Introducing culture

Child(ish) Reads: A+ Parenting

| Patti Webb

Of course for Back-to-School month we’re reviewing a school(ish) book. This one thankfully is a much more productive read than last year’s. I received an advance copy of A+ Parenting via NetGalley. Technically the book came out in October 2023, so I hope NetGalley will forgive my tragically late feedback.

A+ Parenting: The Surprisingly Fun Guide to Raising Surprisingly Smart Kids by Eva Moskowitz, with Eric Grannis.

Summary: Eva Moskowitz has built a national reputation as the founder and leader of Success Academy Charter Schools, one of the country’s most highly regarded networks of schools. But while most people know Eva for her success in educating 20,000 mainly low-income students who are routinely accepted to our nation’s best universities, she has also been responsible for raising three children of her own. In A+ Parenting, Eva shares what she has learned both as a parent and an educator about raising children to be enthusiastic and successful learners.

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Our Panda Fest Playdate Review

| Patti Webb

For this play date review, we’re tweaking it yet again. We’re sharing our first ever girl date!

Once Mary and I settled our spring break plans, we got tickets for the brood to go to Atlanta’s first-ever Panda Fest, an Asian food festival with dates in multiple cities across the country. Panda Fest vendors are mostly local and they specialize in Asian street food and snacks.

Attending were BOTH sets of twin girls, so no boys this round. My husband Troy also came for the food and to be an extra set of hands. H&K are two years younger than A&Z, so now we’re factoring in age gap for this play date.

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Low Tech Culture

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

“Learning about yourself and what you’re drawn to is one of the cool things about growing up.” – Rachel Childers, musician with the Boston Symphony Orchestra

To piggyback off our last post, we’re sharing the low-tech devices your kids can use to find their musical tastes.

The Old

Hey, there’s nothing wrong with going old school. If you still have these lying around, introduce your kid to the classics and low-tech tech.

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Coffee Chat: Will our kids be boring?

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

When Patti and I were brainstorming our holiday gift guides, we realized how different our own kids have it. Some of the things we loved growing up are literally analog. We’re talking physical media: cassettes and CDs, VHS and DVDs, gaming consoles with zero connectivity. Who even owns a CD player anymore?

Tech has allowed us to reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating physical items in lieu of streaming and downloading entertainment onto one device; but that leaves a big gap when kids aren’t supposed to have their own smart devices until 8th grade.

A Matter of Personal Taste

For me, I’ve become the gatekeeper to my kids’ entertainment. I control what they listen to, play, and watch. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially when it comes to the metaverse, I’ve started to feel like it might limit their ability to explore in a pop cultural sense.

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