I can’t imagine any school in this era having a smoking zone on campus. In my state there are laws against any tobacco use within a certain number of yards of the school. Teachers who smoke have to cross the street and smoke behind some kind of shed.

I, too, work in a high school with relatively progressive values, and we are at our wit’s end with the vaping. It’s extremely irresponsible to take a “oh, the olds are so square - kids will be kids” attitude toward vaping in school.

I’m very sorry to hear this happened to you. The counselor should have explained the limits of confidentiality to you. When dealing with minors, sometimes counselors do need to break confidentiality, and it is never easy. She should have told you that she was calling your mom, or suggested that you and your mom have a…

Disagree. She is in the majority of school counselors. You just don’t see them because the pervasive disrespect toward their work - as seen in so many of these comments, not to mention the original article - drives them out of the profession. 

My thoughts exactly. 

Give me a fucking break. What the heck is she complaining about? Clearly she had plenty of support, not to mention significant strengths and abilities, or she would never have made valedictorian.

I’d love to see fewer sweaty moms in sports bras, leggings and blonde ponytails under ball caps showing up at school. We get it, you don’t work so you can spend all morning perfecting your body at the gym, how nice for you. Now put on some clothes before coming to my parent/teacher conference, mmmkay?

We switched our daughter to a Catholic school right before middle school and the uniforms have been one of the best parts about this decision. Everybody looks nice and nobody is paying attention to what anyone else is wearing. As someone who was mercilessly bullied in middle school because of clothes, I love that my…

My son subsisted on plain turkey sandwiches, pizza, chocolate frozen yogurt and soda for his entire life until he turned 19. I honestly don’t know how he lived to adulthood, but he did. His eating habits changed drastically when he got a vegetarian girlfriend and suddenly became very interested in impressing her. He…

I went to a wedding that had a mac and cheese bar. Get your mac and cheese and then serve yourself all kinds of delicious toppings. I’m a purist who likes her mac and cheese unadorned, but I appreciated this addition to the buffet.

Unless your marriage was entirely transactional and not based in emotion whatsoever (like you married her to help with immigration or something), please do yourself and everyone you date a favor and don’t date until your divorce is final. Believe it or not, even if the divorce was a completely mutual decision, there’s…

THANK YOU! I’ve always looked awful in wrap dresses, even when I was 50 pounds thinner than I am now. They just never, ever worked on my body shape.

Well, sure, not “now...”

I spoke in tongues at a weird non-denominational church service that my mom (a liberal Methodist) didn’t want me to attend. I was crushing on this evangelical pastor’s son, and my friend who was dating his brother invited me to attend services with her. I’d never seen a rock band in church before, or people jumping…

I am quite certain that while Huffman knew what she was doing was wrong, it genuinely never occurred to her that this is something that could result in jail time.

Obviously these are all heinous people, but Mossimo proves that the insane parental pressure to go to college isn’t just a plague on the millennial generation. What was going on in his family that he had to lie and steal from his parents to pursue what he really wanted to do in life? And then instead of learning from…

“Both of them didn’t go to college.”

You’ll put your eye out with dem pinkies! :)

You pick up the burger, bring it to your mouth, take a bite, and then put it down. It’s not that heavy, and you have a minute to chew, grab a fry and take a drink. 

Yes, books are better than screens, but I still have concerns about loosening the expectations of appropriate table behavior. Having to sit at a table, eat without looking like a caveman, make conversation and tolerate boredom are important skills to learn. Small children can be entertained with crayons, paper, and…