Episode 8: Let your kids be bad at things

Wear is the Love, Episode 8

This week’s episode is chill (pun intended, which will make sense when you listen to the episode) because Michael just got back from a lot of travel. We enjoyed discussing The Atlantic article featured below about parenting and perfectionism.

Episode notes:

Get your tickets to the That Sounds Fun Tour here. February 17th in Philadelphia, 730pm

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The Top 5 articles for your week:

1. “Let Your Kids Be Bad at Things” (The Atlantic)

   Because this essay is a bit more nuanced than its title, and it’s pretty hilarious, but it asks the question: do we ever stop caring about what other people think?

2. “Dear Sweethearts: Don’t tell me I ‘GOT THIS’” (Washington Post)

   Because Christine Emba tells it like it is: toxic positivity from the makers of sweethearts and M&Ms won’t solve our societal ills.

3. “The search for lost slave ships led this diver on an extraordinary journey” (National Geographic)

   Because some estimate around 1,000 ships sunk during the mid-Atlantic slave trade, and one diving group is helping to preserve artifacts [and history] from these ships.

4. “Grow Deep, Not Wide” (Comment Magazine)

   Because the entire new issue of Comment Magazine is beautiful and ruminates on the idea of “gift logic,” but my favorite essay in the bunch is from Joy Ike on what it was like to open up free painting on her porch in her Philadelphia neighborhood.

5. “How to Make a Deal With Putin” (Foreign Affairs)

   Because Michael McFaul, a former ambassador to Russia proposes this bold solution to the current Ukraine crisis because it could de-escalate tensions and provide a door for the energizing of many other US-Russia agreements: “Biden should seize the diplomatic offensive and counter with a comprehensive, grand bargain for enhancing European security. Call it “Helsinki 2.0.” This agreement could refresh and modernize the Helsinki Accords signed during the Cold War, which stabilized the continent even as U.S.-Soviet competition grew in other parts of the world. It could resuscitate and amend defunct arms control agreements and provide a bigger framework for European security, and in the process help solve the issues surrounding Ukraine.”