Posts
It has taken me far, far too long, but I've finally learned that sometimes the best response to my teenagers is no response at all. If ignoring the question/comment would be outright rude, I go with a noncommittal "hmmmm" or "I see", or a quick hug in lieu of saying anything.
An example:
"Whyyyyyyy does school have to start sooooooo early?"
(delivered in a petulant, long-suffering tone on more occasions than I can possibly count)
I'm a fairly level-headed person. Someone asks a question, I'm going to try to answer it. So I've responded to this oft-repeated query in various and sundry ways:
"There are a lot of good reasons for school starting when it does, if you think about it."
"Look at the bright side. Because you start first thing in the morning, you have your afternoons free."
"It's not really that early, kiddo."
"If you find you're consistently tired in the mornings, you may want to get more sleep."
"I agree that a lot of kids, including you, would benefit from a later start to the school day. But it's unlikely to change any time soon, so you've got to make the best of it."
On my less empathetic days:
"Life's tough. Get used to it."
My responses generally elicited more whining, or an argument, or simply a heightened level of frustration on all sides (especially mine). Turns out my boys aren't actually interested in an answer, or in having a rational discussion. They just want to be heard and maybe score some pity points. Mornings have been less contentious since I adopted my new non-response policy. It seems so obvious now. I don't know why I didn't get it sooner.
An aside: does this mean kids are from Venus, too?
 clipped from www.amazon.com
|
"The most futile thing in this world is any attempt, perhaps, at exact definition of character. All individuals are a bundle of contradictions -- none more so than the most capable."
–Theodore Dreiser
|
My entries for Photo Quest #14
Two teen boys plotting?* talking:
"What are we gonna do? I'm so bored."
"Dude, I really want to go play paintball."
"I know. Me too. Wish your brother wasn't sick so he'd take us."
"Yeah. We need an adult to sign the release. Damn. Think your dad would take us out there?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Hey, we should try to get him to play. That'd be sick."
"Oh, dude!! Yeah. I would LOVE to shoot your dad. Bing! Totally."
*Optimistic strikeout.
THE BEST:
Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time
It seems trite to tell you that this book is inspirational, but it truly is. It is the reminder we all need that one passionate, committed person can set in motion significant positive change for many. When Greg Mortenson set out to build a school for the remote village in Pakistan that had sheltered and cared for him after his failed attempt to climb K2, he was no billionaire philanthropist, he was an avid climber and sometime trauma nurse living in San Francisco. He returned to the US, sold his belongings, typed out hundreds of fund solicitation letters on a rented typewriter, and lived in his car. As of 2007, the Central Asia Institute co-founded by Mortenson has established more than 50 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, providing education and opportunities to thousands of children. It's an amazing story.
March
This well researched novel presents a poignant account of the Civil War travails of Mr. March, the absent father from the classic Little Women. The idealistic March volunteers to serve as a chaplain in the Union forces. His naivete and convictions are sorely tested by his experience of the horrors of war.
THE REST:
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Klein makes a credible assertion that crisis and upheaval are often used (and sometimes orchestrated) to obscure or advance the imposition of radical free market economic policies, often with devastating long-term results.
Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
The Nobel Peace Prize winner proposes the creation of 'social businesses', organizations specifically designed to address social and humanitarian needs.
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
The natural world, its habitats and ecosystems, and the biodiversity of life on Earth are in peril. Wilson suggests that whatever your beliefs about the origins of life, it is time for all of us to work together to preserve and care for the 'Creation' before it's too late.
The View from Castle Rock: Stories
This fine collection of fictional short stories from Alice Munro is largely inspired by her ancestors and family history, and from personal experiences. "We are beguiled. It happens mostly in our old age, when our personal futures close down and we cannot imagine -- sometimes cannot believe in -- the future of our children's children. We can't resist this rifling around in the past, sifting the untrustworthy evidence, linking stray names and questionable dates and anecdotes together, hanging on to threads, insisting on being joined to dead people and therefore to life."
Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West
From the pages of this book, Bhutto passionately speaks out for moderation, understanding, and reconciliation. She asserts that the peaceful, pluralistic message of Islam has been exploited by extremist factions, and denies that a clash between Islam and the West is inevitable. She offers hope and concrete suggestions for reconciliation and peace. She was a courageous, extraordinary woman and her death is a great loss.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Often cited as the greatest war novel ever written, this book recounts the inhumanity and bleak horror of WWI though the eyes of young Paul Baumer and his German classmates. They enlist and soon find themselves in an all-out struggle for survival in the hellish trenches of a brutal war they can't comprehend, forever altered and alienated from their pre-war life and dreams.
Armageddon in Retrospect
A posthumous collection of previously unpublished writings, both fiction and nonfiction, on war, peace, and the darker tendencies of humanity. "If television refuses to look at something, it is as though it never happened. It can erase anything, even whole continents, such as Africa, one big desert now, where millions upon millions of babies, with a brand-new thousand years of history looming before them, starve to death."
Singer from the Sea
A mystical sci-fi tale centered on a dark secret kept and fueled by greed. The book features complex characters and confident storytelling with environmental and feminist threads.
That white stuff: yes, it's snow. Again. Help me! It's not right...
