Holding you in my thoughts. Hope that little boy feels better soon!

Thank you. This exactly. I get so tired of the talk about avoiding things that are "chemicals", or aren't "natural," as if being "natural" equaled being safe. (Not aiming this at you, @TexasProud, just a pet peeve.) Vaccines are better than Covid. I'll be in line as soon as another is recommended.

I'm so sorry.

I had imagined your kids were with you. So glad they're home safe and warm, and hoping you get there as quickly as possible. What a nightmare.

Take him at his word, by all means. A book or two, zoo trips, and if appropriate, a gift card for parents to use at their discretion sound like good ideas. In my experience, the kids had the closest relationship with the family members who listened to us about what the kids actually wanted and needed. Not coincidentally, *we* had the best relationship with those same family members, because they listened and respected our actual needs. It's not about the gifts, mind: it's about being the person who listens. There was a period of time when dds' friends all got a lot of cash at birthdays from grandparents. Our dds were occasionally jealous, because they got small gifts. All the while, though, their grandparents were contributing to college 529 accounts, which are much appreciated now. All that to say that there are lots of ways to give gifts which mean a lot and draw families closer together.

Crows here. I'm glad; they're so clever and interesting.

I'm so glad to hear good news. Holding you all in my thoughts and hoping for continued improvement.

Whose idea was the ballet... his or yours? If it was his, and he's enjoying it, I'd say support him in that. ETA even if it was your idea initially, as long as he's having fun, let him continue. If you yourself are uncomfortable because he's taking ballet (extrapolating from the first quote, here), he will pick up on that attitude. The best gift you can give him, besides support in pursuing his own passions, is an attitude of self confidence and security. Project confidence in his good choices, and help him find the words to respond confidently to others. Genuine bullies should just be avoided, but most people don't fall in that category. You don't want him to feel that he needs to change himself to avoid bad reactions from other people. Support *him*, as he is.

I'm so sorry.

Continuing to hold you all in my thoughts. I hope the surgery has gone well, and tomorrow brings further healing.

I'm so sorry this happened, but glad that things are as good as they can be atm. I'll be holding you in my thoughts through the day.

I'm so sorry. Yes, Covid is awful.

On my phone, I touch the three short horizontal lines in the upper right corner (to the right of "Well Trained Mind Community"), then "browse", then "clubs". The most recently active club is at the top. So, the active clubs are easy to locate this way, without scrolling through all the inactive ones. It's still several clicks, but if you want to monitor several clubs, it lets you see where there's been conversation lately.

That sounds like a gift he'll really enjoy. Hope retirement is good, also!

Merry Christmas!

@Baseballandhockey, I don't think you did anything wrong. You gave people information about a sensible alternative. They get to make their own decisions about it.

The way I'm reading it, her husband is the BIL who preferred for his/their kids to attend the outdoor service.

I'm so sorry. I hope 2022 brings healing and relief for you. This is such a hard time of year when things aren't going well.

Holding you in my thoughts

I have dealt with this when we were homeschooling. My kid was younger than yours at the time, so the solutions might look different. For us, what worked best was starting very small with what I asked: for example, 2-3 math problems (eta: this was our daily total at first) at a difficulty level well below what dd could actually do. Every success was rewarded, no matter how small. You'd need to find an age-appropriate reward, since I doubt an M&M would be a compelling prize for a teen, but you get the idea. I sat with dd the whole time, and monitored her mood closely, adding incentives or reducing work depending on what she needed to keep her going. The key was consistent expectations of *work*, but flexibility on my part about *what work* and especially *how much work.* And, then, rewarding everything she did, and * s l o w l y * and steadily increasing my demands, always paying attention to her mood and ability *right at that moment.* As we got past the "do three math problems and call it good" stage, I'd selectively cross off assorted problems on her lesson, sometimes as a reward for doing another section she had just finished, sometimes because I knew she understood those, sometimes just for the heck of it. The point became that compliance and success were rewarded with less work. Eventually I could look at the lesson, cross off several problems, and she'd happily go do the rest on her own. I don't know if any of this will help, but maybe it will. We just needed to reduce the anxiety associated with perceiving a mountain of work, and make sure she had successes more often than failures. I hope you can find something that works for you.

That's scary. I hope she recovers quickly!

I'm sorry things are so hard! Do you have a thrift shop nearby, perhaps? Over the years I've found some fantastic presents for kids there. How old is your dd?

No hesitation at all. I do that on purpose to soften it.

It's clearly a very refined, slender monolith, from skilled stonemasons.

How very sad. I'm so sorry.