Video games are specifically designed to keep kids engaged and working at the peak of their ability, something that classroom learning often seems to very much not be. Kathy Ceceri -- who writes about homeschooling on the All About Homeschooling Facebook page and her site Crafts for Learning, and has a new book coming out about how kids can design their own video games -- chats with Terri about a recent Games in Education Symposium she attended and what's going on in the field of learning games. Among the topics they touched on were using video games to differentiate instruction, make classroom reports more interesting (with Twitch-like videos), and encourage kids to dive into literature instead of just reading it. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Our weeks for talking about So You Think You Can Dance are running out, with the cast whittled down to six this time around. We wished they'd stop calling attention to Jim's (alleged) lack of "connection" and Virgil's (undeniable) lack of height; felt sorry for Megz being dumped on by the judges; did not feel particularly sad to lose Derek and Neptune; and wondered how the few remaining episodes will pair or pare away our favorites. We also looked ahead to Dancing With the Stars, which Terri will be making Catherine watch with her this season. Then, turning to more literary topics, Catherine gave a book report on Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee's controversial sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. Spoiler warning! She totally ruins the ending. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

When's the last time you went to a wedding? Did you get a paper invitation or an Evite? And did you notice whether the bride and groom were collecting gifts in a cash box, a satin bag, or a dirty shoe? We talked about these and other wedding trends, with a detour into bar and bat mitzvahs, and noticed that we're all in the stage of life where we're sitting back and waiting for our friends' kids (and our own kids?!) to get married.

That led us into a discussion of the swiftness of time, especially in the summer. Ironically, it's our Canadian Nicole who has no sorries at all to offer about her fun summer, which included a visit to the Motherland. Catherine's looking wistfully at blank chore charts and unsent barbecue invitations, while Terri plans to squeeze all her summer fun into her family's upcoming vacation. Amanda moved her entire household this summer so we're giving her a pass on accomplishing anything else.

Finally, we shared our weekly recommendations: Catherine mentioned her new article on adding more vegetables to your family's diet (which is actually a plea for new cucumber recipes); Amanda recommended a piece by our colleague Lexi Walters Wright on the summer movies of 2015; Nicole noted that we would all feel better about our summer accomplishments after we read this list of 50 summer activities; and Terri suggested her resources for family events -- Family Gathering Survival Kit, Family Gathering Bingo, Safe Things to Say to Parents of Kids With Special Needs at Family Gatherings, and the All-Purpose Apology Template.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for editing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

For a special Round 4 this month, Amanda got together with our audio engineer, Jon, to talk about the experience of being a stay-at-home father to children with special needs. Oh, and did we mention Amanda and Jon are married? (To each other.) They chatted about how hard it is to have two working parents when you have kids with special needs and how that led to their decision to have a stay-at-home parent. Amanda talked about a study she’d read about the connection between poverty and disabilities. Jon spoke of the assumptions people make of dads, particularly when it comes to managing appointments, therapies, medications and so forth. And he had sage advice for dads who are trying to break down stereotypes. Listen in for banter, chatter and more. You can also visit Jon's site My Happy SAHD Life. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Susan Adcox, who writes about grandparenting for About.com, joins us on the third Wednesday of every month to chat with Catherine about grandparenting issues. This time, they talk about whether grandparents are really making kids fat, or summer is, and what families can do about that. Check out these articles from Catherine's and Susan's sites for info that might help:
+ Why Susan recommends retro toys for Easter baskets
+ Healthy snack ideas from Catherine and superfood suggestions from Susan
+ Beach ball and balloon games and healthy board games
(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

This week on So You Think You Can Dance, Terri and Catherine enjoyed the absence of sexy fish and the presence of brief solos from the top 10, as well as some winning routines by our favorite dancers and their All-Star partners. Like the commenters on the Previously.tv forums, we questioned how a professional Broadway dancer ended up on the street team, and we also wondered about the cultural appropriation of Jaja's Bollywood routine and Gaby's geisha-vs.-ninja duel. Then we moved on to other TV talent showcases, like America's Got Talent. We think the Professional Regurgitator would have fit right in on David Letterman’s Stupid Human Tricks segment. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Along with all the shiny new school supplies and stylish new school clothes, every new school year involves a mysterious new teacher, who will either be The Best Thing That Ever Happened for Your Child or The Thing That Dooms Your Child to Academic Failure Forever. So no stress. We chatted about our new-teacher anxiety for this year, remember some wonderful/horrible teachers of the past, and reflect on how good Canadian teachers have it with extra-polite parents.

As much as you hope that your kid gets a teacher that brings out his or her absolute best, we have to confess it's kind of awful when the teacher seems to see a much better version of your child than you ever get to. An article on the parody site Mom News Daily caught our eye this week, and if it had been on Catherine's quiz last week, we don't think we would have guessed that a headline saying "Children Are 800 Percent Worse When Their Mothers Are in the Room" was the fake one. It's funny 'cause it's true, right? We compare notes on our children's annoying-for-mom behaviors and tussle over whether it's okay for teachers to judge parents for such misbehaviors when us moms do a fair amount of teacher-judging ourselves (see: first half of episode).

Finally, we shared our weekly recommendations: Catherine mentioned her new article on "10 Ways to Fix Youth Sports"; Amanda pointed us toward an article titled "Can I Request a Specific Teacher for My Child With Learning and Attention Issues?"; Nicole liked an article on "When to Stand Up for Your Child"; and Terri suggested her series of articles on preparing the school for your child's specific disability.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for editing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

From finding enough options for varied lunches to dealing with kids who only eat one lunch to collecting fairy dewdrops to adorn our Bento Box lunches, Lexi and Amanda are ready to start packing. Packing lunches, that is. Moving from daycare to preschool this year has Lexi in a panic. She talks about the pressure of being the follow-up act to her son's daycare provider's delicious, nutritious hot meals. Amanda's advice is simple: Stop caring. She shares that her daughter ate from the "olive cart" (actually the "a la carte") menu in middle school and is sure the experience of eating only chocolate-chip cookies and churros for three years was good preparation for college life. If you're wondering what to do when your kid only eats sandwich-size pepperoni and superhero CheezIts, we've got advice for you! And, to be fair, we also shared some sound, easy-to-manage recipes from a great Kveller article, "23 Back-to-School Lunch Ideas Your Kids Will Actually Eat." (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

They are fish. But they're sexy fish. Dancers, if you hear those words, you can be pretty sure that your time on So You Think You Can Dance is over. The most ... notable choreography on this week's show was the one seemingly designed to prevent two dancers from getting a Twitter save (see video), but as Catherine and Terri discuss, the whole episode seemed to be more about the business of getting rid of four dancers than the art of, you know, showcasing good dancing. On to the top 10! In other pop-culture discussion, Catherine's review of Into the Woods (Meryl Streep version) moved into a look at other Meryl Streep singing movies, including the new Ricki and the Flash and the older Mamma Mia, and a list that ranks all of her film performances. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Now that you’re all transitioned into and adjusted to the summer routine, surprise! Time to transition back to school. We started our group chat by lamenting all the disruption ahead of us -- kids moving out, kids refusing to enter uninviting middle-school buildings, parents jostling for backpacks, the need to call and harrass special-education administrators daily, and our desire for a more comprehensive Amazon Prime service that would eliminate that kind of hassle from our lives.

After such a stressful topic, we took it easy with a fun parenting quiz devised by Catherine to stump the rest of us. We were asked to identify whether a particular parenting quote was from an actual parenting "expert" or a humor site, and later to identify which title in a list of parenting books came out of Catherine's head. Congratulations to Nicole for getting a perfect score in our first test period. Terri and Amanda look forward to getting our revenge in future contests.

Finally, we shared our recommendations. Nicole pointed us toward a post on her website on "10 Ways to Teach Social Skills in Your Classroom"; Amanda also touted her own work, an Understood.org post on "How to Avoid Being Overprotective of Your Child"; Catherine passed on the names of her sources for the humorous selections of her quiz, Los Feliz Daycare, the Onion's After Birth section, and McSweeney's Internet Tendency; and Terri suggested following her list of entertainment Tweeters so you too can follow television critics at the TCAs.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

This week on Round 4, Nicole chatted with Robert Rummel-Hudson about his exciting new business partnership. What started out as bit of an experiment has become a life-changing moment. Rob tells us that recently he was invited to speak at a conference about his book, Schuyler’s Monster, a story about his daughter’s nonverbal world. While Rob has spoken at dozens of conferences before, this time he decided to try something different and ask Schuyler, now a tenth-grader, to participate in the presentation. After Rob spoke, Schuyler came on stage to answer several audience questions using her AAC device. Well, apparently, Schuyler stole the show! Rob was thrilled to watch her confidently engage and interact with audience members and soon realized he had become overshadowed by his own daughter. He tells Nicole that he sees Schuyler’s potential as a self-advocate and is excited about her future. Nicole thinks that Rob could soon be out of job! To follow Rob’s new adventures in public speaking go to www.rummelhudson.com, and to read some of Schuyler's answers, go to her dad's blog. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://www.parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Each month Meghan Corridan, a pediatric occupational therapist, joins Catherine to talk about activities that are both fun and therapeutic for kids (and often their adults too). This time she gives us the lowdown on all the benefits kids get from cooking and baking—everything from fine motor skills to self-esteem and confidence. Meghan also gives us her thoughts on whether kiddie cooking products are worth our time (and our kitchen storage space). Visit Meghan’s blog, MAC&Toys, for more reasons to whip up some cookies with your kids. And if you want your child to surprise you with a homemade Sunday brunch, Catherine suggests letting him watch a show called Man vs. Child: Chef Showdown for inspiration. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience).

Last week, Terri made a wish for a Broadway number and some tap-dancing from Gaby on So You Think You Can Dance, and voila! her wish was granted. Gaby and Virgil's adorable number was enough to get her through all manner of contemporary thrashing, though both Terri and Catherine wondered what was up with all the mental-illness-themed choreography and whether those "Here's what America needs to know about me!" bits had to be quite so all over the place. Of one thing there was no doubt: It was time for Asaf to go home, no matter how good he looks with his shirt off. Also up for brief discussion was Apple Music, the new subscription service that gives you access to pretty much all the songs that Terri has found particular benefit in for parents. (If you're watching this without hyperlinks or access to the video of That Dance, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Have you ever been so invested in a family vacation that you're determined to make your family stay through a hurricane? Or brought an extra set of parent-like adults along with you on a trip? Well, we have. This week we talked about our recent trips and our upcoming trips. Nicole even brought an extra kid home from Canada on her vacation! Find out how that happened and also why Amanda keeps butting in to plug her new book in this conversation.

Then, of course, we made the natural transition from talking about family vacations to talking about sleep deprivation. Have you ever felt so tired you just want to cry? Or wanted to make everybody else stay awake when you have insomnia so they can feel your misery? Well, maybe you haven't, but don't judge us for for being exhausted! We even have a new word for it: Crierd.

Finally, we gave our recommendations for the week: Amanda was interested in the idea that snoring kids who have sleep apnea might be misdiagnosed with ADHD. Catherine wanted you to know that if worrying about your kids' activities is messing up your sleep, she's written about when quitting is for the best, and she also recommended some "Healthy Eating Tips for Travel," while Nicole recommended Field Trip, a cool app to help you find landmarks as you travel. Terri shared "Where to Watch the 2015 Special Olympics World Games" and reminded us that the Americans with Disabilities Act just turned 25, which reminded Amanda of an interview with Rep. Sensenbrenner on Understood. (Did we mention we're sleep-deprived?) Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music.

How do you keep kids learning over the summer without tying them to the table with a pack of workshieets or a copy of Homer? Nicole chatted with Kathy Ceceri -- who writes about homeschooling on the All About Homeschooling Facebook page and her site Crafts for Learning -- about fun ways to keep kids' minds active and expanding, including robotics, outdoor science experiments, life skills, online coding courses, Maker Camp, and maybe just lying about school being out for the summer. For more ideas, read Kathy's article on Summer Enrichment for Homeschoolers. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

So you think you can choreograph something besides contemporary? That's what Terri's wondering about the ongoing rounds of So You Think You Can Dance, which feature about 75% more thrashing about than she's really comfortable with. She and Catherine discuss a fairly meh episode in which Catherine liked Kate and Neptune's number, Terri didn't think Asaf's was so awful, and they both felt bad that somebody thought a dance in which Jim and Moises were supposed to swagger was a good idea. Moving on to Catherine's latest book-club pick, Lisa See's Shanghai Girls, which is as full of tragedies as #SYTYCD is of contemporary emoting, but sparked some interesting conversation about immigration. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Did you see that viral story making the rounds about a diner owner who screamed at a toddler who wouldn't stop screaming, and then kept up a NSFW social-media battle with the tot's similarly unable-to-let-it-go parents? Yeah, us too. Did you refrain from reading the comments that you knew were going to make you feel like everybody is judging you and your family and maybe you should just go hide in a dark room? Yeah, us neither, even though we all know better by now, don't we? We piled on with our own observations about the situation, and wondered why we can't just all live and let live and let dine and let read the Internet without feeling under attack.

Moving from kids who are out of control to other family members who don't always obey, we talked about our beloved and often noisy-at-podcast-time dogs, sharing whether and why we're pet people. Finally, we gave our recommendations for the week: Catherine mentioned an article on "Activities for Dogs and Families to Share" and another on stopping with the parent shaming already; Amanda thought an article on "What to Say When Other People Interfere with Your Parenting" by one of our Round 3 contributors, Lexi Walters Wright, was apropos; Nicole suggested a survey on "What Kind of Pet Is Right for Your Family?" from Parents.com; and Terri passed on articles about taking kids to restaurants and other community trouble spots and creating the best chance for success — as well as a rant she wrote when she got riled about this sort of thing in the past.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music.

For a special Round 3 this month, our two Round 4 podcasters, Robert Rummel-Hudson and Charlie Zegers, got together to talk about the experience of being the father of a child with special needs. They chat about articles on special-needs moms that could just as well be dad-inclusive, stereotypes of special-needs dads and dads in general, the way the father narrative is evolving, and their frustration with dads who do not step up. For more on the subject, read Rob's book Schuyler's Monster and his blog posts on Fighting Monsters With Rubber Swords and Support for Special Needs, and visit Charlie's site Parent Spectrum.

So you think you can dance more adorably than Jim and Jaja (left) in the lastest episode of So You Think You Can Dance? Probably not; their hip hop routine was pretty awesomely cute. In our weekly chat about Fox's dance competition, Catherine and Terri checked on the progress of dancers they like; worried about dancers who are poorly served by choreography, costumes, or camera work; wondered how West Coast viewers felt about that live Twitter-save business; pondered whether Asaf is as big a jerk as he's being edited to be; and wished Cat would put on some flats already. Next, they took a look at this year's Emmy nominations and asked why Kimmy Schmidt herself is missing from the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt nominations, how exactly Allison Janney is a supporting actress on Mom, and whether we really need to be honoring so darn many reality shows. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience. And if you're watching the SYTYCD special tonight, look for us tweeting about it at @mamatude, @AboutFamilyFit, and/or @RoundAboutChat.)

[This is an encore presentation of a Parenting Roundabout episode originally released on January 14, 2015. If you listened to it the first time, this is your second chance to follow up on all the resources and ideas mentioned that you just never quite got around to. And if you didn’t listen to it the first time -- hey, it's new to you! Either way, please listen and enjoy.]

Seems like once a month or so, our Facebook feeds fill up with links to an article on Why Parenting Is in Crisis and Parents Today Are the Worst. Are they really the worst? Or just parenting in a time when there are more parenting experts trying to produce more content than ever? We talked about the ways different parenting styles, life experiences, and types of kids make it hard both to parent and to judge parenting; how there's still no judging like in-person judging to make you feel awful; the likelihood that the audience for heck-in-a-handbasket articles is parents who want to feel superior to bad parents rather than the bad parents themselves; and the way that Pinterest is in fact the most judgey feel-bad-about-yourself spot on the Internet.

Then we looked at a place where parents are, perhaps, not judged harshly enough: online support groups, with their dedication to being a safe place where anyone can say anything, and their protected environment for saying things that maybe should not be said. As we discussed our personal experiences, it appeared that in-person support groups were less likely to go bad, maybe because you have to actually put on clothes and face people to participate in them. Amanda and Terri attested to the way that online groups can turn into minefields the longer you participate and the more you care about expressing your opinion

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week. Catherine pointed folks toward two articles on sports parents: "9 Signs of a Sports Mom (or Dad)"and "Are You a Crazy Sports Parent?" (no judging, you understand); Amanda mentioned an article she wrote for Understood.org on using praise to build your child's self-esteem; Nicole invited listeners to a webinar she hosted; and Terri offered help in deciding if your support group is toxic.

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music.

It's everybody's favorite summertime activity: homework! Or maybe everybody's summertime misery. If your kids aren't just raring to read, write, and do 'rithmetic, you'll need some strategies for dragging those young brains through their summer assignments. For this week's Round 4, Terri chatted with Charlie Zegers, who writes about sports and also about parenting kids on the autism spectrum, about the summer-homework situation for kids both with and without special needs, how parents can organize that work to keep everyone on track and out of last-minute panic, and what accommodations you might want to ask for to keep summer homework from ruining your summer. For more on the topic, read tips on homework help, math worksheets, and reading routines on Terri's Parenting Special Needs site. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Susan Adcox, who writes about grandparenting for About.com, joins us on the third Wednesday of every month to chat with Catherine about grandparenting issues. This time, they talk about ways grandparents may be called upon to help with the grandkids, both fun -- Grandparent Camp to give the kids some outdoor and active bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa -- and serious -- helping out when a family member has cancer. For more on these topics, check these articles on Susan's site:
+ Things to Do at Grandma Camp
+ When a Family Member Has Cancer: Help Grandchildren Cope

(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

So you think you can dance in the style you're comfortable with for one more week? That's the question asked on this week's episode of So You Think You Can Dance, which Terri dutifully watched and Catherine will catch up with eventually when she is reunited with her DVR. After Terri filled Catherine in on what she missed, Catherine shared a New York Times Magazine article about two pairs of twins separated at birth, and Terri plugged TV critic Dan Fienberg's "Take Me to the Pilots" series of articles that look at each of next fall's pilot episodes and consider whether there's a season's-worth of TV there. (If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

The US women's soccer victory in the World Cup got us thinking about sports and women's sports and whether our daughters will be inspired by this sort of thing ... and then realizing that out of the four of us, two of us had nothing to say about sports and one had fled the country. So we sent Catherine as our ambassador into Sportsland to chat with our Round 4 contributor and resident sports guy Charlie Zegers about whether this means people are finally going to start caring about soccer and women's sports.

She returned to join Amanda and Terri in a little ranting in the style of Amy Poelher and Seth Meyers' "Really?" rant about the dissing of women's sports. Terri wondered why, really, online job applications for minimum-wage gigs require endless pages of psychological questions; Catherine asked her kids if really, they have to be in her face all summer long; and Amanda marveled that, really, special-education departments can just close over the summer and leave new students with IEPs to scramble at the last minute? 

With all that out of our system, we made our recommendations for the week: Catherine has an article on "How (and Why) You Can Support Women's Sports"; Amanda liked an article by Katherine Lewis on "What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?" (really?); and Terri shared some links to stories about sports programs for kids with special needs and ways to adapt sports for inclusion and start an inclusive sports program. 

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristen Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, go to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

[This is an encore presentation of a Parenting Roundabout episode originally released on April 8, 2015. If you listened to it the first time, this is your second chance to follow up on all the resources and ideas mentioned that you just never quite got around to. And if you didn’t listen to it the first time -- hey, it's new to you! Either way, please listen and enjoy.]

Are superheroes good role models for little boys? And how much should moms worry about that? Amanda chatted with her Understood.org colleague Lexi Walters Wright about violent comic-book covers, mom-created vulnerable superheroes, and the rite of passage from obliviousness to obsession when it comes to the great wide world of superhero merchandising. What do you do when your child moves on from things like space and rainbows and brown -- things you can understand and share -- to a fascination with a huge and detailed universe you know nothing about? How do you convince him that Batman pajamas don't mean you can fly, dressing up like the Hulk doesn't mean you can hit your friend, and doing the dishes is superhero-worthy work? For more on the topic, follow these links mentioned in the podcast:

+ Marvel cancels two upcoming covers following uproar over new Spider-Woman
+ Violent 'Batgirl' cover pulled after Twitter uproar
+ Mom creates a coloring book to show son that superheroes CAN cry
+ PDF of the coloring book
+ Let Toys Be Toys

What's the superhero situation in your house? Share in the comments, and if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.