As is true for most people, I would imagine, the internet and I have something of a love-hate relationship. On the one hand, I love how easily I can find information and learn new things and am constantly inspired by the creativity of others. On the other, I am easily sucked in, leaving me little time for creativity of my own. All of this is to say that I'm trying a new experiment today, sharing a few things that I've found interesting online. Hopefully, they will serve to engage and inspire and won't send you down the rabbit hole.
Something delicious: Maple sours - take my word on this one, it's a keeper (enjoying the taste of bourbon/whiskey is key here).
Something neat: When I was in grad school and commuting between home, teaching, and school every day, I did a lot of reading. One of the train stations had a "take a book, leave a book" cart and it was really a perfect find for me that year. It was so easy to grab a book at the beginning of the week and switch it for a new one when I was finished, all on my way between activities and without the hemming and hawing that so often plagues me with a larger collection. The Little Free Library operates on the same idea, emphasizing the idea of sharing books with people who might not have easy access to a larger library. It is neat.
Something to read: This article is a few months old, but it's one that I keep thinking about. We want so much for our children to be successful and happy, that it can seem a bit counterintuitive to think that less parental involvement would help them to become so. Yet it's pretty clear (both from my observations of children in my teaching practice and from my own growing up) that encouraging people to be autonomous and allowing them to learn from their own decisions is most beneficial to their overall development. It's a tricky balance to find as a parent and I think that I will have to be pretty mindful of my own tendencies to want to help and overly praise as Silas gets older. While these ideas come pretty naturally to me as a teacher, it really is different when it's your own child. Logic (knowing that letting him get a little frustrated when he can't figure something out will eventually lead to a greater sense of accomplishment when he does it himself) often competes with my soppy maternalistic tendencies (I hate to see him frustrated, why don't I just show him the first time?). These certainly aren't new ideas, but this is a concise and interesting synthesis that is worth a read.
Something to make: These ice wreaths are really only practical for those who live places where it stays freezing most of the day, which does happen to have been us most of this week, but there has to be some benefit to enduring endlessly chilly winter weather. Plus, they're awfully pretty.
Our lumberjack gnome wishes
you a wonderful weekend
Something neat: When I was in grad school and commuting between home, teaching, and school every day, I did a lot of reading. One of the train stations had a "take a book, leave a book" cart and it was really a perfect find for me that year. It was so easy to grab a book at the beginning of the week and switch it for a new one when I was finished, all on my way between activities and without the hemming and hawing that so often plagues me with a larger collection. The Little Free Library operates on the same idea, emphasizing the idea of sharing books with people who might not have easy access to a larger library. It is neat.
Something to read: This article is a few months old, but it's one that I keep thinking about. We want so much for our children to be successful and happy, that it can seem a bit counterintuitive to think that less parental involvement would help them to become so. Yet it's pretty clear (both from my observations of children in my teaching practice and from my own growing up) that encouraging people to be autonomous and allowing them to learn from their own decisions is most beneficial to their overall development. It's a tricky balance to find as a parent and I think that I will have to be pretty mindful of my own tendencies to want to help and overly praise as Silas gets older. While these ideas come pretty naturally to me as a teacher, it really is different when it's your own child. Logic (knowing that letting him get a little frustrated when he can't figure something out will eventually lead to a greater sense of accomplishment when he does it himself) often competes with my soppy maternalistic tendencies (I hate to see him frustrated, why don't I just show him the first time?). These certainly aren't new ideas, but this is a concise and interesting synthesis that is worth a read.
Something to make: These ice wreaths are really only practical for those who live places where it stays freezing most of the day, which does happen to have been us most of this week, but there has to be some benefit to enduring endlessly chilly winter weather. Plus, they're awfully pretty.
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