I’m an old, nearly 50, so did lots of boinking of an array of people from mid-80s on up through the time period the author wrote this during—remember that this was before the internet. This was during a time when people talked in hushed voices about a “gay cancer” if they talked about gays at all. This was a time when…

OMG there are great studies backing this up! I remember reading about one where researchers gave girls everything but stuffed animals and dolls or any vaguely humanoid figurine of any kind to play with. The girls did things like took apart the toy train set and wrapped them up and “took care of them” as if they were…

OMG she’s the character I needed growing up! <3

I grew up in rural Alaska, learned to run a chain saw before I was in high school, fished and worked alongside my brother. I wasn’t a tomboy, and I wasn’t afraid to work hard and get dirty, then dress up to go do something fun. That said, I’ve never been one to spend a lot of time on makeup or hair.

OMG Thank you! I was totally appalled at the cheesey smile and wave ensemble. What did they put in the drinks?!

Thank you. I’ve been saying this for months now—I live in Oregon. Best Coast needs to get the fuck out of the dumpster fire that has become the United States.

In my wild misspent youth, I banged dudebros who, for the era, were relatively “woke”. I live in a state where citizen-sponsored initiatives could make it to a statewide vote, provided they had enough signatures.

This is very interesting—I’ve come to appreciate the more recent run of articles about parenting and relationships. I don’t always agree with what is presented, but enjoying the topics.

Interesting—we switched butter.jr out of a standard high school that had a full day of desk time for classwork. At the time she was involved in sports, but the sheer quantity of desk time was killing her and triggering panic attacks.

I’m pre-diabetic and was specifically told to avoid eating 2-3 hours before bedtime as all it would do is disrupt blood sugar and in turn lead to more weight gain which would further disrupt blood sugar.

Same. I was also very clear it was not ok for my kid to swear at me specifically.

Poor choice of words on my part, next time I’ll refer to it as raw or uncooked rice.

Hehe next time I’ll refer to it as uncooked rice.!

Yeah it’s true in the case if you want your work to pay for it.

Yup—and I know few parents of sensory affected kids who overlook nutrition as a possible solution.

My sensory affected kid had zero trouble focusing. These kinds of occupational therapy and sensory enriching or sensory abating tools have helped and still help her (at near 19) very much.

Fascinating! I went through a phase like this in middle school and early high school! I would chew pen caps! As an adult I always have a pack of gum handy, but I know in schools they are not as eager to allow this.

You are probably right—we didn’t use that because the material was too “slippery” for Butter jr. Some kids would love it though!

Would a ball chair work for you? Works on the same principle, but then you could dispense with the unusual cushion, and cite ergonomic reasons. :)

If you like weighted blankets, you might also enjoy a hot water bottle in a flannel pillowcase. I forgot that Butter jr. used one of these at one point too.