tiny kazoos
a celebration of "can't not do"s, midlife television, and divorced dads
Hellooo! And welcome to a peak into the paid-subscriber-only zone, where we celebrate the week’s tiny kazoos. (Tiny because they’re less visible than the big stuff of growing up. Not because they’re less lovely. Kazoos because they’re less shiny than the traditional milestones. Not because they’re less worthy.) If you’d like to gift someone a subscription to this part of the Good for You newsletter—or gift one to yourself!—I’d be so happy to spread the itty-bitty confetti.
One of my favorite, least favorite parts of adulthood is the disappearance of clear right and wrong commitments. It can all feel worthy. So, you know those “can’t not do” invites that land like a visceral yes in your chest? (Top-notch hosts? Check. Built-in buddy? Check. Dreamy theme? Check.) This upcoming writing workshop with Jonathan Merritt for pastors, prophets, and poets was one of those for me. If it’s a “can’t not do” for you, too, join us.
So few shows speak to my someone-other-than-a-mother soul. Fleishman is in Trouble, a Hulu-adaptation of the book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, is a rare exception. If you can make it past the somewhat grating first episode or two, there is a story about complicated women and adult friendships and midlife musings on how to make peace with life after obligation that’s worth sticking around for. Also, worth sticking around for? Lizzy Caplan in the end credits.
One of my own parenting pain points is talking to teens about technology. Because technology overwhelms me. And parenting overwhelms me. So it’s easier to bark “no phones at the breakfast table” than it is to say “yeah, I like to start my day by seeing if it’s going to rain, too.” Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World from EdTech expert Richard Culatta is helping me calm the eff down and shift my thinking from “absolutely not” to “some screens are cool.”
“I don’t want to be a mother, but I wouldn’t mind being a divorced dad.” A friend sent me this clip from Chelsea Handler’s new Netflix special, Revolution, that soooo resonates with my lack of desire to be #1 in a kid’s life (I write about wanting to be an 80’s dad in my own book) and sooooo speaks to the need for more shared parenting role models. Including, sometimes even, divorced dads.
Tracee Ellis Ross is rejecting the lie that a woman’s purpose is to be “chosen”—and creating a beautiful, full life outside the roles of mother and partner. You can celebrate along with her on this podcast episode of We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle. Another gentle reminder that flourishing is not a single plot point. Keep going.
