Category: parenting

Caitlyn, parenting

Writing to “Ten”

Yesterday was a rough day in Caitlyn-land. I don’t know all the details but apparently her school day was frustrating, her playdate didn’t go quite as planned, and dinner wasn’t her favorite. Lately, she’s been exploring note-writing as a way of expressing her feelings. It helps her put her feelings into words in a less-pressured circumstance than a conversation and it allows her a way of getting the feelings out that’s more constructive than acting out or breaking things. It’s kinda weird, though, to be asked how to spell “really”, “there”, “smoke”, “head”, and “patience” and then to find a …

community, parenting

Way to be “On Message”

To the gentleman representing the Star Kids movie in front of Central Co-op: I appreciate being passionate about your art and your project. And, believe it or not, I’ve got some idea of what’s involved in making a movie and how much money is needed. However, I don’t appreciate being harassed on my way into a grocery store. It’s the end of the day, I’ve a first grader who needs to get home, and we’re out of milk. I don’t particularly have the time (or frankly, the interest – I’ve heard the Star Kids pitch on my way into a …

Caitlyn, parenting

Crying over Broken Plates

During the usual Wednesday shenanigans yesterday, we lost a plate. It shattered in typical Corelle fashion, tiny fragments surrounding a waffle (peanut butter side down, of course) and skittering across the kitchen floor. The impact scared the cat so badly, he knocked over the stool he’d been on as he fled the room. I don’t know if it’s a testament to the durability of Corelle dishes or just a particularly wide streak of luck, but this is the first plate we’ve lost in more than 10 years. Someone did point out that once you break one, the rest follow suit …

Caitlyn, education, parenting

At least it ended well

First, a rant: Washington’s state constitution says, “[i]t is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders…” (Article XI, Section 1). We had one federal holiday and three and one-half snow days last week. Caitlyn went to school for a grand total of 2 hours. We were scheduled to have a school holiday this Friday (I’m not sure why), but that has now been canceled. School will be in session on Friday as a make-up day for one of the snow days last week. If you’ve already made …

parenting

Documentary film participant releases are kind of unsettling things to sign. Since it’s the nature of documentary film-making to not entirely know what you are going to capture on film (reality being somewhat unpredictable, generally), the releases are very broad. You sign away your right to whatever the crew captures and agree to let them do whatever they want with it. I’ve signed releases for both Caitlyn and myself twice in the last month. One was for a documentary about urban agriculture, Growing Cities. A small crew came to our P-Patch during a work party to talk with the gardeners …

Caitlyn, parenting

School Dance Angst

Growing up, school dances were something I anticipated with more trepidation than excitement. Dances were never just a chance to dress up or hang with classmates in a more social setting than Mr. White’s fifth period social studies class. This was where the magic was supposed to be. It seems it’s almost always at a dance that the princess falls in love. But the gym, in neither junior high or high school, ever looked like the school dance setting in Footloose or Back to the Future or any other teen movie from the 80s. No one ever asked me to …