The Best of the Rest of the Web: Tumultuous Threes, Inspiring Teachers, and the Importance of Manners

“Before a parent can explain to his child the intricacies of how to behave, he must first get his child to understand that there is a way to behave.”

—Henry Alford (@henryalford), NYC writer and frequent NPR guest, in his 2012 book Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?; this “Modern Guide to Manners” is not new, but it’s so worth discovering if you haven’t already

Teacher of the Year

“Their growth is my reward. I truly believe I am a steward of [my students’] futures, that I can make a difference in their lives. That’s why, no matter what goes on around me at school or in the media or with our politicians, my resolve is strengthened by recalling that my job is for my students. I firmly believe that, and it motivates me to inspire them toward greatness.”

—Mr. Ray (@MrMatthewRay), a.k.a. “Mr. Foteah,” a NYC elementary special educator—who as a child wanted to be the radio voice of the NY Mets but who turned his passion for working with children (crystallized during his years working at summer camps) into his life’s work: teaching; his posts on “From the Desk of Mr. Foteah” cover a broad spectrum of educational issues, from the inspirational to the political

“Like many families, we tend to feel like we’re right out on the edge all the time, sailing too close to the wind. Any one thing—a dead car battery, a sick child pickup from school or camp, a forgotten appointment—sets off a chain reaction of chaos that shifts the atmosphere into one of stress and storm.”

—KJ Dell’Antonia (@KJDellAntonia), in a post on the NYTimes’ Motherlode blog entitled “It’s Easy to Be Happy on a Day Like This”

E: Dad, what does “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” mean?

Me: It means it is hard to get people to do things differently than they are used to doing them. It’s a figure if speech.

E: It’s actually an idiom.

 —@bklyndad: dad, designer, and displaced southerner living in Brooklyn, in a post called “Discussing Rhetorical Devices with my 8-Year-Old”; gotta love it

 “It’s hard being away from my daughter for so many hours a day, so many days and so many giggles missed. But I work this hard now so I can get to the part of our lives when we’ll both come home from our daily routines to our very own dinner table and share our day’s struggles and our future dreams with one another.”

—Sheba Parveez (@zaharas_mommy), a single Long Island-based mom who’s “writing [her] way through separation, divorce, and what comes after, with plenty of motherhood and mania along the way” on her blog, Mommy Masala

Twitter Talk 

@JenowareMS: Seriously who starts a 5yo’s bday party at 6:30 on a Saturday night?? 

@sheri_silver: “The ‘Me’ & the ‘Mom’ are one & the same – the balanced parent I aspire to be every day” http://ow.ly/npJ0e 

@_workingmother_: Working mothers usually don’t work fewer hours, but are more creative with schedules and flex time. #WMBackToSchool 

@HuffPostParents: 15 rules that are apparently not self-evident... huff.to/1cyfEdV 

@nyrhonda212: Terrible twos is a myth. Why didn’t anyone tell me about the tumultuous threes. #bonkers #mykidsarepossessed