Cut Yourself A Little Slack

This month, in a fall-themed edition of "activities that sound more fun than they are," we have...APPLE PICKING. The cycle is always the same...   Stage 1: Delusion "I have an idea! We should go apple picking! The days are getting cooler, the leaves are turning, it will be the perfect fall activity. We'll have so much fun. Everyone, put on your sweaters." Stage 2: Persuasion "Remember? You loved apple picking last year! We got to ride on a tractor and I made all those pies, remember? Well trust me, you loved it. It's going to be the perfect fall activity....

Ahhhhh....the zoo. One of those universal experiences that sounds so much better than it is. Actually, despite the crowds and the perpetual dance around ethical questions of captivity versus conservation, I enjoy taking my kids to the zoo. Since my son has become a Wild Kratts stan, he's taken to sharing animal facts with me a LOT. The other day he woke me up, his face mere inches from my own, to tell me that male mosquitos actually don't drink blood - it's just females. So the zoo at least provides a framework for his animal facts, although it does mean...

This may be true of all toddlers, but my three-year-old daughter is the queen of self care. She epitomizes both the ultimate goal of and the ultimate threat to the billion-dollar self-help industry, because she was born with all of it. She never feels guilty about saying no, she builds ample time for herself into every single action she does, and she has zero imposter syndrome even when she is literally being an imposter (like when she insists on examining her brother's scraped knee because "you have to trust me, Tommy, I'm a doctor"). I take a lot of credit for all...

If the last year has shown us anything, it's that teachers are AMAZING. And while you might think that at least once a day, we often forget to tell them. That's why Teachers Appreciation Week - which is happening RIGHT NOW - is such a good reminder to pause and let them know that we deeply, deeply appreciate the people who choose to spend their time trying to mold our children into better people.  Last year, in the height of homeschooling, I made a series of Michael Bolton-inspired graphics because I missed teachers to the level of a '90s power ballad.   ...

It's almost time, you guys. The time that some of us (myself, really) thought would happen about three weeks after March 9, 2020, is finally here. We're about to go back to "normal."  There's a lot that I miss about normal. But there are some things I'm a little apprehensive about too. As someone who functions pretty well in society given that I am a baseline 6 out of 10 on the socially awkward scale, there are a lot of situations that I've been able to just straight-up avoid in the last year that I'm not particularly excited to get back...