Another way we make cheap pork stretch is with posole. It’s similar to a broth-y chicken tortilla soup but the collagen from the skin/fatty parts of the shoulder add tons of flavor and folks top with their veggies of choice (shredded cabbage, sliced radish, squeeze of lime, cilantro).

My go-tos in that situation would be build your own (corn tacos), baked potatoes, pulled BBQ pork nachos/salads (a cheap cut is the picnic roast/shoulder cut, skin on, b/c it feeds an army). I'd load up on veg. toppings, skimp on cheese. My stepmom stretches taco meat by adding in finely diced potato. You can also make corn taquitos filled with beans and cheese or ground beef and beans. Egg rolls or dumplings/gyoza are also an awesome meal stretcher. It's mostly veggies and a little meat plus a head of napa cabbage, some onion, carrot, spices, etc. You can use rice paper wrappers or rice dumpling wrappers vs. wheat. A little filling mix goes along way. Serve with fried rice and veg stir-fry. It's labor intensive but cheap.

Having a chipped adult tooth sucks. Happened to me when I was in elementary. I’d go to the first available, reputable place too. Chipped teeth usually require a root canal eventually but I didn’t need one until my 30s.

We’re dropping her gifts off outside her door and FaceTime-ing from the living room. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

My DD was exposed at a cheerleader gathering/sleepover last weekend and we tested today...so 6 days out. She's positive (x2 home tests). It was certainly longer than 10 minutes for DD. I did not ask if the other cheerleaders were vaxxed when I let her go because I already knew they weren't and it wasn't worth the fight that would ensue. The teammates don't mask at games (or otherwise), DD was among the few who did (albeit with a cloth mask). DD has had symptoms for 36 hrs now, along with many of her teammates (something she neglected to inform us of until today). At the same time, DS (who has VERY few contacts and always wears a KN95) got a leaky nose so we suspected he had it too. Nope. DS, DH, and myself are all negative after multiple home tests (I'm saving the mail-in PCRs for back to school). We're all double vaccinated. DH and I got boosters. DD was slated to get her booster this past week but was dilly-dallying. We have her isolated in her room and wearing KN95s. We will bring her food. DS will be using the downstairs bathroom. I don't know if it will work to contain the spread but it's the best we can do.

My child told me that ‘coming out’ and ‘identifying’ was totally unnecessary. We had a whole conversation WRT my conservative parent where she convincingly argued that that was (negative) attention-seeking behavior and passé. As far as my kids are concerned, as they’ve both explained to me, they just live their lives and do their own things and let the chips fall where they may. They’re not concerned about pleasing, playing to the concerns of, or accommodating adult sensibilities wrt their sexual preferences or gender ID. It’s definitely different from my experience.

On a happy note…you midwesterners have been holding out re:Dot’s original pretzel twists. I bought ‘em on a whim when my usual butter pretzels were sold out. They’re delish!

THX. It came from HYPERSENSITIVE women weaponizing armed 'authorities' to enforce their will/preferred outcomes. I have been accused of such tendencies (not behavior) by my own kids. They're not wrong. None of my enforcement preferences/issues involve guns tho...just the HOA.

Actually, no, being IMMEDIATELY interrogated (by me at least) is more about my own innate skepticism and fact-based orientation than a demonstration of misogyny. I don't see a new/swellling/swollen costume at all. It's same ol' same ol' to me. Like it or not, I AM A WOMAN TOO and my experiences are no more illustrative than your own. ETA: for those unfamiliar with bell hooks and her scholarship, which influenced folks like Kimberle Crenshaw:

The point being that it's not real life, and neither is the imposition of litter boxes in PS bathrooms.

Misogyny is not new. Gloria Jean Watkins died this week. Her whole body of work was around the ways in which misogyny cannot be divorced from racism. Misogyny is NOT new. What's different is that some women were not aware/are feeling it more than in the past. The rest never knew it ever went away...because it didn't.

Don Quixote is fiction.

This makes me sad b/c I want to base my decisions WRT what to support/oppose on evidence and prevalence not anecdotes. To do that, I need to understand the issue (and if it's a widespread issue) and interrogate its causes. Unlike issues decades in the making, with long track records, this stuff is new to me. I don't feel free to do that without attack.

Thanks. It wasn't clear to me either but I wasn't sure if I was missing something.

Thank you. These are helpful. They all seem to be Pandemic related in time. Do you think that's related to the depression/isolation of being at home or the increased use of SM? That wasn't clear from the abstracts/reports.

ITA. My biggest concern is adults.

I don't have anything but this forum and FB too (which I use for family and sewing) so maybe that's why I don't find myself wandering down dark alleys or coming into contact with these issues? No Twitter. No Snappychat. No WhatsApp (I used it for our time in Bahrain tho). No Instagram. DS uses YouTube to watch his Cory Kenshin vids and that's about it. I've tried to encourage my kids to follow my lead but don't have any enforcement mechanisms other than taking phones/computers (which they need for school so I haven't done really that either. I am not that special. At the end of the day, it is perfectly appropriate, no NECESSARY, to ask about and seek information about the ACTUAL PREVALENCE of these issues. How else can one accurately assess risk/need? ETA: Quite frankly, I find that consistent position rather ironic given the outsize importance some place on the *potential* risk of harm to kids learning accurate history. Actual harm (and evidence thereof) is consistently de-emphasized over potential harm. What gives?

Eating disorders have been on my radar since I was forced to watch after school specials on the topic in the 80s. I didn't know anyone who had one then and still don't. In my neighborhood, it was viewed as only the white girls who had issues with a few extra pounds. The rest of us were prized/praised for them. Significant cultural difference there. It's not at all clear to me that the issue has become MORE prevalent. Maybe it has. Same with cutting. My sister and her friends did that in the 90s. Multiple identities? Same. I am not seeing evidence that anything but the media/mediums have changed. I'm open to learning more. I'm just not seeing it. And for the love of God, we should be able to talk about prioritizing outrage/advocacy/concern without resorting to 'you must be an uncaring bitch' rhetoric.

No, I really don't think 'it depends'. It may be more prevalent in your social circle. I respect that but I also think, objectively, one can quantify the impact of various phenomena and 'furries' demanding litter boxes or teens walking on leashes just doesn't register. Eating disorders are an issue, yes. There are lots of similar issues. Are they things to be aware of? Sure. Do they affect the majority of teens...NO, they don't. I feel like we've lost all sense of perspective and scale in an effort to make everyone feel good. Every issue is not of equal importance. They all deserve some awareness/attention...but is it a national scourge??? No.

Not many. Most. Childhood is not 9/10 years. I have no idea where this idea that everyone has an idyllic experience comes from except TV (radio before it) and now SM. That's not real life and never has been. Everybody has issues of one kind or another. It's a lot easier to deal when you don't feel it necessary to constantly compare yourself to that nonexistent ideal and I've never thought it healthy to make me/my kids think they'd come out of childhood entirely unscathed/untouched by disappointment and trauma of any kind.

.01% of 300 million people is a sizable number. Is it enough to freak out over? How does that compare to my mother's generation of hippies (which my grandparents/great-grandparents roundly denounced)? There's evidence from the social media companies themselves that there are detrimental effects on teen girls specifically (related to body image and mental health/depression). I believe that evidence. I just have not seen it and think many of the things we've talked about here (curating newsfeeds, information/teaching about how the algorithms work, open parental discussions) make a difference. There were a whole lot of clueless and/or crappy parents 60 years ago, 40 years ago, 20 years ago and now. That's the norm. I don't think cocooned children/teens/adults is the norm at all.

QFT. I’ve never had it and don’t understand the obsession with it.

DD feels likewise. Her feed is naturally populated that way tho b/c she only likes and shares physical comedy and dance challenge videos. I know this b/c she keeps trying to get me to do one. No. Just no. 🤣🤦🏽‍♀️

I did talk about algorithms with my oldest. We also did a unit on conformity in 8th but it wasn’t Austin-based. I think I shared it here? We incorporated history, science, literature and music to explore norms, how they’re established, what they’re based on, as well as when and why we should deviate from them. Those are definitely important, ongoing, conversations to have.

I don’t know any teens with tics, walking each other in the hallways on collars, or otherwise engaging in any of the other ‘trends’ mentioned here, including rampant identification as trans. I have asked my children about this and they both looked at me like I had seven heads. I would expect that from DS who is primarily interested in niche subcultures related to gaming and anime (only watches YouTube, still has parent controls, no other SM) but DD, who identifies strongly with the LGBTQIA community and has a TikTok and Facebook account (limited postings, small following),and has a very diverse group of friends felt likewise. They basically told me to go back to my political news, they’ll let me know if anything comes up.