Avant Parenting Archives
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Avant! Welcome to my parenting blog archives
As you can see by the dates below, this blog is no longer being updated. However, there’s lots of good stuff here, much of it as true now as when it was written. Please feel free to browse, or follow these links: One last piece of parenting advice: Enjoy today even if it’s a rough…
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The importance of buddies
My daughter’s public homeschool program has had a buddy system since we started there five years ago. Since it spans K through 8, there are lots of opportunities for older kids to pair up with younger kids. I always thought the buddy system was nice—when it worked, my daughter was able to complete an activity…
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Your mom said it first
When I was a kid and any of one my siblings was moping around the house, my mother said what probably countless mothers generations back had been saying to their kids: “Get out of the house.” Not, Get out of the house and don’t come back, you morose teenager, but rather, Get out of the…
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I am not a homeschool anarchist
I read with interest this piece in the New York Times: My Parents Were Homeschooling Anarchists. It’s an interesting piece that is so resonant of the era in which it took place. I enjoyed reading it and learning what the kids are doing now as adults. However, articles like this reenforce the idea that all…
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Angels happen by
I know that this is an experience common to many parents, though we parents of “quirky” kids experience it more often. I was sitting and watching my daughter’s soccer game with dismay. This is a girl who has great skills in practice, who simply falls apart on the field. Or rather, she becomes hypnotized. That…
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Moderating moderation
In general, I’m a proponent of “moderation in everything.” I believe, as my parents did, that allowing not necessarily healthy but pleasurable activities, as long as they’re balanced with healthy ones, is a good thing. In raising kids, this translates to a household where: We eat sugar, but not as a replacement for healthy calories…