Having the +Kay Hill in the house has ever stopped us. In fact, it's sometimes encouraged us.
The Next Chapter Is Now (Not-Yet-Empty Nest Edition)
Category: Parenting
Flautiness
At the "Family" Marching Band rehearsal last night, family remembers were invited down to the field to first listen to the band warming up … and then learn to actually play their instruments.
+Kay Hill was a pretty good instructor. I got at least one note, perhaps two, right.
Then we had to do three band movements. And maneuver the instruments. And hit our dots. (Fortunately, we didn't have to play at the same time.)
Good times. And Kay seemed pretty happy with the job I did (aside from chiding about starting off on the left foot).
Would you like to play a game?
This reminds me of some of the "theatrical productions" that my daughter used to put on for us grups at various social occasions at the house (usually dragooning Stan and Randy into the cast).
(Original at http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/make-pretend/ … bonus panel at http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/make-pretend-bonus-panel/)
Taking your kid to the doctor
This is particularly humorous, as I am taking +Kay Hill to the doctor in about 10 minutes.
(Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/taking-kids-to-the-doctor/ … bonus panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/taking-kids-to-the-doctor-bonus/)
The Happy, Gullible Days of Childhood
No, actually I like the added smartness +Kay Hill has accumulated with time that comes with time. Usually. There were occasional advantages though. Like this.
(Original: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/dumb-children/)
(Bonus panel: http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/dumb-children-bonus/)
I would almost certainly by the heck out of this comic book
I was a huge HB heroes fan back in the day, especially the first wave (most of them below) — Space Ghost, the Herculoids, Bird Man … it was comic book genius.
Alas, eventually HB lost its way, battered both by anti-violence activists and more success in doing silly/fun heroes and, eventually non-heroic cartoons that were all modeled after Scooby-Doo.
I had my revenge, though: forcing +Kay Hill to grow up watching this stuff (along with, of course, Jonny Quest).
Anyway, I'd love to see a serious treatment of these characters, with modern art, as presented here by Mardem Moura.
(h/t +Marty Shaw; original at https://www.behance.net/gallery/16115353/illustration-Vector and http://dinshoran.deviantart.com/art/Hanna-Barbera-Superheroes-549097768)
UPDATE: Oooh, t-shirt? Hmmmm … (http://www.redbubble.com/people/dinshoran/works/15654934-hanna-barbera-super-heroes?p=t-shirt … tempting, if I had use for any more t-shirts …)
Boys and their toys (BUT HOW CAN WE TELL?!)
Quoth Fox News' Brian Kilmeade: "If you go to buy a gift for a boy who's nine or six or a girl who's nine or six, you want to be able to go to that section and pick out a toy they might want. Now you have to sit there and look at a blended area and wonder is this for a boy or is this for a girl?"
If you don't know what gift a particular recipient actually wants, then maybe you shouldn't be buying them a gift (I understand gift cards are popular).
If you really feel the need to give a gift, and you don't have a kid along to consult with, then maybe you should buy them something you think you would have enjoyed.
If you are so uncertain whether a particular toy is "for" a boy or girl, then maybe the gender neutralists have already eaten your brain!
Yeesh.
Target’s New Toy Policy Will ‘Promote Transgenderism Among Children,’ Warns Brian Brown Group
CitizenGo, the international citizen activism group for which the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown serves as a trustee, is joining the Right’s pile-on of Target for ph
First Day of School – 2015
Be careful out there
This one's for +Kay Hill. For no reason.
(h/t +Les Jenkins; original by Jim Benton http://jimbenton.tumblr.com/image/124669014459)
Kids with Screens
A good set of observations on why teens seem to keep their faces glommed onto their mobiles. I'll add two additional notes:
1. Is this really all that different from the (stereotype, to some degree) teens (girls) spending untold hours on the phone back in the day with houses came with a single phone line? It seems to me the dynamic is similar, except now we have boys doing it, too.
2. Plenty of parents (cough) whose faces are glommed onto their mobiles or other screens, too. "I learned it from watching you, Dad! I learned it from watching you!"
Originally shared by +Doyce Testerman:
"We’re raising our children in captivity and they turn to technology to socialize, learn and decompress. Why are we blaming the screens?"
Good, albeit short article on the root causes behind increasing youth/teen screen time.
Blame Society, Not the Screen Time
If Americans truly want to reduce the amount young people use technology, we should free up more of their time.
When your daughter starts posting her own Fathers Day stuff
Kinda gets you right there. Even if it's from Fairy Tail … (Ducks.)
Thanks, Kitten. I, in turn, like to think of myself as Kosh-pretending-to-be-Sheridan's-Dad to you … only less tragic, of course.
Originally shared by +Kay Hill:
Happy Father's Day! Especially to my own patient father who tolerates watching Fairy Tail with me.
My TED Talker
My daughter's honors Language Arts class had, as their finals, a "TED Talk" — essentially a 5 minute expository/advocatory speech, with visuals, ending in a TED Challenge for the audience.
Despite some problems with the slides, and one on-the-fly content change she put in because of something a previous speaker had said, she started strong and ended strong and had (if I do say so myself) a great message. Plus she nailed an A for it, and thus for the class.
Well done, +Kay Hill!
(It was very cool being able to watch this livestreamed and capture for future reference.)
KatherineH
AHS TED Talk
As a general note to the Inner Circle, my daughter has (finally) gotten her Amazon Wish List up to date.
As a general note to the Inner Circle, my daughter has (finally) gotten her Amazon Wish List up to date.
The Reason for the Season
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Since we were just talking about Google on the phone, this seems appropriate …
Originally shared by +Google:
Happy Mother’s Day from every cub, chick, pup, joey and kid! #GoogleDoodle
On the Daughter
I will be circumspect in some ways here because the Daughter Unit actually reads my blog/stream, and I don't want to scare her off (or offend her). That said …
This was a very interesting weekend to spend with her, in the context of going to our alumni weekend.
First off, we did the official admissions office tour and lecture about +Pomona College. Granted, she's only a freshman in high school (for another few weeks), and we're not looking to rush her on higher ed, let alone twist her arm over what she needs to be when she grows up.
On the other hand, in just a year or two, this will become a much more serious discussion point, and introducing her to some concepts to think about (big vs small in overall campus size and classroom size; who teaches classes; liberal arts vs technical education; college vs university) is not a bad idea to start now.
Plus, y'know, now she knows a bit more about what our college days anecdotes are about. Even if she was not wowed by the awesomeness that is a Juanita's Burrito.
We'd certainly welcome her going to Pomona, but that's going to be her decision. Well, and a decision based on finances, to be honest (since we sort of fit in the gap between "needs-based grants" and "college as a discretionary expense"), but we'll see where we are in a few years on that.
So watching her take the tour, hear stuff, ask some questions, and start to ponder (hopefully in a contemplative sense, not a panicky sense) what she's looking for after high school was cool.
We also found time to get together for dinner with my mom, which was good in and of itself, but watching Kay interact with her in an articulate and enthusiastic and mature fashion was really neat. She is definitely moving into the adult category in so many ways that it's both daunting and exciting.
Finally, on the drive back to the grandparents' house on Friday night, we had a round-robin conversation about … stuff in the car. And, after, in the easy chairs. And Kay talked about the topics that she and her peers talk about, and what they avoid talking about because of the divisiveness that can come up, and her own thoughts about that.
And the grups in the room sort of talked about that with her, too — in a way that was both … respectful and non-aggressive and encouraging, but also challenging and forthright. And it was really cool having her in that kind of conversation as a mature (or maturing) intellect and person and individual — not a pat-on-the-head aren't-you-clever kind of way, but a "hey, here's a voice to listen to and engage with and enjoy" kind of way.
It was fun going back to the old campus, and it was net-net pleasant interacting with some old acquaintances. But watching my daughter start to step out of being just "our kid" into being a participant in adult life … was awesome.
Touring the campus with @FragolaKat , which is slightly surreal
Touring the campus with @FragolaKat , which is slightly surreal #PomonaAW15
I only did one tour, but that was enough
Heh.
(h/t +Les Jenkins; original (with bonus panel): http://www.fowllanguagecomics.com/comic/war-movie/)
Calvin's Dad would be proud
I should have thought of this for +Kay Hill.
(Original: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3699)
(h/t +Les Jenkins)
