2020 | PulseonParenting

Eight Simple, Effective Ways to Practice Adaptation

Aug 13 2020

Change isn’t easy. Especially when it is isn’t our choice, and even when it is. But the ability to adapt to change is a necessity it order to survive or simply to thrive. From an evolutionary standpoint, adaptation is the biological mechanism by which organisms adjust to new environments or to changes in their current environment. There are two ways that living beings adapt–biologically and behaviorally. In this post, I’m going to focus on behavioral adaptation. We are in the middle of a world-wide out-of-control experiment with a novel virus. Behavior is at the epicenter of the crisis. Current advice…

Aug 06 2020

The dad executes a ballet leap worthy of a severe hamstring injury and joyfully hook-shots boxes of pencils and packs of lined paper into a shopping cart. His son and daughter trudge behind, lower lips protruding enough that birds could comfortably perch upon them. Remember that commercial for back-to-school shopping? Remember feeling that relief (It’s ok to admit it, you are among friends here) when the calendar flipped to August? Remember normal back-to-school shopping? It’s hard to believe that was only a year ago. And now this anticipated ritual is changed in ways we could never have imagined. Not only…

Jul 30 2020

Mom, I miss my friends…when can I have a sleepover? Mom, I miss lacrosse. Then, the real stunner: Mom, I miss school. And the best responses I can give? I don’t know. I’m so sorry. And…I think I get that. Kids, all of you. I’m gonna tell you what I told my own kiddos a few weeks ago when COVID cases started to spike again. I’m sorry. I’m sorry grownups have completely screwed up life. No Prom. No spring sports. No graduations. I’m sorry you missed out on important face-to-face education and interactions with your friends. Your education and your…

Jul 24 2020

Two twenty-something men strut in to the grocery store, making a beeline for the deli. I can’t blame them, that fried chicken aroma is the Cinnabon of the savory world. And it was lunchtime. But it doesn’t matter how young and strident and in-a-hurry you are. Wear the dang mask. Or at least if you don’t, refrain from wearing your work logo on a blindingly florescent yellow T-shirt. Two women are selecting sushi. Then they make their way down several more aisles of the grocery store. We have a mask order in our town. Somehow, they didn’t get the memo….

Jul 16 2020

Who knew we’d have to become experts in mask-wearing? Funny/not funny. No one who wears a mask considers COVID a laughing matter. Given a renewed exponential rise in novel coronavirus cases, we can expect to be in a mask-wearing long-haul. So here are some helpful hints, some from healthcare workers who have their own exponential experience, for wearing a mask: When they go low, we go high. (Quote shamelessly stolen from yet gratefully credited to Michelle Obama) Mask-wearers have been called many names, given many disdainful leers, and even been compared to Nazis. We can’t give anti-maskers the satisfaction of…

Jul 09 2020

Funny how something millions love to wear at Halloween is an incredibly divisive adornment now. And it’s not even made of rubber. Nor does it cover our eyes (necessarily). And it doesn’t suffer from the exorbitant markup cost seen at Halloween City. Wearing facial coverings as a method of slowing the spread of COVID-19 has been meet with much scrutiny and criticism: Masks don’t work. A mask ordinance is a violation of my rights. You’re a sheep if you wear a mask!!! No, wearing facial coverings were not recommended during the initial surge of COVID. This is in part because…

Jul 02 2020

A change of scenery was needed. Limited in what we felt were safe options given the frightening uptick in COVID-19 cases, we decided to head up to see our “cousin” (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) Ralph Lauren at his massive, breathtakingly-beautiful ranch just off the San Juan Skyway. But darn it all, he wasn’t home and being strangers (long, lost cousins?) I doubt we would have been allowed past the carefully maintained main entrance anyway. So we chose instead a lovely VRBO just a few miles down the road, outside of Ridgway, Colorado. It was quiet, with gorgeous views, and we saw absolutely no…

Jun 11 2020

I’m still learning. Three little words from a friend’s Facebook post. So perfect. So honest. So humble. She wants to help, to be of support, and affect change after the racially-charged events of the last few weeks. She is wasn’t sure how to do it, nor was she sure what to say that wouldn’t accidentally offend or hurt. So she admitted: I’m still learning. I was born in a suburb of Minneapolis. Soon thereafter my family moved to small-town Minnesota, and then on to central Iowa. All lily-white. Practically see-through white, given the northern-European heritage of the region. For as…

Jun 05 2020

I’m sitting on our patio overlooking a tree-lined canyon. The hummingbirds dive at my red-headed husband. The ground squirrels peer suspiciously at our dog, passed out in the shade of a Ponderosa pine. And it’s still, so very quiet. Peaceful. And the guilt washes over me. My family is safe, ensconced in our little tiny bit of southwest Colorado real estate. No death, no protests, no destruction. No illness. But not no worries. Facebook has been ablaze for seemingly forever. And of late, the flames get fanned on a minute-by-minute basis. There’s always a cause to defend, there’s always someone…

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May 28 2020

This is not how it was supposed to go. Turning in your last final exam should have felt like more than relief. You didn’t get the heady feeling of walking out of your school for the last time as a student. No senior trips. No prom. None of the rituals you observed a year ago, thinking, Next year that’s gonna be me and friends. It may not seem like there is a silver lining. But there is. There may not be the traditional fanfare of a graduation ceremony, but you do have a unique story to tell. The promise of…

Archive - 2020

Eight Simple, Effective Ways to Practice Adaptation

Worried? You’re Not Alone: School is Really Scary.

Kids: Grownups Owe You an Apology

Angry? Five Thoughtful Strategies to Be Kind Now

Never Sneeze Sideways: 8 Helpful Hints for Mask-Wearing

Six Great Reasons to Don a Mask Every Day

How to Safely Wear a Mask: Watch This Video Now

Confessions of a White Girl: My Education in Racism

Hate is Not the Way: Don’t Pass it On

To All the Classes of 2020: This One’s For You