I have had students or known kids named Princess, King, and Legend. Charleigh Brown. Atilla Hunt. Harley Quinn. Their name just becomes the collection of phonemes you use to address them. It’s funny when you see it, then you don’t even think about it anymore.

A little bit. We were the first in our friends group to have a kid and then we’ve made parent friends since then. I think mostly it’s just the people we surround ourselves with.

It might just because I’m in education and a lot of my friends are in education or science fields but I feel like everyone is really supportive and we have similar parenting styles. We’ve used the same methods for things, we share book recommendations, and when we give advice it’s not something that’s just an old wives tale or something viral from instagram. It’s just nice to feel supported in that way.

Connect with the local Deaf community. There’s likely a Facebook group or something that you can browse (even without an account). Look at local community classes, college courses, or even free classes held at a church. Our local community has a bi-weekly silent dinner at the mall and other events that hearing and Deaf people attend. I started with a local community center class ($50 for 8 weeks or whatever) and then found everything else through the instructor. I usually screenshot the silent dinner dates from the Facebook group and then attend when I can.

Never have I ever been drunk or high

Paid refers to money. Payed is a nautical term.

When our daycare was closed for bad weather we did not get any discounts in tuition. But the teachers did not get paid because they did not work. Our money just lined somebody’s pocket at the top for services we didn’t receive.

I read the book Screentime Solution by Emily Cherkin (also Anxious Generation and Screen Schooled). Basically her advice is to be screen-intentional as a family. Right now my husband and I make an effort to put our phones away when we come home from work and spend time with each other and our toddler. Another thing is that she does not have any of her own internet devices. It’s the family tv and my iPad that she uses (with supervision and sparingly). We have a few devices she uses that are dumb (old gameboy and old iPod) but still rarely. Restaurants and family dinner are screen free zones. Even as she gets older we’re more likely to get a dumb phone and a family phone than let her have her own device. Something from the book was to let your kids have access to the internet and social media when you’re ready for them to see porn (not necessarily her opinion but an anecdote) and there’s no fool-proof parental controls. We are getting a family computer soon to teach her typing, using a mouse, and general computer skills but that will not be unsupervised or even internet connected most of the time. My goal is to teach her responsible use and to always have a line of communication open about it.

Our current “game” is figuring out if my toddler is ok with me coming and getting her out of her room or if she wants me to come in, get her clothes, and leave (closing the door) so that she can get up and meet me in the bathroom by herself. If I choose wrong the entire morning is filled with crying over everything else. My husband walked in the bathroom the other day and asked “what seems to be the issue” at her end-of-the-world screams. “I brushed her teeth”.

Pajama pants (bonus points for pockets) and a tshirt. I won’t wear tshirts except for bed (it needs to be at least a fitted tee for the daytime).