfect stress storm for our kids.

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Willy Wonka Series: Veruca Salt

Veruca Salt is the second child to “find” a Golden Ticket. Unlike the other children, her father made his peanut factory workers unwrap crates of Wonka bars until they found one for her. Throughout the tour, Veruca constantly demanded completely irrational things, like an Oompa-Loompa, a candy boat, and the catalyst for her demise, a trained squirrel (or a golden goose in the 1971 film). When Mr. Wonka tells her that the animal is not for sale, she throws a fit, the squirrels retaliate, declare her a “bad nut”, and toss her down the garbage chute.

Was it Veruca’s fault that she became a brat? Or are the Oompa-Loompas right and the mother and the father to blame?

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