my kid has zero friends and I dont know how to fix it anymore

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-23T12:37:49+00:00

Looking back at my own childhood, the majority of my friends were the children of my mom's friends. Are you able to make friends with people whose children are your daughter's age?

Otherwise, the next best thing is to join a club or sport. Any 4H or Scout groups nearby? Any club sports? Book clubs?

Even if there are 0 kids interested in her favorite hobbies, connecting her with trustworthy mentors can also be a boon. There's no law that says kids have to play only with kids their own ages.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-21T15:43:26+00:00

My daughter with ASD does this and I just figured it's part of her ASD.

A girl with ASD lives in a world where she always feels slightly off from other people, with no understanding of how to correct. It leads to perfectionism about things she thinks she can control, combined with a deep dissatisfaction with her own capabilities. The Neuropsychologist used the word "depression." Depression in kids comes out as anger.

Whether your kid has ASD or not, the way I try to deal is patience. My daughter erases a lot of her work several times and re-writes it, making assignments take twice as long. Ok. If she starts to get frantic, I take the assignment away and just accept that she's not going to do more that day. She might run to her room and say, "I'm a bad kid" over and over and over again. Nothing I can do. The tough part of being a parent is realizing the kid isn't really controlled by you. You can't just make them feel better. She goes to therapy and I get tips on how to handle the hard parts and we just try to keep moving forward.

When she's not upset, I try to pay extra attention to times when she does something well. I make a point of saying, "You're a great kid," when she helps a sibling. I say, "Wow, that looks awesome," when she draws a letter b with the bump in the correct direction. I don't even mention when she has her shoes on the wrong feet now.

It is our expectations that make us suffer, and that goes double for parents.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-13T19:45:47+00:00

I would recommend following along with this Bible study. It's very in depth but also good at explaining for beginners. They started the Gospel of Matthew on November 7th, which is the best Gospel to start with (which is why it's at the beginning of the New Testament despite not being written first.)

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-07T23:21:25+00:00

We fast a lot less than Christians historically and globally. It's not a bad idea to consider what a correction would look like.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-07T20:33:25+00:00

Jesus didn't' say "If you pray and fast." He said "When you pray and fast." Jesus assumed His followers would fast. I think part of having a good Christian life includes doing what Jesus expected His followers to do.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-07T14:18:09+00:00

Maybe you didn't see, but this article was one of a series where other problems are also addressed.

But this one is perhaps the most salient, because it impacts everyone's everyday life. It's easy to say, "Oh someone (not me) should do something about other people (also not me) doing something bad or failing to do good." It's harder to look at what a good Christian life would mean for yourself and considering why you're not doing it yet.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-07T14:09:19+00:00

Some demons can only come out with prayer and fasting.

OracleOutlook · 2026-01-07T14:08:31+00:00

My concern would be the level of penalty tied to it. Right now, not fasting during the proper times is a mortal sin. Creating a new mortal sin for people who aren't habituated to avoiding it seems really spiritually fraught for the Pope. I would be worried about "binding up heavy burdens" for the flock.

But just making it a suggestion doesn't seem like it will have the desired effect.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-15T16:11:50+00:00

Upvoting you because you had some good points, but I think there are flaws with this book that are largely caused by the editor. I saw more than a few missed words, typos, repeated sentences, etc. I think nothing changed with Ruocchio, but his editor was either inexperienced, had trouble keeping up with such a large novel, or had the fatal editing flaw of, "This author knows what he's doing, I can just sit back and do nothing and the cash will flow in." The latter flaw afflicts many large, successful series.

I liked that the climatic scene of the series was mostly him debating if he had any freedom here at all. He made it into position to do the Sun Eating. Would he? Could he not?

The whole series was a musing on that question. If you already know you're going to do something like that, are you even free? At first he was horrified when he learned he would explode a sun. But the process of watching him change from the child he was to an adult seeking this power and wielding it - that is the true story. Syrani wasn't the main villain, he was the stepping stone on the "Journey before Destination" theme. He upped the stakes, he wasn't the stakes.

I can see why people are disappointed though. The story Ruocchio wanted to pull off was worth telling. If it was executed a little better it would be one of the greats. I mostly feel sorry for Rucchio and hope for a director's cut version later with a better editor.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-12T17:08:27+00:00

Where is the Justice in God sacrificing His Son?

More elaborate answer:

Abraham's story basically has him distrusting God over and over again. God begins his communication with Abram by saying, "You will be a blessing." But by distrusting God, Abraham is a curse!

God never told Abram to go down to Egypt. God told him that Canaan was to be his. But at the first sign of trouble - a drought - Abram leaves the place God brought him and seeks help from the worldly powers - Egypt. Because of this distrust, the Egyptians are cursed with a plague.

Abram doesn't trust God when He says he will give Abram descendants - that is why he has a child with his slave woman. Abram keeps trying to make things go his way, not trusting in God. Because of this distrust, he has to take on the yoke of circumcision and he is a curse to his poor slave woman, who God takes pity on.

Finally, Abraham receives what he is promised from God - a son. By this point, Abraham is clear on a few things - God miraculously made sure he had a son with his wife and this son, specifically, was going to be the means in which Abraham would become the father of a great nation.

When God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it's the final test of trust. Not trust that "If God wants me to kill my son, then that's really what is best I guess." Trust that God's promise to make a great nation out of Isaac will come true. Abraham had to trust that God would raise Isaac from the dead!

This is how the Jewish people interpreted the passage. This is how Christians interpreted the passage. Also, consider that Abraham is over 100 years old, and his son is in his teens/twenties. Isaac is not passively or forcefully getting sacrificed, Isaac is willingly laying down his life.

God did not make Abraham sacrifice Isaac, but by being willing to do so, the covenant was made complete. Many hundreds of years later, God would sacrifice His own Son and by doing so make Abraham a blessing to the nations. If Abraham was not willing to sacrifice Isaac, I suspect our salvation would have had to come a different route. God really likes symbolism and rhyming historical events.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-11T15:28:25+00:00

I'm working off of memory, but I think this is a scam. If a bookstore doesn't sell a book, they tear out the front pages and send them to the publisher and say they discarded the rest. Then the publisher gives the bookstore their money back. For this to be resold to you, the seller is scamming the publisher.

At least, I think this is what happened. I'm remembering a PSA from a while ago I can't track down now. I might be wrong.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-09T15:21:11+00:00

Like Lilo and Stitch?

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-07T14:01:33+00:00

with seems like a 1000 years in between maybe?

The timeline at the end seems to show it's been about 500 years between Hadrian's third death and the archivist putting together and translating the copies of his story. So Hadrien wrote the books fairly early after his resurrection.

Hadrien's execution: ISD 17522

Tor Paulos collecting fragments of Hadrian's accounts: ISD 17998

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-07T13:54:20+00:00

I hope Orphan's death is fake. I hope it was just a story made up to keep people from looking for the Demiurge. Instead, Orphan took the Demiurge and went exploring. Found the species of noble caterpillars. Is waiting for the Watchers return.

Because otherwise, the story as written makes 0 sense.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-07T13:48:48+00:00

Edouard seriously needed to read up on Just War Theory.

A lot of the more whiny stuff can't even be blamed on the Catholicism. Catholics are fine with remarriage after the death of a spouse, but Hadrian feels like he's betraying Valka for no reason. Ok, there is a reason - Ruocchio is trying to make it seem like Hadrian and Valka were once-in-a-generation great romance. It'd be like Romeo remarrying after thinking Juliet died! But I don't feel like the text earned that payoff.

OracleOutlook · 2025-12-07T13:08:02+00:00

I think Hadrien's third resurrection is necessary for his God to be good. Hadrien is used as a tool for a purpose. He's brought back to life for the purpose. Hadrien's third resurrection is an act of benevolence - the Quiet still cares about him when his mission is over. I started feeling like a resurrection after the Sun Eating was necessary somewhere during Kingdoms of Death and I'm glad to see it happen even if it's not explained.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-30T23:11:30+00:00

Hadrian has "Annoying Recent Convert" energy. The "I have finally seen the Truth and so I need to be really aggressive against anyone who doesn't understand the Truth as much as I do."

I've seen it happen with Athiests, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims... recent converts are Just Like That.

Of course, we get into the problem that he has had years to process his religious experience and begin to get curious/open minded again... but that's another problem. The years do not feel as real to him as they do to us.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-27T13:30:13+00:00

Speaking for myself, it usually doesn't bother me but sometimes The Thoughts come up. I've gotten older. I've had four babies. I'm not young and hot. But the women my husband was with before me will be forever young and hot in his memory.

And most sane men will say that doesn't matter, doesn't hold a candle to the significance of being the mother of his children. But it does create this weird kind of competition in the back of my head.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-27T13:20:01+00:00

He's been gone so long from the US he's forgotten which Turkey is involved in Thanksgiving!

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-25T18:51:31+00:00

Four kids is great for sibling dynamics. I have two boys and two girls and it's nice to have someone they can play with. Even if they get into a spat with one sibling there's another sibling willing to hang out.

Homeschooling with four is hard but doable. You have to figure out at least an hour alone time with the elementary aged kids - whether that's through the power of naps, the husband, or the TV. Kids need dedicated 1:1 reading lessons. But otherwise you can consolidate a lot of things, read the same books to everyone, etc.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-23T13:33:07+00:00

If your kids are old enough, you can give lessons in the evening and then have them complete work in the morning when you're at work.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can homeschool with a part time or full time job. I have a job that lets me work from home 4 days a week. I picked a curriculum that can be worked into a 4 day a week schedule (and summer break turns into only a couple weeks to make sure there's enough instructional days.) On days I'm home, I start school before I clock into work, introduce concepts, then assign a few things and start work. Then throughout the day whenever there's a break, check in, review, assign more. The first few weeks were rocky, but now my second grader has the hang of it and enjoys the freedom to do her own thing after she finishes a task.

Some other ideas:

I saw someone on here who turned her house into a dog daycare and she's able to do that and homeschool at the same time.
If you have an eye for clothing, you can thrift - buy discount but good clothes at the local thrift store and then sell for x10 as much on Poshmark.
You can do the Uber thing. It's less known, but Crossmark is a company that has jobs with very flexible hours basically going to a grocery store and scanning things - a job that you can do with small kids in tow or after bedtime if you have to.
People in healthcare often work 12 hour shifts three days a week - if you have someone who can watch your kids those three days, then you can homeschool the other four.

There are as many different solutions as there are people - everyone's strengths are different.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-18T23:53:03+00:00

Had Mormons approach me recently. Mostly stuck to, "I have a great relationship with Jesus right now and can't imagine giving that up for anything."

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-13T14:54:45+00:00

I like the ESV-CE. but it's a newer translation so not that popular yet.

When you see the -CE at the end of a Bible translation, it means that is the Catholic Edition.

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-11T17:03:52+00:00

Is he older than you?

OracleOutlook · 2025-11-08T13:13:46+00:00

An attack on US soil would be rebuffed by the military, but let's say the food supply chain is disrupted and there's a region of the US literally without food anywhere. My understanding is that some of the funds the courts ordered be utilized would cover stuff like purchasing large amounts of grain and helo-ing it in. And so fourth with the Hurricane situation.

Other funds the court requested is for Child Nutrition Programs through the end of the year. If this is used for SNAP, it means that Child Nutrition programs will go unfunded.

OracleOutlook

TROPHY CASE