chasing answers newsletter #24
Unhappy Halloween, Helicopter parenting, Plastic in our soda, Twitter's best
“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones” - Stephen King
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend!
If you're new and want to check out some past issues, you can do so here.
And as always, if you like what you read, don't be afraid to tap the little heart at the bottom, so I know it didn't suck!
Unhappy Halloween
For the past four years, the last weekend in October has been the biggest weekend of the year for our family.
The reason?
My daughter LOVES Halloween. And where we live, all the trick-or-treating takes place that last weekend of October.
Each year my daughter and my wife start planning months ahead of time for our costumes. They always revolve around one theme. One year it was Star Wars; another, Bambi; last year, it was Moana.
This year was supposed to be Vampires.
However, COVID had different plans for us.
It started with my wife last weekend, jumped to me early and mid-week, and then took hold of my daughter on Friday. By Saturday, we were in the ER with her. She is home now, and things are trending positive, so we are very thankful for that, but as for our Halloween weekend, COVID completely trashed it.
Having COVID sucks. Watching your daughter have it is torture. What made it even worse was the timing.
She has been talking up this weekend for a month, explaining how she and my wife would do their hair like vampires, how they would make me look like I had hair, and how cool everyone would think we looked.
She was devastated. I was devastated for her. I know it could have been much worse, and thank goodness it wasn't, but when you watch your child get so excited about something and see it taken away, and there's nothing you can do about it, it stings.
It's easy to forget that COVID is still a thing, but this week was a brutal reminder for our family. It's still a thing, it's still scary, and it still sucks.
Plastic in our soda
Speaking of scary shit, this article by Roopa Krithivasan, the Director of Research at Defend our Health, highlights some of the most troubling issues with PET plastic.
If there is any one line in here that jumped out at me, it is this.
"We conducted an independent analysis of 20 PET bottled beverages and found that 40 percent of the samples—including products from Pepsi and Coca-Cola—exceeded the California Public Health Goal for antimony in drinking water. Cobalt, an additive that improves the clarity of bottles but is toxic to the nervous system, thyroid, and heart, also turned up in 40 percent of the sampled beverages."
In addition to this chemical migration issue, she does a great job discussing the problems with recycling and why it's not the answer we are all looking for when it comes to plastic.
Helicopter parenting
This article by Esther Wojcicki caught my eye over the weekend.
It discusses why being a helicopter parent is one of the worst things you can do for your kids. I agree with her, but it can be hard not to jump in and help when you see they need it. However, giving them room to make mistakes, learn, and figure it out can go a long way.
Esther is the author of "How to Raise Successful People," and she has done exactly that.
She was a single mom to three daughters, and they've all done…..eh…..pretty well. One is the CEO of Youtube, another is the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe, and the third is a doctor and the Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
If you're a parent, spare a few minutes and give it a read.
Twitter’s best
This is as good as anything I’ve ever seen on Twitter. When I see shit like this, I'm jealous and wish I contained the creative ability to pull off this type of work.
That’s all for now.
I hope you all have a great week!
As always, I would love to hear from you.
If you read something here that resonates with you, leave a comment.
If you would like to discuss something further, shoot me an email.
If there was something you absolutely hated, @ me on Twitter.
And if there is something you think I should be writing about, please let me know.
If you want to see more of my work, visit chasinganswers.co.
Thank you for reading, and if you liked what you read, please share.
randy
"how they would make me look like I had hair"😂
What a rough Halloween, but so happy your daughter is doing better!
Also, that Chevron commercial is GOLD. A much needed laugh-thanks for sharing!