J2 Content – Perspectives

A varied collection of thoughts on education and parenting

This Aint Elementary School Anymore

Last Friday, my daughter made the jump from a K-6 elementary school into a 7-8 middle school. Her father and I did all we could to prepare her: clothes, school supplies, some summer “school work”, a number of talks about boys, peer pressure, “mean girls” and more. We made it a point to watch some…. read more

A Most unScientific Study: Your Child’s First Car

An informal survey of twelve families with school age children revealed the following results. 9 of the 12 families said they planned to assist their children with the acquisition of their first car. Of those 9, 4 expected to pass on or sell to their child a vehicle the familiy currently owned. 3 planned to…. read more

Kids Have Bad Taste, What You Can Do About It

If history has taught us anything, and I don’t think it has, it’s that Justin Bieber is a thing kids today are going to be embarrassed about later. Think N-Sync, New Kids on the Block, or for a littler international flavor, Menudo, which is actually a kind of soup. That’s just the way it is….. read more

A Nearly Missed Moment

I’ve been playing street hockey in an Over-30 Men’s League for a little over four years now. I’ve had a handful of assists, scored in some pickup games, but never scored in actual game (I play defense, but the real reason is I’m not very good). Last night, my son asked if he could come…. read more

Why TV is Great: The Muppets

In my line of work (whatever that is), I am often put in the position of defending the medium of television. There is a large section of the population who is convinced that television is inferior to film and all types of print media. These people love to use a host of specious arguments to…. read more

Blue Puppy

When my son was born in September of 2000, my mother spent a few minutes browsing the gift shop at Chilton Hospital. A small, simple blue puppy caught her eye – and this little stuffed animal was one of the dozen or so stuffed animals given to my son during that first week of his…. read more

It’s the Season for “Seniorits”

My father was a school teacher for 32 years. Although he spent 2 years teaching at the middle school level (which he refers to as a time when he thought of changing professions), he spent most of his career teaching high school students.  My dad would often share his wisdom about high school, and there…. read more

A Most unScientific Study: People Pleasing

A pair of informal surveys given seven days apart to the same class of 25 tenth-grader students yielded contradictory results despite having common questions. The only significant difference between the two surveys was that one required students to write their name on the top while was completed anonymously. The surveys each consisted of 30 seemingly…. read more

Disappointed in Disney and Hannah Montana

Yes, yes… I now they are a corporation and a ficticious person, but none the less, I have been stewing for a while now over what I feel was a bad message sent to young Hannah Montana fans in the show’s final scenes. You can watch the final 6 minutes of the series finale here….. read more

On Open Letter to the Parent of My Child’s Friend

Hi. I’m Jennifer’s mom. I think it’s great the way that Jennifer and your daughter, Olivia, get along so well. We are in a weird situation, you and me, in that our children are friends, but we hardly know each other. I know very little about you and the way you like to run your…. read more

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