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Maximal Ep. 363 | Stuffitis

🕑 Added 2022-10-24 11:05:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

Eleanor Birch

Enjoyed the segment on re-thinking how we use our phones. I’m always looking to be more intentional with my usage. I wanted to offer a different perspective on the story of all parents on a phone at the park. I am a mainly stay-at-home parent with a few side gigs, some paid and some volunteer. My children are young and not in school, so I am around them all. the. time. I work hard to stay present and am rarely on my phone in front of them. When I need to get something done for my work, I could put them in from of the TV and work in my office. Instead, I often take them to the park to play outside while I answer emails, texts, research something etc. I probably look like a checked out parent and people could shake their heads at me. Also, in today’s society, parents are now expected to be ON for their kids constantly, curating playdates and Pinterest-worthy crafts and sometimes a mental break during the day is needed. I agree that scrolling is an epidemic and we should be cautious and intentional, but one can be a good parent and still need to take a break to read (which I do on my phone), catch up on news or even look at a dumb cat video. I think kindness, instead of judging, goes a long way in these scenarios.

Lindsey Watts

I really enjoy the discussion/ comments around unschooling and home education ( as it get called in the UK). Here are a couple of semi serious replies ( for those days when you don't have energy for serious discussion!) to the often repeated questions around this:- Q: but what about socialisation? A: Well we try to keep it under control and make sure we get some work done! Here's one from a friend who was asking the headteacher of a school if her home educated son could sit examinations at his school: Headteacher: well I'm not sure, I'll have to find out how this might affect our results statistics. Mum: That's ok we don't mind improving your statistics for you🙂 Enjoy your journey guys, it's a great rollercoaster!! X