Category: Contemplating Generation Alpha

Uncomfortable conversations are a classic aspect of parenting and working with young children. Whether it’s in the car, grocery store, a classroom, or any other location, the conversations can be challenging…and thought-provoking. Over the years I have consistently searched for new tools to support conversations as well as understand the complexity of our society. In the process, I have come across fascinating topics and resources. The blogs on this page synthesize and simplify some of the topics as well as share resources. The ideas and tools I have both helped me respond to my children as they adapt to this complicated world as well as guide my own inquiry.

Contemplating Generation Alpha

Dad, Peer Pressure Can Be Really Bad

andrewdlgoff

Last week both of my kids were introduced to a video on peer pressure. It wasn’t formally part of the virtual school learning, but it was included in a program that their classrooms use. Shortly after watching a movie where a character is “drunk” my daughters gave me a lesson on peer pressure. It started with, “Dad, peer pressure can be really bad.” The lesson was great, but it didn’t include anything on how peer pressure provides an opportunity for learning and growing. So after they were done teaching me we had a conversation on exactly that.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

Thinking About Gen Alpha During COVID-19

andrewdlgoff

It’s been about a month since most of the United States quickly ground to a halt. As many have said, as a country entered a self-induced coma. Each day is unlike any that has ever been experienced. All the while, like all other parents of young children we have been forced to take on challenges that exceed our expertise, resources, and patience.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

Drawing a Scientist – Representation can Disrupt Stereotypes

andrewdlgoff

About three years ago, just as my older daughter discovered riddles I came across a new one for me in a news article. This riddle was more striking than any others I had seen in the past and I thought I would run it by her. She solved the riddle immediately without hesitation! Me, it took a minute.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

I Never Want to Take a Test Again

andrewdlgoff

Two hours of each of the first four weeks of my daughter’s second week of 3rd grade school year was spent taking national standardized tests. This was her first experiences with these tests and based on her self-report they were all but enjoyable. Each day I asked her about the test that was taken that day. Each conversation followed a format similar to the following:

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When Your Kid Won’t Stop Cussing

andrewdlgoff

According to cognitive linguist Steven Pinker, in his book The Stuff of Thought, cussing—or at least loud vocal outbursts when feeling escalated emotions—is innate. The actual sounds blended together by a person to express their emotions is learned and culturally specific.

I acquired this knowledge after years of telling my wife to be mindful of our children’s ears when choosing to use the sounds of F-CK, SH-T, and B-TCH combined, and shortly after my daughter came home telling us her friend gets to say F-CK at home.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

Discovering Talents

andrewdlgoff

Since she was able to have a conversation, my oldest daughter has been a very creative story teller. When she was 2 1/2 we were introduced to Peter, her pet cat. He later transformed into her little brother Peter. She’d go to the park or the pool; 30 children around her age, but she didn’t want to interact with them. She wanted to play with Peter. We often struggled to get out of the house because she wanted Peter to come with her, but he caused more trouble than good. Overall, he sounded like a wonderful younger brother. Then one day, he was hit by a car and died. It occurred right around the time her sister was born.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

Nine ways to confront bullying in the early grades.

andrewdlgoff

This blog post was originally published at https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/i-experienced-physical-my-daughter-experiences-relational-kvnw/

It was a Wednesday. The afternoon was moving along as it typically does. My daughters and I sat down to eat a snack. I asked both of them, “Who did you each lunch with today, sweetie?” My older daughter looked at me and began to cry. Tears and a hug later were followed up by a question I had asked myself growing up. But the context was different and I had no one to answer. I asked the question because I was pushed and tripped. Hers was because she was told nobody likes her.

“Why am I bullied?”

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

The Misconceptions We Reinforce When Talking to Children about Disability, and Solutions

andrewdlgoff

Last school year my youngest daughter befriended a young boy, Jonathan in her class with Down Syndrome. A few months into the school year she and my older daughter were having regular conversation about playing with Jonathan. Throughout that stretch of time I was met by periodic questions and comments about why Jonathan. Why doesn’t Jonathan say words? Why does Jonathan have different rules than other children? Why does Jonathan have his own teacher? Many times the questions came across as rhetorical. It sounded like the came out of a conversation that the teachers had with the students. The questions were more about receiving confirmation from me, a former early childhood special educator and researcher of high-quality inclusive education. But I wasn’t confirming what other adults were telling them. Most often, I was clarifying misconceptions.

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Clothing, Communication and (Children’s) Gender Identity

andrewdlgoff

Until my oldest daughter was three, I was regularly reminded of the social messages her clothing communicated—many things that words did not. Explaining our choices of garments was a waste of breath. The clothes my daughter wore were a medium for expressing hers and our beliefs and values around gender identity to adults and children.

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Contemplating Generation Alpha

It’s More Than Junk Mail…

andrewdlgoff

Every year around the holidays we receive a gift catalog providing us with an opportunity to buy a farm animal for families living in Africa. I have tacitly accepted it as a harmless piece of junk mail. The catalog typically sits in our pile of junk mail. But, after my older daughter commented on it, I was forced to give it some attention.

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