Mango Minds

My mother loves white beaches, rolling waves, and warm water, so each summer we joined the ranks of most of The South, packed up our car, and headed to Florida. Of course we always traveled by car, and, coming from personal experience, Texas is a large state, so these annual road trips meant some ten-plus hours nonstop that my brother, sister and I had to endure in the car together.   Sharing a confined space, such as a car, requires a great deal of self-control, specifically body control. And so, on one of these voyages, when my younger brother, probably 5 years old at the time, had some digestive issues that caused him to become gassy, it pretty much caused general olfactory discomfort for the whole family. Instead of stopping the car for a bathroom break, hating to lose-out on the good time that we were making on the road, my father’s response was what is now one of his classic fatherly lines, “Now, son, you can control that.” After her outburst of laughter, my moth...

My two-year-old son’s favorite word is “almost,” and he uses it to describe his endless attempts to score a basket, catch a ball or make a goal. He loves this word, because it indicates an opportunity to play just a little longer, “almost, Mami, otra vez!” and so he gleefully misses several attempts on purpose, or not, knowing that I’ll play along until he makes that one last shot. I’m sure this word pops up these days with your own children as they talk about the fact that we’re not quite done with the school year but ALMOST. There is still a little bit more time to learn, time with our classmates and friends, time with our teacher, time in the routine that, even though it can be hard, marks our lives so dramatically. This is a time of celebrating, of closures, presentations, final fieldtrips, and goodbyes. It is an exciting time for children, but also one that causes disequilibrium, because on top of the impending change, we are all tired.  We assume that since vacation...