LA Times: Column: How ‘Sesame Street’ can prepare kids for climate disasters
...Sesame Workshop — the New York nonprofit that’s been producing the show for 55 years — said it would partner with the global charity Save the Children to “foster young children’s climate resilience.” Basically, the organizations intend to work together to tell stories — starring Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover and company — that will help kids and their families prepare for the increasingly extreme storms, floods, droughts and other weather extremes already being worsened by coal, oil and gas pollution...."
In a groundbreaking study from 2017, Chatard et al found social comparison to be subliminal.
In the study women were shown images of thin women or heavy women at sub-conscious threshold viewing times of less than 20 milliseconds.
Even when they consciously didn’t register seeing them and weren’t able to make the comparison, the study found feeling good or bad about their bodies still consistently affected.
It means we can’t educate ourselves away from this.
We can of course alleviate some of the problems that follow, and we should. Social media provides way too many supermodel-shapes to push those buttons teenagers still don’t know how to react to.
And it is important for educators also to try and not ”talk some sense into the kids”, but promote healthy reactions to the inevitable.
Officials in Japan are scrambling to pass initiatives to encourage more people to have kids. They range from the thoughtful – such as sponsoring free lunches – to the ridiculous – such as when the government floated spending taxpayer money on AI-driven matchmaking apps.
This weekend I went to a band trip with my 12 year old as a chaperone. It started with band performances, ended with them (and me) at an amusement park all day.
I met a bunch of Middle Schoolers who were friends / acquaintances with my daughter. They referred to me as "cool," "legendary," "icon," and one said I was "an icon on par with Madonna." But...but why?
I think about that day and all I can think is that I'm an adult, a parent who was willing to engage with these kids. I talked with them about music, their hobbies, anime, video games, whatever they wanted to talk about. I listened and interacted. Apparently, that's enough to make me an icon.
It feels very basic. But, the fact that just this level of interaction felt out of the norm for them from their friend's parents that it made them call me an icon, I feel that says more about the other adults in their lives than it does about my awesomeness.
Kristi Noem Said She Is Proud to “Support Babies, Moms, and Families.”
Her Record Shows Otherwise, Critics Say.
As #SouthDakota governor, Noem has rejected programs and millions of dollars in federal funds that would have benefited #parents and #children and provided care during #pregnancy.
Critics say her rhetoric is “all hat and no cattle.”
#Illinois School Districts Sent Kids to a For-Profit Out-of-State Facility That Isn’t Vetted or Monitored
A state #law was meant to help #families by allowing the use of public money to fund students’ tuition at special education boarding #schools around the country.
But in solving one problem, lawmakers created another.
Today at the hawker centre, there was a little girl who drew my portrait! I’m so impressed! She captured my bun with hairclips in it, she captured my bangs and the locks of hair I have in the front, framing my face. She captured my striped T-shirt and the face mask I had on my wrist. She captured the peace sign I made in the picture we had just taken. She even drew a cat for me! How did she know I loved cats‽
Our 4-yr old dropping tonight that some of his friends at school have autism wasn’t near the top of my list of things he would randomly drop. It’s clear his teachers have approached this with a lot of care and empathy and he’s really intrigued and excited that he has friends whose brains, well may or may not work the same as his and that he’s lucky to have friends with autism… I was probably 25 the first time I heard the term at all #autism#ottawa#kids
Kinda fodder. But in my family suites are more typical. Our houses are massive. Ours really isn't because it's only a 3 bedroom. But everyone gets TWO rooms for themselves. A bedroom and a workspace. We place a HUGE value on free creativity. Right now I'm shitting in high cotton because I have my lab, bedroom AND private bathroom which is the ideal. And it's all separate. My nephew has a playroom and bedroom. Nobody comes into your suite. #family#news#kids https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/05/children-home-solo-bedroom/678354/
These folks are looking for volunteers to contribute to...
"... a collection of guides, tutorials, lessons, and references for helping children engage with technology and related topics while sticking to and learning about FLO (Free/Libre/Open) values."
The Far Right’s Campaign to Explode the Population >>
"The threat, we are told here this weekend, is existential, #biological, epoch-defining. Economies will fail, #civilizations will fall, and it will all happen because people aren’t having enough #babies.
“The entire global #financial system, the value of your money, and every #asset you might buy with money is defined by leverage, which means its value depends on growth...." >>
>> "...of its aims; for many in the room, the ultimate goal is a total #social overhaul, a #culture in which child-rearing is paramount.
At first glance, this conference might look like something new: A case for having #kids that is rooted in a critique of the #market-driven forces that shape our lives and the shifts that have made our culture less #family-oriented....declining birth rates are primarily the fault of “default middle-class ‘life path’ offered by our educational system and ...>
>> ...#natalist#ideology become dominant quickly in the United States — everyone in this room has to have more #kids, and fast.
Keenan, who has previously celebrated her sense that it is now acceptable to say “#white#genocide is real,” says better means #conservative. Pat Fagan, the director of the #Marriage and #Religion Institute at the #Catholic University of America, says good #children are the product of stable, two-parent #Christian households,...>>
🙏 Please help mastodoners.
👀 I'm looking for cool #educational#games for my 7 and 9 years old boys.
The games need to be online on installable on Ubuntu. Without publicity please. I'm willing to pay if good quality like #tocaboca games.
I already have #minecraft and #hourofcode and a bunch of old, not so fun, games.