My Husband Worked from Home for a Day & This Is What Happened

Maurie Backman for Kveller

My husband rarely works from home, and for good reason—because he manages both people and equipment, he’s usually needed at the office. But when I had a doctor’s appointment last week and no one else available to babysit, I decided to ask my husband to work from home rather than drag my 3.5-year-old and twin infants out with me. The plan was to have him do his job out of our home office all day, but take a 90-minute break when I’d be out of the house. Though it ultimately worked just fine, it was an eye-opening experience for both of us.

My poor, unsuspecting husband learned—basically on the fly—that he’d need to follow certain ground rules to coexist peacefully with me and the kids and still get any work done. Namely:

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Are Today’s Parents Getting a Raw Deal?

Rhonda Stephens for The Huffington Post   

Summer 1974. I’m 9 years old. By 7:30 a.m., I’m up and out of the house, or if it’s Saturday I’m up and doing exactly what my father, Big Jerry, has told me to do. Might be raking, mowing, digging holes or washing cars.

Summer 2016. I’m tiptoeing out of the house, on my way to work, in an effort not to wake my children who will undoubtedly sleep until 11 a.m. They may complete a couple of the chores I’ve left in a list on the kitchen counter for them, or they may eat stale Cheez-Its that were left in their rooms three days ago, in order to avoid the kitchen at all costs and “not see” the list.

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Don't Censor What Scares You

By Alana Newhouse for Tablet Magazine   

When I was growing up, my parents and I would spend the second Passover Seder every year at the home of close friends. It was an intense ritual: thirty to forty people, somehow always seeming to range in age from birth to near-death, with many from differing backgrounds and with varying degrees of Jewish knowledge and experience, each offering to the collective his or her own particular investment: fluency in Hebrew and Aramaic, mastery of various commentaries on the Hagaddah, insight into current events, comic relief. Crumb1

My parents had become dedicated, beloved members of their modern Orthodox community, but neither had been raised in an observant home, and so neither had much to offer the group by way of formal religious knowledge. Until, that is, the year that my father stumbled upon “the karpas thing.”

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Passover is just about here, check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit

A ‘Little Einsteins,’ For Little Mensches

By Amy Sara Clark for The Jewish Week   

New cartoon on Jewish values focuses on the ‘why' of Judaism rather than the ‘how.’

When Sarah Lefton began developing a video series for Jewish children, her first thought was to focus on Jewish ritual.

“When it first started, we thought it would be a series about demystifying the Shabbat experience — 50, one-minute videos about what happens on Shabbat,” said Lefton, founder and director of the nonprofit G-dcast, which makes videos and apps for those looking to learn more about Judaism.

But after talking to dozens of parents, it became clear that the families she was trying to reach, those with a “lower knowledge” base, were more interested in how to raise mensches than how to say the motzi. 

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Sending My Daughter to Jewish Summer Camp Sparked My Own Jewish Identity

Julie MacDonald for Kveller

I grew up Christian in a small Maine town. I spent my summers reading a stack of library books and hanging out in the backyard with my sister and neighborhood friends. In fact, I didn’t realize sleepaway camp was a “thing” until I went away to college and my Jewish classmates got teary-eyed discussing their camp experiences.

It baffled me. This is how people spent their summers? They left their families to hang out with people they saw for a few weeks every year while doing crazy stuff, like archery? Didn’t their parents love them?

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Don’t Fall for Those Viral Adoption Posts on Facebook

Leora Elman for Kveller

It seems like such a nice thing. A post on Facebook about a baby looking for adoptive parents. There is usually something unique about this baby’s circumstance—maybe a special medical condition, a specific race or religion, or a certain location.

You have a friend who is struggling with infertility (odds are that you know quite a few—infertility affects 1 in 6 couples trying to conceive). Maybe they even fit the special requirements of this post. So you click that “share” button or tag their name. Probably a long shot, but what’s the harm?

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Homemade Mishloach Manot Baskets for Purim

This week we bring you an article right from our Purim Holiday Spotlight Kit

ToriAvey.com

Purim is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start making Purim baskets – otherwise known as Mishloach Manot! Instead of rushing out to the local craft store for pre-made baskets, why not create homemade baskets with your kids?

These simple woven paper baskets are fun to make and give. They’re made from construction paper, and they’re super easy to put together!

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