DADWAGON

The other night, things were proceeding as usual. Sasha had finished watching 愛探險的Dora (or, as you may know it, “Dora the Explorer”), had guzzled 8 ounces of warm milk, and had just had her teeth brushed by her mother. Then she raced down the hall to the living room, where I sat not writing my [...]

Forget my headline. I actually have a huge sense of admiration for this man, Clifford J. Levy, after reading his story of throwing his children defenseless into the icy waters of Slavic education in the upcoming NYT Magazine. Here’s him setting the stage: My three children once were among the coddled offspring of Park Slope, [...]

As even casual readers of this blog know, Jean and I have been trying to bring Sasha up speaking both English and Chinese. The kid, now 2 and a half, has been going to a bilingual preschool, watching Dora and Spongebob in Chinese, and listening to children’s songs in Chinese. For a long time, it [...]

Dear Amy Chua, Look, I know you’d be disappointed in us. (That is, if you took time off from bathing, Scrooge McDuck-style, in your millions to actually consider the situation.) This week we had the chance to develop our dear little Sasha’s intellect: Her preschool was offering Mandarin-language classes! And quasi-after-school, too, meaning both Jean [...]