(Hello! You can listen to the audio version here.)
Happy Friday people!
I don’t know about you, but this week I am SO TIRED. So tired.
I think the main reason is that we are in a season of the kids going to bed late, and waking late, which is fine except that I end up going to bed late too, and waking up early because I like to have some quiet time in the morning. Something is going to have to give.
And is it just me who can’t actually fall asleep until everyone else in the family is also safely tucked in? There’s just something really unsettling to me about going to bed while people are still milling about. I’m pretty sure this is a me problem.
It also doesn’t bode well for the teenage years. Any tips would be very welcome!
What do you do when your young people are night owls, and you kinda are too, but you also want/need to get up early in the morning?
The exact date and time are Wednesday Jan 24th at 6pm EST (That’s 6am on the 25th for me here in Thailand).
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I’m calling the topic Socialization but what I really mean to talk about is so much broader: friendships, finding community, maintaining community with people who perhaps we don’t always agree with, and also how much “socialization” do our kids need? Is feeling a sense of meaning and belonging more important than empty socializing? How many friends is enough friends? And much, much more.
If you’re new to my Friday emails, I usually write about something that is radicalizing me (in the most literal sense of the word), what I’m reading and listening to, and what my children are into that week (when they feel like sharing).
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A friend shared this article this week, and it got me thinking. It’s titled Why America Hates its Children, and I have A LOT to say about it, but I’ll try to distill it.
The author compares the way children are treated in Greece, to the way they are criminalized, marginalized, and controlled in the US. Some of the comparison is valid. I’ve never been to Greece with my children, but I can speak to the way my children are treated in Italy: like small, beautiful miracles.
That said, it’s not a utopia for children. Yes, children are integrated to a larger extent into adult life. They are welcome at restaurants and most public spaces, and people aren’t constantly asking me why they’re not in school. And yes, children are overall looked at with benevolence and tolerance - but both those things are not exactly the same as respect, and equity.
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