She has a right to be distraught

That's a lot...

Use your brain

"They’ve even started a smear campaign in our PTA group..."

Memory can be a slippery thing . They say that whenever you remember something, you're not actually remembering the thing itself, but rather the last time you remembered it. So by this logic, the quality of the information slowly degrades with time-- a photograph of a photograph for years and years until it's just fuzz. So it's not so easily relied upon. This is especially true when you're a kid. Memory is so hard to access from that time that someone could tell you a story about yourself and y…

You can't get an A if you're never taught anything!

What did she expect?

Bam

Teenagers and technology are not the best mix. Anyone who has grown up with social media knows how damaging it can be to your mental health. It can distort reality, dampen your creativity, and make you irritable. So it's no wonder that some parents want to restrict how much access their teen has to their phone because left unchecked, some kids might spend all day on their device. But this is not always a popular decision among the teenagers themselves. If there's anything that they hate, it's b…

Having children over at your house is no simple task . If you're used to existing in the adult world, having kids suddenly enter your space can be jarring. You realize quickly how much breakable stuff you own, how many sharp edges there are, how many possibly dangerous items you have lying around, and how kids have no regard for that kind of thing. It then becomes the job of the parents, or whoever is in charge, to make sure that the kids stay in their lane, as it were. That's just called good…

Turn it off

Every family who celebrates Christmas has their little version of tradition. They've honed their ritual-- what they eat, where they go, and when they open presents. Some folks go to church the night before, some on the day, and some don't go at all. Some eat a traditional roast and some mix it up. Santa might wrap your presents or leave them unwrapped. You might have a stocking or just do a gift exchange. Everyone does it a little differently . But what happens when two families, and thus two t…

Why not both?

Nicknames can be a tricky thing. They usually start as a form of endearment when you're little, turning your adult name into something more befitting of a little one. Gregory becomes “Little Greggie” because a baby named Greg would be unsettling.

Hosting a party at your house is no small potatoes . It requires a lot of cleaning and preparation, being a little nervous about people spilling, and having to be the last one there. Hosting can take it out of you. This is why we usually reserve it for special occasions. We host parties because we want to-- there's a holiday we want to celebrate or someone special we want to honor. But if the house is ours, the agency is ours to say yes or no. That's why it's such an imposition to ask to host s…

They've created a monster