That is like saying "oh, someone might be quadriplegic and couldn't do that." No. Basic comments are not required to consider every possible edge case that might make a thing impractical if not impossible. Hey! Guess what, if something doesn't apply to you, it is ok to just ignore the advice.......
Try Melissa and Doug. We have a table/chairs for the kids that have lasted 4 years. The chairs are sturdy enough to hold me (210 lbs).
Perhaps a better approach than saying "Just to do that, it's easy," which sounds like an ill-considered comment, would be something more like, "If you can, it might be worth trying to make one yourself. Tables are relatively easy." That doesn't require taking all edge cases into account, allows that it might not be feasible, and takes only a few more words to kindly include basically all considerations. The intent of the original post certainly isn't helped by the response to Semi pointing out how your comment may have come across, which sounds like, "If you don't like my advice, stuff it."
As it turns out, I do not have the knowledge, tools, or space to build a table, and even if there was a workspace with tools I could use, learning to do it and renting the space and tools would probably cost more than just buying a table (and chairs). Unfortunately, I don't think making one is a viable option for me right now, much though it may be an interesting challenge.
FYI Melissa and Doug quality has dropped so make sure to check current product vs. one that people have recommended. It may still be fine, but they aren't the company they used to be.
My son just built his first PC today(he's 17 and didn't want to do it when we got him one in '20) and it almost worked first time. He failed on pushing the power cable into motherboard in all the way. They grow up so fast lol
On that note...I'm jealous and now want a new PC.
On that note...I'm jealous and now want a new PC.
I haven't built one for over a decade. Over 15 years? Was there a guide he used, and if so, did he like it?
Nope.
I hovered around while he did it and it took way longer than if I had done it but he got it done almost all by himself. He had a issue with the CPU cooler and part of the case, but otherwise he did it all himself.
I hovered around while he did it and it took way longer than if I had done it but he got it done almost all by himself. He had a issue with the CPU cooler and part of the case, but otherwise he did it all himself.
Two moments that occurred within an hour of each other with my only-just-two-years-old child.
1) Me, after preparing dinner for the family (we switched to doing dinner together a few weeks ago and it's been mostly successful so far): "Little Miss Cognac, come help me set the table please" - a task she has been helping with for a while and is more than capable of understand and completing* (with supervision).
Little Miss Cognac, playing in the lounge room with Mama but I'm the midst of packing away: "TWO MINUTES PAPA, TWO MINUTES"
Me:
2) Sitting at the dinner table I "forget" that I have a large piece of spinach sticking out of my mouth. Little Miss Cognac, turning to Mama, completely deadpan: "Funny Papa", returns to trying to spear her food with her fork.
She's 2, people, 2. I thought there was supposed to be a good few years left before we started getting this level of sass...
1) Me, after preparing dinner for the family (we switched to doing dinner together a few weeks ago and it's been mostly successful so far): "Little Miss Cognac, come help me set the table please" - a task she has been helping with for a while and is more than capable of understand and completing* (with supervision).
Little Miss Cognac, playing in the lounge room with Mama but I'm the midst of packing away: "TWO MINUTES PAPA, TWO MINUTES"
Me:
2) Sitting at the dinner table I "forget" that I have a large piece of spinach sticking out of my mouth. Little Miss Cognac, turning to Mama, completely deadpan: "Funny Papa", returns to trying to spear her food with her fork.
She's 2, people, 2. I thought there was supposed to be a good few years left before we started getting this level of sass...
I got aTwo moments that occurred within an hour of each other with my only-just-two-years-old child.
1) Me, after preparing dinner for the family (we switched to doing dinner together a few weeks ago and it's been mostly successful so far): "Little Miss Cognac, come help me set the table please" - a task she has been helping with for a while and is more than capable of understand and completing* (with supervision).
Little Miss Cognac, playing in the lounge room with Mama but I'm the midst of packing away: "TWO MINUTES PAPA, TWO MINUTES"
Me:
2) Sitting at the dinner table I "forget" that I have a large piece of spinach sticking out of my mouth. Little Miss Cognac, turning to Mama, completely deadpan: "Funny Papa", returns to trying to spear her food with her fork.
She's 2, people, 2. I thought there was supposed to be a good few years left before we started getting this level of sass...
accompanied with "Ugh! Stupid daddy!" at 3. Strap in
There's a reason it's called the Terrible Twos and being a Threenager.Two moments that occurred within an hour of each other with my only-just-two-years-old child.
1) Me, after preparing dinner for the family (we switched to doing dinner together a few weeks ago and it's been mostly successful so far): "Little Miss Cognac, come help me set the table please" - a task she has been helping with for a while and is more than capable of understand and completing* (with supervision).
Little Miss Cognac, playing in the lounge room with Mama but I'm the midst of packing away: "TWO MINUTES PAPA, TWO MINUTES"
Me:
2) Sitting at the dinner table I "forget" that I have a large piece of spinach sticking out of my mouth. Little Miss Cognac, turning to Mama, completely deadpan: "Funny Papa", returns to trying to spear her food with her fork.
She's 2, people, 2. I thought there was supposed to be a good few years left before we started getting this level of sass...
You're in for a wild ride ... Great. One of the kids at summer camp has been bringing a Switch Lite to camp, and now my 7 year old is begging for one to bring to camp, too.
Why be small? Superconducting Super Collider or bust!
I like the "themed" camps that my younger ones do through the school. Baseball camp, music camp, art camp, etc.
You can kind of do a variety of half-day programs week to week. So always something to do.
They also have a full-day "rec" camp, but I find it is just the kids going nuts on the playground for 6 hours a day. No thanks.
You can kind of do a variety of half-day programs week to week. So always something to do.
They also have a full-day "rec" camp, but I find it is just the kids going nuts on the playground for 6 hours a day. No thanks.
I have a lot of coat hangers.
Anyone ever look at their own parenting experiences as a child, ie of their own parents, for inspiration and stop and think wtf?
I have (had) two loving caring parents who gave me a great life growing up (at least, for the money they had... no foreign holidays or fancy new toys or anything like that) but when I look back now, in some ways my parents were utterly useless. I'm not sure why though. They didn't teach my brother and I a darn thing about money or finances, planning or saving for the future, or the importance of a pension fund or anything at all. They didn't warn us about the dangers of debt, or nefarious credit deals etc. I think they just assumed that because I was intelligent I would 'do fine'. Yeah, right. 50 years old and I'm really only beginning to figure this shit out, and only really because I've spent various parts of my life wasting money like crazy and/or digging some very deep financial holes. And that's just finance. They never taught me many other essential life skills either, like how to dress or socialise or make or maintain relationships or a whole bunch of other essential life skills.
I mention this as I spend a fair amount of time wondering about what's the best I can do for my kids and realising, with some dismay and even some shock, that my parents were basically useless in so many ways. I was brought up on dreams and assumptions.... My teachers weren't much better either. Even the ones our family paid the wages of. I have no-one to learn from. Just books and articles and whatever I learn from various digital media....
I have (had) two loving caring parents who gave me a great life growing up (at least, for the money they had... no foreign holidays or fancy new toys or anything like that) but when I look back now, in some ways my parents were utterly useless. I'm not sure why though. They didn't teach my brother and I a darn thing about money or finances, planning or saving for the future, or the importance of a pension fund or anything at all. They didn't warn us about the dangers of debt, or nefarious credit deals etc. I think they just assumed that because I was intelligent I would 'do fine'. Yeah, right. 50 years old and I'm really only beginning to figure this shit out, and only really because I've spent various parts of my life wasting money like crazy and/or digging some very deep financial holes. And that's just finance. They never taught me many other essential life skills either, like how to dress or socialise or make or maintain relationships or a whole bunch of other essential life skills.
I mention this as I spend a fair amount of time wondering about what's the best I can do for my kids and realising, with some dismay and even some shock, that my parents were basically useless in so many ways. I was brought up on dreams and assumptions.... My teachers weren't much better either. Even the ones our family paid the wages of. I have no-one to learn from. Just books and articles and whatever I learn from various digital media....
Yeah, I pretty early on figured out that... well, most things you learn are either untrue, very easy to misunderstand or otherwise useless. It's hard to blame parents, so much culture masquerades as 'common sense' or 'facts' but is really just a cultural meme.
But then again, you can't know everything and there is an almost infinite amount of variation of stuff you might run into, all of which requires a slightly different set of basic facts and knowledge. It's not unreasonable to expect parents to relay what they know works to their children, because most of the time through most of history, their kids would end up in roughly the same environment as them. It doesn't matter that the things they got wrong are wrong, if it works it works!
That being said, I do try to push back on said cultural memes in cases where they may be harmful or.... pet peeves of mine
IMO the best you can take away from this is to instill in your kids, once they're old enough, that you as parents are fallible and they should probably check the veracity of your statements before doing anything drastic with that information.
But then again, you can't know everything and there is an almost infinite amount of variation of stuff you might run into, all of which requires a slightly different set of basic facts and knowledge. It's not unreasonable to expect parents to relay what they know works to their children, because most of the time through most of history, their kids would end up in roughly the same environment as them. It doesn't matter that the things they got wrong are wrong, if it works it works!
That being said, I do try to push back on said cultural memes in cases where they may be harmful or.... pet peeves of mine
IMO the best you can take away from this is to instill in your kids, once they're old enough, that you as parents are fallible and they should probably check the veracity of your statements before doing anything drastic with that information.
They might not know, either, and was in the same position you are in now. Alternatively, you might have not been open to learning. I tried to give my 6 year old a book on financial literacy for kids, but he decided it's boring so it's in the corner of the room.
Yeah, my overarching impression is that they just assumed I'd figure things out as and when, and there wasn't much to figure out. Saving money was common sense, etc so why teach it? TBH the consumer credit revolution was only just taking off in the late 80s too and they possibly believed a state pension would be enough (lol). Plus they never really had much money either. Well, it's a far more complex world today and if I can look back on a lifetime of bad decisions and mistakes, I at least have some material for teaching my kids.
It still freaks me out a bit though.
It still freaks me out a bit though.
My plan for teaching our kids will roll out over the next few years. atm they just get a bit of pocket money and they choose what they want to spend it on - either buying endless cheap crap, or occasionally saving up for really expensive Lego kits for instance. They're free to make "mistakes" (decisions they later regret). They can also borrow from us, eg for something limited edition or very cheap on sale, but then they have to pay us back. Obviously we don't charge interest or late payment fees or crap like that. But ...maybe we should
My son failed his driving test today. Parallel parking? Nailed it. Driving? Nailed it. Turning? Nailed it.
K turn? Completely fucked it up. He, according to the instructor, "Turned the wrong way during his K turn. It was the darndest thing I ever saw. I've had kids run a stop sign or screw up parking but I've never had one fail because of the K turn"
Luckily though he(driving instructor) already rescheduled him for 2 weeks from now, so hopefully he'll pass that time.
K turn? Completely fucked it up. He, according to the instructor, "Turned the wrong way during his K turn. It was the darndest thing I ever saw. I've had kids run a stop sign or screw up parking but I've never had one fail because of the K turn"
Luckily though he(driving instructor) already rescheduled him for 2 weeks from now, so hopefully he'll pass that time.
I had to look it up. I have never heard a three point turn called a K turn before.
I've never even heard of it as being part of any driving test.
Tbh I hadn't ever heard that term either until about 2 months ago. Now just by force of habit I call it a K turn.
It's annoying tbh but hopefully he'll learn from it
It was part of my driving test back in the 90s. Probably depends on the state.I've never even heard of it as being part of any driving test.
Washington and Oregon never had it when I was there. I left in 2003.
It was on my NJ driving test in like 2001.I've never even heard of it as being part of any driving test.
I will try to teach them as best as I can, but I don't trust them with large quantities of money, so we established trusts for them.My plan for teaching our kids will roll out over the next few years. atm they just get a bit of pocket money and they choose what they want to spend it on - either buying endless cheap crap, or occasionally saving up for really expensive Lego kits for instance. They're free to make "mistakes" (decisions they later regret). They can also borrow from us, eg for something limited edition or very cheap on sale, but then they have to pay us back. Obviously we don't charge interest or late payment fees or crap like that. But ...maybe we should
years ago, I had a client that had me build PC's for each of his kids on their 16th birthdays. The builds included financial software as the parents had established investment accounts for each of them to "play" with so they could learn to manage their money as adults. The opening balance? $6,000,000usd!!!
Yeah, their definition of large quantities of money is way different than mine.
Yeah, we're in NJ but not from here. In DC all I had to do was go around the block and stay at 25mph. Not even parallel park(which was something I used daily). Our friends up here all mentioned that they had to do the turn during their test.
My wife in MD was even easier as she didn't even go on the road. Just around the DMV lot.
That definitely helps explain DC drivers. I have lived in a lot of places in the US and the DC & Baltimore drivers were the worst. Boston drivers are bad but it is more like just understand they are going to push for every advantage and have no patience and you can understand what to expect with them. NYC, Atlanta, Chicago, etc not as bad. DC #1 by far, Boston #2 for me.
So few people understand this. I have to say Florida is my #2, though. It's a bunch of 60 MPH roads with young assholes doing 90 and old snowbirds doing 30.
I have to wonder, though, if it will eventually get better here (DC) in time. Maryland changed to a graduated license system, so hopefully newer drivers will be better than the shitshow we get now. It doesn't help that Maryland and Virginia don't have ticket reciprocity with DC, so if you live in MD or VA and get a ticket in DC there are no meaningful repercussions. (Unless you actually get hit with the new scofflaw law, which lets DC make civil suits against drivers with astounding amounts of unpaid tickets.)
Imo, DC is also awful because so many people bring their driving norms with them when they come here.
Last week I had the pleasure of someone making a Pittsburgh left in front of me where I had to hit my brakes. I’m going to choose to assume they were from Pittsburgh originally. (Probably just an impatient person)
I do not look forward to teaching my kids to drive
Fortunately, I have a long time