The timeout placebo

I'm not sure the timeout works as a technique for encouraging proper behavior in young children. What I'm starting to think is that its main advantage is what it isn't. It might not achieve much, but at least it's not actively harmful like spanking or some other kind of physical punishment might be. It allows parents to they feel like they're doing something, while protecting children from their parents, and parents from the consequences of their bad decisions. If only for that reason it's worth doing.

Deciding when to have children

Every year you delay having kids is one less year of their lives you will see before you die.

Blackout windows

If you have, say, a 3-year old* who has trouble sleeping when there's lightning out, you can use painter's paper and painter's tape to improvise a quick opaque window covering. The 3-foot wide paper is perfect for our windows. That only really works as a one-off. If it comes up more frequently, just get some big sheets of cheap, stiff, opaque material like paper board or poster board. Assemble a single piece exactly the right size to fit inside the window frame, and just squeeze it in. Or you can make it big enough to fit all the way around and over the window frame. Then just tack, tape, or hook in place (if you need it a lot, mount hooks in the wall).

* She didn't have this problem before 3, so don't assume you're safe.

Nobody makes you mad like your kids

Especially if that kid is 3 years old. I think I figured out why. With everyone else, you can always say, "screw this," and leave. You have no escape from your kids. I have learned a huge amount of sympathy for single parents.

optimizing children's sleep schedules

Adjusting Uma's schedule earlier by 45 minutes has made a big difference. She seems happier, rarely wakes up at night (knock wood), and goes to sleep more easily, both for her nap and at night. She still sleeps about the same amount; it just appears that waking up at 7:30am and going to bed a little after 8pm work better for her rhythms than waking up at 8:15am and going to bed a little before 9pm. Waking her up at 7:30am seems like a pretty good way to encourage her to keep her napping in the afternoon, which is pretty important with a baby in the house.