Parenting Roundabout

What are parents obsessing about right now? At Nicole's house, it's everything about the going-to-college process, from applying to deciding to (of course) paying for it.

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup: Terri suggests revisiting the hits of the '70s with her Apple Music playlist, "Sounds Like Old Times" [https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sounds-like-old-times/pl.u-11GGyUo8A0r]. Nicole's shouting out a snack care package that she sent to her son, a busy medical student [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BPJYFBV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]. And Catherine's listening to the Invisibilia podcast's friendship season [https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia]. Mentioned: "Nun of Us Are Friends" [https://www.npr.org/2021/09/16/1037902699/nun-of-us-are-friends] and "A Friendly Ghost Story" [https://www.npr.org/2021/09/13/1036637594/a-friendly-ghost-story].

Inspired by a recent episode of Only Murders in the Building, we're obsessing about how far might go to fix things for our kids. While we wouldn't send someone else to prison in their place, sometimes there's a fine line between advocacy and interference.

As recompense for Daylight Saving Time, we have decided to declare Parent Saving Time that we can implement whenever we need to spring forward or fall back an hour. Our kids will never be late for school again!

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2: Ted Lasso's "Make Rebecca Great Again" brought all the feels, as Ted faced his divorce papers, Nate faced his fears and gave an insulting pep talk, and Richmond faced a team it hadn't beaten in 60 years. Next: "The Diamond Dogs" (season 1, episode 8). On Only Murders in the Building, "The Boy From 6B," provided a ton of exposition with almost no dialogue. It was a clever, creative way to suggest two new suspects for Tim Kono's murder. Next: "Fan Fiction" (also season 1, episode 8).

Parents always hear that positive reinforcement and praise are critical when raising kids, but we've encountered a few children who kinda hate being told how great they are.

Depending on which one of us you're visiting, you might find barbecue sauce, bread, or waffles. But don't count on ice cubes.

Complaining about jury duty is a perennial topic, but we've managed to find a new, parenting-related twist on it. Would you make the same decision Terri's making? (And would you feel guilty if you did?)

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup: Speaking of Halloween decorations (as we were yesterday), Nicole's recommending her cute, kid-friendly Halloween monster inflatable [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094J4P7DG/]. Catherine and Terri are both shouting out tasty treats (though Nicole might consider them a trick for their fruit and vegetable content): Cecilia's Farms Dried Bartlett Pears [https://www.ceciliasfarm.com/product/barlett-pears-large-halves/] and parmesan and roasted garlic Harvest Snaps [https://harvestsnaps.com].

Is it just us our neighborhoods, or are people getting way more into Halloween decor than they used to? From the cute to the gory, we're seeing inflatables, lights, and plastic props take over. Catherine and Nicole are joining in in their own way, while Terri's admiring from afar.

If you're a parent, you've dealt with fundraisers, whether as an annoyance or an essential way to allow your child to participate in an activity (or, most likely, a little bit of both). While nothing can touch Girl Scout cookies as the thing we most want to shell out for, we've come across a few others that are worthwhile. As for everything else, can we just Venmo a donation?

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, Ted Lasso continued with its bittersweet tugs on our hearts in "Two Aces." We got to meet the "Golden retriever puppy of a man," Dani Rojas, but also saw Ted lose a big battle when Jamie returned to a different football club. Next: S1E7, "Make Rebecca Great Again."On Only Murders in the Building, we learned some important new facts about the Tim Kono case, and also confirmed that Oliver will eat just about anything, as long as it's free. Next: S1E7, "The Boy From 6B."

It's a very common piece of parenting advice: Positive reinforcement! Praise kids when they do something right! But we're afraid of jinxing ourselves when we do this. So we tend to back slowly away.

We've had some luck buying stuff from Goodwill and giving stuff away on Freecycle. Also mentioned: Craigslist, Oodle, Sell.com, Facebook Marketplace, NextDoor.com.

An incident at Catherine's daughter's high school got us talking about talking: As in, when parents gossip about what's going on at school without knowing what's actually going on. A bad idea? Yes. Kind of fun? Also yes.

On this week’s Roundabout Roundup: Speaking of roundups, Terri has rounded up much of her online writing at Authory, a service for creating a digital portfolio [https://authory.com/TerriMauro?mode=visitor]. Nicole's working more comfortably with her new memory foam lumbar support pillow from Guttylief [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098STRTM1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1]. And Catherine's loving Culver's Salted Caramel Pumpkin Concrete Mixer, which is like a slice of pumpkin pie in a milkshake [https://www.culvers.com/menu-and-nutrition/fresh-frozen-custard/concrete-mixers/menu-item-details/salted-caramel-pumpkin-concrete-mixer-mini].

Today, we obsess about what we'd put on a parenting wish list at this stage of the game. Our picks range from the mundane and practical to the truly fantastical.

We thought we were going to complain about the challenges of raising boys vs. girls, especially when it comes to attending school events and dances. But we ended up complaining about the perils of social insecurity for kids--and parents--of any gender.

On this week's entertainment-themed Round 2, "Tan Lines" is a bittersweet episode of Ted Lasso, with a big win and an even bigger loss for Ted. Next week: S1E6, "Two Aces."On Only Murders in the Building, the "Twist" of the episode title is dealt with fairly quickly, after a highly improbable car chase. But we're not here for the verisimilitude. Next week: S1E6, "To Protect and Serve." Mentioned: TV critic Brian Grubb tweeting about the show [https://twitter.com/briancgrubb/status/1448322932070141954] and the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast discussing it [https://podcasts.apple.com/am/podcast/only-murders-in-the-building/id278974813?i=1000534652726].

After reading about pandemic nostalgia at Scary Mommy [https://www.scarymommy.com/pandemic-nostalgia-longing-early-days/], we talked about whether there's anything we miss about March/April 2020 and everything that came with it. While the feeling of fighting against a common enemy was nice while it lasted, we definitely don't want to revisit anything else about that time (although if you want to hear about how we were reacting in the moment, you can check out our archives [https://www.parentingroundaboutpodcast.com/blog/archives/03-2020]).