Recent Posts

Teachable Moment Goes Up in Flames By Wendy Thomas Russell | May 17, 2012

So I’m setting up my daughter’s dollhouse with her last night when she holds up a mouse and a bunny. “Which one should be the mommy?” she asks. “The bunny,” I say. “But the daddy’s a mouse,” she says. “That’s okay,” I say. “A bunny can marry a mouse.” Then the lightbulb: This here is what they call a teachable moment! “You know, Maxine,” I say, already feeling pretty proud of myself, “you don’t have to look alike to get married. You know how black people marry white people, or tall people marry short people, [...] Read more – ‘Teachable Moment Goes Up in Flames’.

Religious Parent, Secular Child: The New Culture Clash By Wendy Thomas Russell | May 14, 2012

I was quoted in the New York Times Magazine’s Sixth Floor Blog a couple of weeks ago, which, admittedly, is not the same as being quoted in the New York Times — or even the New York Times Magazine — but, hey, it’s still pretty cool. The writer singled me out because she liked my term “first-generation secular,” which she read in the Psychology Today piece I told you about here. The NYTMSFB’s (!) mention has me think about that term — “first-generation secular” — and what makes it so appealing. I think it’s because so many of us in America are [...] Read more – ‘Religious Parent, Secular Child: The New Culture Clash’.

Changing Minds Is More Fun When It’s Your Own By Wendy Thomas Russell | May 10, 2012

Yesterday I was helping a friend put together a digital photo book for her daughter. She had arranged all the pictures herself, and I was going through the book adding text and repositioning things. In looking through the photos she had discarded, I found some great shots. I mean, really great shots. Some of them were the sort of unstaged, unscripted family shots that tell a real story. Others were just adorable pictures of her daughter that I couldn’t believe she’d overlooked. I really wanted to make the book as good as it could be, [...] Read more – ‘Changing Minds Is More Fun When It’s Your Own’.

My Kid is Ignorant — Isn’t That Hilarious? By Wendy Thomas Russell | May 7, 2012

After I wrote my blog last week about cute conversations nonreligous parents have with their kids, a reader sent me a link to a post on the Friendly Atheist website about actress Julia Sweeney. Run by a guy named Hermant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist is a great site — mostly because of its Ask Richard segment — but isn’t always very “friendly,” if you ask me. The post told of a recent experience Sweeney (Letting Go of God) had while introducing her 9-year-old daughter, Mulan, to the movie Jesus Christ Superstar. Sweeney wrote: I thought maybe it was a good way for [...] Read more – ‘My Kid is Ignorant — Isn’t That Hilarious?’.

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