More Kids and Conferences

There's a WHAT?!? Behind me?

The kids and conferences issue, discussed here a while ago has continued to spark discussion, with a Tenure She Wrote piece on how to increase gender diversity among conference speakers and a Physics Focus blog post on a mother who wound up taking her toddler to a meeting. There are some good points in both,… Continue reading More Kids and Conferences

4th of July, Niskayuna (SteelyKid and The Pip)

The kids with fake bones at the AMNH evolution exhibit.

It’s Independence Day here in the US, so here are some patriotic kid photos for you. “Wait a minute,” you say, “That featured image doesn’t have any flags or fireworks or gilled meat products! How is that patriotic?” “Ah,” I reply,”It was taken at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC last weekend.” Game.… Continue reading 4th of July, Niskayuna (SteelyKid and The Pip)

Preschool Science

The Pip (top) and SteelyKid at the Ithaca Sciencenter.

Kate’s off at Wiscon this weekend, so I came down to my parents’ with the kids, rather than be outnumbered at home. We packed everybody into the car Saturday and drove to Ithaca to go to the

Nature or Nurture?

SteelyKid and The Pip, both reading.

During our weekly trip to the Schenectady Greenmarket, we took refuge from the rain in the Open door bookstore, where a short while later I saw the following scenes at opposite ends of the kids-book aisle (also the “Featured Image” for this post, but I’ll reproduce it to save the RSS folks from having to… Continue reading Nature or Nurture?

Return of The Physics Bus

The Pip playing in the toy sink at Grandma and Grandpa's.

My parents have a DVD of the Bacon Brothers singing “The Wheels on the Bus” over an animated scene, which The Pip loves and insists on watching over, and over, and over, and over… As the parent sitting through this on Sunday morning, I got a little punchy over on Twitter, and invented some quantum-physics-themed… Continue reading Return of The Physics Bus

Sunday Morning, Chateau Steelypips

A typical Sunday morning in Chateau Steelypips: SteelyKid playing with emmy, and The Pip doing some light reading.

The Pip is getting really into books these days, and SteelyKid has been into them for a good while now (she’s four-and-a-half, after all…). At some point last week, she asked about my writing, so I got down a copy of How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog and showed her her name in the… Continue reading Sunday Morning, Chateau Steelypips

Cute Kid Update

SteelyKid with the "kingdom" she built with magnetic tiles.

It’s been a good while since I did any Cute Kid Blogging, due to excessive busy-ness. There’s big news among the younger residents of Chateau Steelypips, though: SteelyKid lost one of her front teeth the other day: That gap? Wasn’t there on Friday morning. Lest you think we’re horrible people who let her run headfirst… Continue reading Cute Kid Update

On the Checking of Boxes, and the Need to Chill Out

In the comments to yesterday’s post about college admissions, Joseph Yoon quoted my statement that “I’m somewhat sympathetic to claims that Asians have a difficult position in higher education,” and shot back with: I wonder if you will feel more strongly about this in 10 years when your kids are near college. Will you advise… Continue reading On the Checking of Boxes, and the Need to Chill Out