"The Parents Are Not All Right: Even in the most privileged households, the pandemic is exposing the farce of how society treats families"

The latest dispatch from people who are suddenly forced to be around their own children is really ... something.

My wife, meanwhile, was multitasking an onslaught of work questions while also trying to manage “homeschool” time with our son — but he refused to participate. Instead, he huddled in an increasingly secure couch fort, refusing to do anything — color, read, go outside, talk to his teacher — besides sit in silence in the dark or watch his iPad. (Today, he opted for sitting in silence in the dark).

Guess who's in charge in this house?

(Later, as I took over the homeschool shift and he stormed upstairs to cry, he told me it was because I had stopped smiling at him. Knife, meet heart.)

You ridiculous invertebrate.

We’re letting them watch far greater amounts of screen time than we ever thought we’d tolerate. Forget homeschooling success — most of us are struggling to get our kids to do the basics that would have accounted for a Saturday-morning routine before this pandemic.

But I thought the problem was teachers who didn't realize our children's genius! And Common Core! And "standardized testing" (aka "tests")! And teachers' unions! And a world that didn't perform backbends to accommodate our Special Snowflake Child, Who Is Totally Different Than Every Other Special Snowflake Child In The Universe!

We have to collectively recognize that parents — and any caregivers right now — have less to give at work. A lot less.

Fine. Let's see that reflected in the paycheck and the promotions.

https://gen.medium.com/parents-are-not-ok-66ab2a3e42d9

Corona Virus Daily Thread #42

Good job Kevin. You've found two datapoints out of approximately 150 million. Very convincing.

Why is it that elected Dems like nullification except when they don't?

Speaking on MSNBC, Governor Gavin Newsom said that he would use the bulk purchasing power of California “as a nation-state” to acquire the hospital supplies that the federal government has failed to provide. If all goes according to plan, Newsom said, California might even “export some of those supplies to states in need.”

“Nation-state.” “Export.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-04-09/california-declares-independence-from-trump-s-coronavirus-plans

I thought the problem was teachers

Less the teachers and more the unions. The kids, their care and education might break into the top 5 things the unions care about.

tenure
pay raises
seniority
collecting dues
protecting lousy teachers who should demoted to *checks notes* no, just fired

Oh. The kids? not even in the top 5, maybe not even in the top 10 when you factor in the union bosses 6 figure incomes and the political activities. There wouldn't be as much of a demand for vouchers, charter schools, and private schools if the fuckin' public schools put out a solid if unexciting product.

Ok, when I shuffle off this mortal coil, I want Ghanaian funeral dancers to take me to my Viking funeral boat. Then par-tay like it's 1999 again.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GhanaSaysGoodbye/

Deer coppers: lay off the doughnuts. A video of a virus scofflaw running away from a cop. The cop makes the jogger look like Usain Bolt.

https://twitter.com/rooshv/status/1248447827270930432

This could be very bad.

https://victorygirlsblog.com/our-food-supply-cannot-afford-this-economic-shutdown/

...to acquire the hospital supplies that the federal government has failed to provide. ~ from a post by I R A Darth Aggie at April 10, 2020 6:18 AM

Since when is it the federal government's responsibility to provide California with anything not related to interstate commerce or national defense? It has always been the state's responsibility to maintain a level of emergency preparedness appropriate to its population and environment.

The idea that the federal government has a duty to provide states with everything they need is a pernicious one. We do not need an all-powerful federal government with weak and dependent state governments. Here, there be monsters.

The article quoted is hardly unbiased: "So far, the Republican Party’s war on democratic values, institutions and laws has been a largely one-sided affair, with the GOP assaulting and the Democratic Party defending." Lighten up, Francis. "Democratic values" include disagreement on policy and execution; that disagreement isn't a declaration of war on democracy.

Keeping that bias in mind, this may not be exactly the way Newsom stated his intent to acquire medical supplies for California. That's his job, by the way to oversee and manage California's response to the crisis.

The idea that the federal government has a duty to provide states with everything they need is a pernicious one.

Old and busted: US Constitution, Article 1, Section 8.

New Hawtness: the all powerful central government who can turn *checks notes* on a dime like a freight train.

Chickens can do steadicam too:

https://twitter.com/HoldMyBluntt/status/1097677295265955840

Less the teachers and more the unions.

The best part is when they run the pension funds into the ground and cry for help. That always means gib us moar money, and don't you dare bring a third-party audit team to check on what happened to the previous funds if you want our unionized members to vote for you in the next elections.

Another politician who is unclear on the term "exponential". I know, shocking. This is my shocked face.

https://twitter.com/dananessel/status/1247919756126158854

I'm shocked, shocked to discover gambling going on at this fine web site.

Food banks are getting hit hard as well. With 10% of working Americans out of a job more people are turning to them. At the same time fewer people want to volunteer at them. Especially since a significant portion of their volunteers are older and thus more at risk. I've also heard that donations are lower than usual. But given the quality of reporting I can't tell if that is true or not.

On an unrelated note I haven't seen Crid on here for a few days. Hope he is doing ok.

We’re letting them watch far greater amounts of screen time than we ever thought we’d tolerate. Forget homeschooling success — most of us are struggling to get our kids to do the basics that would have accounted for a Saturday-morning routine before this pandemic.
___________________________________

I would happily bet money that this is what TYPICALLY (not always) happens in any household where the parents are wimpy and foolish enough to buy kids their own portable screens in the first place.

What ever happened to saying "no, you can't buy that, even with your own money - it's not GOOD for you"? Or, "no, you're not going to watch TV - it's a waste of time, time is money, and you have all sorts of work to do - if it isn't schoolwork, it's housework, and only idiots and royalty get out of doing that." Or, "so we've all finished our work for the day. Doesn't mean I would let you eat a pound of candy every day - and there's no difference, intellectually speaking, so stop complaining and start entertaining yourself - or find something fun to read."

Not to mention the lesson that emotions are OK to have, but learning to get them under control is a lot more important. (Plus, learning to prioritize in general.)

Forgot to say: What happened to saying "if you can't stop misbehaving, you're going to lose some privileges - like your screen time and your late bedtime"?

What ever happened to...? ~ Lenona at April 10, 2020 10:54 AM

Children have energy that their parents just don't - especially older parents. They can't be chasing after the children all day - the way today's parenting styles insist they do.

We're having children later in life these days - and later in the human energy cycle. I think that's why so many parents attempt to regulate their children's lives.

Aloe vera gel for that burn

https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1248442812414201866

Children have energy that their parents just don't - especially older parents.
____________________________________

All the more reason to demand that kids do more of the housework. Besides, if kids need outlets for their energy, that clearly means they need EXERCISE, not screen time. Indoors or outdoors, when possible.

From a very wise (deceased) fiction writer, via one of his elderly characters:

"I never cease to wonder that the young, with all their pride of strength, should find their own concerns such a weighty burden that they must be shared with the old. Whereas, the old...but no matter, no matter. For the sake of my temper I hope your purpose in interrupting me is an excellent one."

And when I went back and read the Medium article by Chloe, a few things were striking:

1. That she had enough time to write an article that long when she allegedly had so many problems to deal with.

2. That it received so many claps. Scary.

3. Of the 20-25% of the comments that accused her of being a disciplinary wimp who's doubling the problem by spoiling the kid rotten (for starters, if she knows donuts are bad for everyone's health, why did she buy them in the first place), VERY few of those critics suggested what I did - that a child who's old enough to be in elementary school should be doing all sorts of chores instead of being allowed to wallow in self-pity when everyone else has to isolate too. Most of the critics merely talked about taking away the screens and finding active entertainment for the kid, plus punishment for bad behavior, but only a few seemed to think the kid should be truly HELPING. One of those few people said, near the bottom of the comments, not verbatim:

"Does no one realize that this boy is being deprived of what could later become one of his greatest memories - helping his parents?"

Reminder: China is asshoe. Chinese representative (@SpokespersonCHN) on twitter claims China has freedom. Brendan Carr (FCC commisioner) is savage.

Great!

First, I would like to speak with Dr. AI Fen.

She worked at Wuhan Central Hospital and tried to sound the alarm on the virus.

Could you un-disappear her so we could speak?

https://twitter.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1248442812414201866

Btw, I DO have sympathy for adults with a sweet tooth, and I understand the temptation toward comfort food in general - I heard a local radio host joke, recently, that he's moved his couch next to his fridge.

So here's a suggestion. Ideally, kids should not get more than one "bad dessert" a week (my mother's rule, many years ago). However, if parents don't have the self-discipline for that rule, at least they can say "let's bake a cake together - and you can do most of the work so that you'll learn properly."

If the kids don't like having to work for their desserts, too bad. They can live without them. Parents can also say "just think - by the time you graduate, either you'll be an athlete compared to your classmates, or you'll have enough skills to become a chef."

And, from April 8th:

"Having kids is optional and frankly it’s something a lot of people are rationally opting out of. And yet childfree people get a lot of flack from parents who claim we’re somehow missing out. We’re having the last laugh now when parents truly realize how much they really dislike parenting — that they rely on school to stay sane because children are so demanding and difficult to be around. Maybe the problem isn’t that society doesn’t do more for parents — it’s that our planet has enough people and our world would be better off if fewer children were brought into it. There are billions of us and we’re crowding out all other life forms — let’s let our planet breathe a little."

Elsewhere, someone said that on Facebook, many parents are saying to the childfree: "You don't know you good you have it right now!" The response: "Yes, we DO know, which is why we opted out in the first place."

Darn auto-correct - that should say "HOW good," of course.

Elsewhere, someone said that on Facebook, many parents are saying to the childfree: "You don't know you good you have it right now!" The response: "Yes, we DO know, which is why we opted out in the first place."

There's an American television commercial for an office supply store where a parent is gleefully shopping while "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" plays.

It's not Christmas. It's back-to-school.

I remember that.

Also:

"Don't Expect a Coronavirus Baby Boom"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/dont-expect-a-coronavirus-baby-boom/ar-BB12oRgl?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

It quotes a tweet:

"If there's a baby boom in 9 months, it'll consist entirely of first-born children."

What the article didn't mention - I think - was the current contraceptive shortage around the world. I'll dig that up in a second. But it would be hard to imagine many people, right now, being in a romantic mood, even with no children around.

"A Condom Shortage Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic Might Happen—Here's What Experts Say You Should Do:
Condoms may be disappearing from store shelves soon—and other forms of birth control could also be affected by the pandemic."

https://www.health.com/condition/infectious-diseases/coronavirus/condom-shortage-due-to-pandemic

Quote:

...Most of the world’s condoms are produced in Asia, but many Asian production facilities provide critical raw materials to other manufacturers worldwide, explains Purdy. This means more shortages may occure in the near future—and not just of condoms.

“We are already hearing that some pharmaceutical manufacturers in India are now expecting to experience slowdowns due to a lack of the requisite Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) from their Chinese suppliers,” says Purdy. “Over concerns of supply shortages, the Indian government has now prohibited manufacturers from exporting any products containing progesterone, a critical hormone used in many contraceptives."

If manufacturers are forced to source from new API suppliers, they have to follow the correct procedure—which can cause even more delay. “In some countries, the need to re-register products with the relevant oversight bodies can take months or even years,” says Purdy....

..."I think there will be concern over the supply of oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) and condoms, as so many of these products are manufactured overseas,” Rebecca C. Brightman, MD, assistant clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive medicine at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, tells Health. “It’s a catch-22 situation—many people don’t want to conceive during a pandemic.”...

Hmm. I have discovered that if you have the number of a cell phone, there are sites that will tell you where it is operating by finding its nearest tower...

I get up and go to work before my 4 wake up. I don't know, or care, when they wake up. But while I'm gone they do their chores, their schoolwork, and many days, have dinner cooked.

Yesterday I was off, we went to a park and hiked, then came home. One washed and vacuumed my van. We do a nightly nonmandatory family jog for whoever wants to go. Some nights we play a board game or watch a movie, others everyone does their own thing. My kids are fun, smart, make me laugh....life would be boring without them. If others feel differently, it's probably because they're lazy parents. We put the work in raising them right.

Congratulations! Well done.