Erin

Re: Maternal mortality. I feel like this is a good topic for a qualitative evaluation. Since the numbers are not large, a researcher could get a good sample of the death certificates that were included in one definition and excluded from the other definition.
Also, the increasing trend is during covid, which Emily noted. While the increase may or may be from covid itself, mothers may not have received the care they would have otherwise. People were avoidant of hospitals, and medical facilities were at capacity.

We drive by two playgrounds on the way home from preschool every day. Usually if there are other kids playing he wants to stop. And I always say yes, unless we actually have somewhere we need to be. It’s a visual thing. If we are home and I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground, it’s the same as you describe. Plus it’s routine now where he has the choice.

I think the point about sleepovers needs to be underscored. I can imagine parents may think if they don’t allow this (in-law overnights) then they will never have an overnight until the kid is 16 or 18 or whatever. That feels heavy and would make me put up with a lot more than maybe I’m comfortable with. But there may be other options that aren’t so far in the future. Might take some creativity and work to invest in forming friendships with your kids’ friends parents, but it can all be very rewarding. In the meantime, start small with a babysitter for just a couple hours or whatever you can afford. Take time off of work on school days and do day dates. And let your in-laws do an occasional overnight when kid won’t miss kinder.

Commenting on my own post to say I don’t mean to pile on teachers! I just mean, teachers have it hard enough – let’s let them give out some stickers once in a while to help them manager their classes. The alternative (no rewards) doesn’t necessarily mean that all kids will learn to love learning!

I have two comments about the post on rewards systems and intrinsic learning. The first is: Is it reasonable for us to expect our children to be intrinsically motivated to learn everything? What standard are we setting? In an ideal world, our children would love learning, no matter the topic or difficulty. But can we reasonably expect that? My second comment is: Regardless of a reward system, what are teachers doing to encourage intrinsic motivation? Are they making the lessons more hands-on? More fun? Are they helping children to connect with the material? If you want to encourage love of learning in a child, I would think you should focus on how to teach the material and less on the impact of a sticker.