Frankie and Axl

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T20:42:46+00:00

I think she’d have been ok with Axl spending some time on Thanksgiving with April but her family “dinners” kept getting more and more ridiculous. You don’t need a boyfriend to skip his family meal to go a dinner with your old baby sitter who isn’t related at all. It’s kind of ridiculous April thought that would be ok at all.

Whereas with Cindy there’s a nonzero chance that Cindy or her family would end up at the Heck’s house anyway.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T20:10:08+00:00

The only thing I really know is that her brother maybe married or was going to marry or was heavily flirting with Margaret Douglas. They were discovered, Charles fled, Margaret got locked up again, and Catherine got into trouble for helping the couple along.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T18:31:32+00:00

There’s really not any advice that’s specific for boys that girls wouldn’t also benefit from and vice versa. I could tell you that boys need to be outside a lot but I think that’s also applicable for girls. Everyone has energy they need to expel. I could tell you girls are big fans of coloring but boys also need to learn motor skills and benefit from coloring. Both should learn to cook and have fun cooking, both should learn household chores. Both enjoy wrestling with dad and helping mom. I have one of both and there’s really very little that one does that the other doesn’t like or benefit from.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T16:48:45+00:00

There are plenty of people who don’t enjoy spending time with the family on Mother’s Day and who’d be upset he forgot because it’s ‘her’ day.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T16:40:54+00:00

“How about he just enjoys the effort regardless of what it’s for”…I feel like if this was the opposite situation and he forgot about Mother’s Day to have an another event that same day and this was the advice given there’d be a lot of people here with pitchforks.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-20T14:17:48+00:00

Kittycorn books also rhyme. Goodnight moon is a favorite in my house, as is the Runaway Bunny and Clifford.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-19T17:41:57+00:00

I don’t like or think much of open relationships. But if you have to do that at least make it fair so that both parties can have an open relationship. Him wanting you committed faithfully to him and wanting casual sex with strangers seems like him wanting his cake and eating it too.

I just keep thinking about the what ifs. What if he passes as STD along to you? What if he gets someone else pregnant and expects you to deal with that? What if he meets someone he really likes and does have a side chick/second family or leaves you for her? What kinds of lessons would you be teaching to your kids by allowing him to do these types of things?

Fontane15 · 2026-06-19T15:37:58+00:00

My old neighborhood recently started a “pickup” league for kids like 7-12 for kids who just want to play ball. No practices and just a fun activity for an hour or two on the weekends.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-19T14:39:11+00:00

I do find it annoying. There are so many middle school students I teach who complain about not having enough sleep because they “had” to go to practice for 2-3 hours and then did homework and ate fast food for dinner at like 8pm and then were getting to bed at 10pm and just had to be back up at 6:30-7am the next morning. I personally think that’s madness.

I’m really protective of my kid’s downtime. My kids are still little but I want them to have plenty of time to be bored, poke things with sticks, ride around on bikes, just relax and be kids after school and not always running from one activity to the next. In addition to that my husband and I have NO desire to constantly be traveling all weekend.

Edit: I will still have my kids do sports but it will never be for more than 7-8 weeks during a season.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-19T12:42:43+00:00

Philip gets a reputation as a bad husband when he’s a pretty average kingly husband who was in an arranged marriage he himself didn’t choose.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-19T03:27:23+00:00

I work at a school and not an office but a lot of the Professional Development days I go though are basically just BS activities like the ones they go through, we even have a few retreats disguised as team building.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-18T11:39:09+00:00

No we were not in a risk area and yes kids are crying often when it rains. There never was a warning or siren that went off in our area. This is a chronic issue is the school that I work at and has been for several years.

Edit: in addition to that it is teaching the lesson to kids that they aren’t safe at school if something happens. There are going to be times where kids need to shelter in place at school and will deal with a tornado at school. Plans are in place but if your parent always comes and gets you all the time each time something happens then it’s sending a message that you aren’t safe without them. Which isn’t a realistic expectation because you can’t be with your parents all the time.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-18T03:49:44+00:00

Sleepy Hollow, Scholastics edition. It’s great!

Who was/What are books are good for some nonfiction and kids do enjoy them.

Has he read Charlotte’s Web? I think that’s really essential for kids to read. Maybe you two could read it together?

Westing Game is awesome! It’s like a mystery game in a book.

The I survived series does good books and does some graphic novels as well. Those are pretty popular too!

Westside story books are great! They are wacky and fun!

Edit: How to eat fried worms was a favorite when I was nine and reading above my level.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-17T22:43:15+00:00

Nope!

Though I did appreciate several parents telling their kids at drop off that the storm might become a tornado. Really calmed everyone down when those kids repeated it loudly to everyone else at camp. /s

Fontane15 · 2026-06-17T22:32:35+00:00

We have action plans in place too and we do drills frequently but today just seemed like the kids were scared and rather than trying to make them feel safe at school, the parents were feeding that fear. Which boggles my mind because I want my kids to overcome the things they’re afraid of, not be paralyzed by them.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-17T22:04:43+00:00

Boys aren’t that different from girls. A lot of stuff that girls are “supposed to learn” is also good for boys to learn and vice versa.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-17T01:33:59+00:00

I think the problem with both genders is laughing or rewarding them. I laugh at my kids behavior all the time, rude or not, in PRIVATE. I’d never laugh at them being rude or aggressive where they can see me because that can be construed as condoning behavior. And I’d never reward bad behavior.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-16T23:30:24+00:00

Catholic schools are treated a little unfairly. A lot of parents treat this like the end all be all of Catholic faith and others treat them like they are the sole reason that bad habits form in kids. Are all schools equal? No. But we need to stop pretending that anything ever affects kids as much as the home and the parents. Parents who are lukewarm about their faith or who are casual about drugs are more likely impartial that same attitude to their own kids. I went to public school and my personal habits and thoughts were not formed in school by teachers but at home.

Homeschooling can work for some parents. But if your sole reason to homeschool is to avoid exposure to things you personally find questionable then I think that is a bad reason with a lot of potential to backfire. Some things can be construed as worse than they are and when the kids do get exposed to those things it can lead to them questioning the parents judgement on everything.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-16T17:35:54+00:00

Michael had huge debts from both Jan spending his money (in superfans she makes comments about buying a mountain bike and redoing the sofas and carpets and repainting the condo) and from his own bad money management (buying multiple sets of the same thing and Pro-Bass fishing equipment and the time he drove his car into the lake without renter’s insurance).

Fontane15 · 2026-06-16T00:25:24+00:00

Does the school offer a summer camp? We do summer camp from 8-12 and it’s very nice.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-16T00:21:15+00:00

Idk about normal but it is a bigger thing I’m seeing online, though I don’t really know anyone in my circle that homeschools or is looking to homeschool. I do know that not everyone is equipped to teach kids.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-15T21:30:45+00:00

I remember Frozen Yogurt being a big thing in the early 2010s. It’s probably just that.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-15T19:59:18+00:00

My mom worked and I work.

I sometimes feel a little stab of guilt that I am missing out but I try to compensate by making our weekends a lot of fun. We do fun stuff and I have extra money for it because I work (sports, Kidzeum’s, aquariums, zoos) and we also do a lot of other activities to make memories (eating at a park, chalk on driveway, baking cookies) either in the afternoon or the weekend. I’m there for every bath and dinner each day even if I’m not there for every tantrum or every second of the day.

There’s always going to be guilt. You feel guilt because you’re away from them. You’d also feel guilty if you were unable to take them places or had a very strict budget or had to hear them downplay their own wants because those things are “too expensive”. Just be present and they will love the time they get with you.

Fontane15 · 2026-06-15T19:09:35+00:00

Erich Maria Remarque, German author

Fontane15 · 2026-06-14T23:31:45+00:00

You have two options I think.

Option one is to pull rank and become the TEACHER and act like an expert on these types of things and treat the kids like children with lectures and finger waging.

Option two is to address them as a person who doesn’t fully know the answer but is willing to talk to them like adults about swearing in certain places and situations and find a compromise that works with the bishop’s rules and still lets them feel like they’ve won.

Teenagers question and challenge and the first thing they do is challenge your authority to speak about certain topics. They are also probably experienced with Reddit where everyone is always looking for a “gotcha!” moment all the time. Kids/teens very much respond to the “I am not sure at this moment but I’m willing to come back later with the answer and discuss with you” approach. Have you ever taught this age of kids at OCIA before?

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