Middle School Survival Kit: Which is harder, being a middle schooler or being the parent of one?

Middle School Survival Kit: Are the Experiences of Middle School Boys and Girls the Same?

This is the final in my four-part series on raising middle schoolers. Read more…

Middle School Survival Kit: The Role of Technology in Parenting a Middle Schooler

During some interviews with grandparents, I found the

universal sentiment that raising children “is harder today” for

their children than it had been for the grandparents. Asked

why, most of them commented on the role of technology,

and when I interviewed current middle school parents, the

majority of their worries were in some way related to just that. Read more…

Coming Soon, the iPad3: Effects of New Technology on Education and the Digital Divide

Is it just me, or does the continued hyper-focus on technology in the classroom leave anyone else just a little bit cold? While it has long been said that academic institutions change more slowly than any others, and for good reason, this is perhaps no longer the case. When I was a school administrator, the joke was always that the kids could keep ahead of the technology, while the adults were forever chasing both. Read more…

Biting Among Toddlers and Preschoolers

The memory is still fresh: I take my daughter to her pediatrician for her 18-month-old checkup and he asks me, “Any hitting, kicking or biting?” Just like that! I thought, this man is a genius! A mind reader! How did he know I was about to bring that up?? What followed was a discussion about how toddlers her age, up through preschoolers, frequently talk not through words, but through physicality. If another child grabs your child’s toy, he or she is just as likely to reach out and hit, slap, bite, kick or scratch as to say, “Excuse me? I was using that. May I please have it back?” Read more…

Sometimes I don’t know what is harder—being a middle

schooler, or being the parent of one. I’ve always felt that the

wounds your child receives cut you more deeply than those

received personally. I often say that seventh grade was the

worst year of my life. Many of my friends echo that sentiment.

But when my daughter was in seventh grade, that was a

brand new exercise in vicarious misery; and while it would be

hyperbolic to say that my child’s seventh grade year was the

worst year of my life, it was certainly wounding to both of us. Read more…

Writing