The Connected Family

In a world where it feels like you can know anything instantly with a few simple keystrokes into your AI of choice, I am grateful that you are still interested in knowing what this one person thinks. But why? Why ask a friend when you can ask Claude? Why ask your sister when you can ask Gemini? AI’s answer will be swifter, more comprehensive, perfectly measured. It will arrive a beat after you think to ask. Your friend, on the other hand, might take a few hours to get back to you.

I didn’t learn how to do laundry until I left for college. Sure, I knew how to fold clothing, and I was responsible for getting anything dirty to the laundry room and sorting it into the correct bins. But turning the knobs on the actual machine? Where to put the detergent? These things remained a mystery until age 18. My Mom, bless her, washed by the rainbow — reds together, pinks and purples together, blues and greens together, etc.

Summer reading — it needs no introduction, am I right? It’s taken on an almost mythic quality amongst Millennials, we who are admittedly prone to waxing nostalgic about the library reading programs, neighborhood book clubs, and personal pan pizza rewards of yore. While I can get a little side-eye-y about anything that becomes too precious, I suppose I’ll make an exception for kids getting lost in books.

Generally, I think my children knowing my very clear views on technology is a good thing. I believe using tech wisely and well is important1 — that it’s a key to a flourishing life! — and just as I hope they come to agree with other values I hold dear, I hope they see the wisdom in this one, too.

Psst: we have another AMA podcast coming up soon! Submit your questions for John and/or me here or just leave them in the comments. You can listen to the first one here! In so many ways, John and I are trying to raise our kids just as our parents did. And even though the 2020s look a lot different than the 1990s, we’ve found it’s actually quite possible. It’s not an exact copy-and-paste, however: sometimes, something comes along that bumps us out of our generational grooves.

Psst: we have another AMA podcast coming up soon! Submit your questions for John and/or me here or just leave them in the comments. You can listen to the first one here! Here’s the neat thing about all the effort we put into giving our kids a low-screen, real-world-rich life: it’s good for us, too! It makes our lives better right alongside theirs. This goes for summer, too.

I had planned to run this newsletter in two weeks, just after Memorial Day — the unofficial beginning of summer! But in conversations with friends and looking at my own to-do’s, it seems like summer prep is already in full swing.

Psst: we have another AMA podcast coming up soon! Submit your questions for John and/or me here or just leave them in the comments. You can listen to the first one here! My Dad is one of the wisest people I know. How did he become wise? That is an excellent question, and it likely doesn’t have a simple answer. But: He had wise parents and other beloved adults who poured into him throughout his childhood and beyond. He reads great books and studies history.

Meghann Like the spelling of her name — so unnecessary, so padded with loops and letters — Meghann’s handwriting was just extra. I coveted it. I stole glances at her fourth grade worksheets at every opportunity, not to copy answers but to analyze exactly how she formed her p’s and t’s. I sensed that handwriting could say something about you, and I wanted for myself what I could see in hers: confidence, charm, and a few heart-dotted i’s for good measure.

I’ve written before about the phrase John has repeated to our children for their whole lives: “you are very precious to me.” That’s literally what he says: you are very precious to me. I don’t know where he got that particular phrase, but he has been saying it, sometimes multiple times a day, since June was small: when he wakes them in the morning, when he tucks them in at night, after a game, after a report card, in a quiet moment. Sometimes it is met with a shrug, sometimes a smile or hug.