When I was in high school, I had a friend named Michael Cohen who wanted to learn Latin. I have no idea why he wanted to learn it. There were about twenty of us who had been taking Latin for three years, but not Michael; he wasn’t in the “honor group,” so he hadn’t been…
It’s certainly no coincidence that I’m writing about anger right after I wrote about violence. Violence is a very common and unfortunate companion to anger, and I think it’s a major reason anger has such a bad name. Like sadness, it’s too often seen as something to get rid of quickly, or hide, rather than…
Violence is part of life. If we’re lucky and, to some degree, careful, it isn’t a big part of our lives. We try to live in places where violence is less prevalent. Some people move from nations where violence is too common to nations that seem safer. Within a nation, people seek out sections that…
Families have the right to have some secrets. All kinds of things that happen in families are private. They may have projects and plans they don’t want people to know about. They may have problems they’re trying to solve, and they want to involve only people they think will help. People want privacy for all…
Most teachers I’ve observed repeat things they really don’t need to repeat. Most teachers I’ve observed repeat things they really don’t need to repeat. Once in a while, I’ve challenged myself to stop doing it, but it’s awfully hard to stop. I can think of three possible reasons for this phenomenon, and I leave it…
The phrase “facilitated communication,” as I’ve heard it used, refers to a very specific technique for helping some people who have trouble letting other people know what they’re thinking and feeling. A friend of mine has been deeply involved in using this technique, and another friend of mine is an adult with autism who has…
I’ve often heard teachers say that teachers make the worst parents. The statement, as I’ve heard it, has usually referred to one aspect of parenting – relating to a child’s teachers. Parents often have strong opinions about what should and should not happen in school, and when a parent is also a teacher in a…
It can be hard to be different. Sometimes differences are respected and celebrated, but they can also be burdens to bear; tolerance is far from universal. And so people who are different build closets, and try to hide their differences in their closets. Coming to a new country, they try to hide their heritage by…
I recently heard from a parent who had spent time and energy planning a day during which she could get some of her errands done and do things the children would enjoy. That’s often hard to do, but parents who care about their children do their best. To children, the errands can all seem like…
Parenting in public can be embarrassing. The limits set in private sometimes don’t seem to apply. Parents have told their children how to behave when other people are watching, but children know that their parents probably aren’t going to be as strict in public; maybe they’ll get yelled at or something later, but that’s in…