I forgot — yesterday was Freethoughtblogs second birthday. So we’re at the stage where we’re mostly potty-trained, but we say “NO!” a lot and throw the occasional tantrum?
Just wait until next year. Three is the age of Peak Cuteness — we’ll be all adorable and winsome, and we’ll all be thinking we should have another one, but it’s all downhill from there until we hit our teens and start demanding the latest technology so we can chat all night long with the other blog networks.
Oh, yeah, I’ve been there a couple of times.
Yikes! I’ve had kids. I know what the terrible twos are like. Lots and lots of timeouts.
Congratulations to you, Ed, and the other bloggers.
In my experience, three is also the age where lots of things get broken. Which in FtB’s case will hopefully be a very productive thing ;)
In my younger years, when I was working in a pub, one of the regulars came in, looking exhausted and somewhat worn down and said “They talk about the terrible twos, but nobody mentions the fucking threes”. I now understand where he was coming from.
I’m looking forward to watching the network develop into cocksure, strutting, mouthy but loveable brat over the next few years.
Happy birthday.
Group picture!!!
Only one year for the terrible two’s? you were lucky. Most kids go through the terrible two’s until they are 5. Of course at 4 years old, they are able to start arguing with you. Fortunately, nature has made them so cute, so you don’t kill them
See, I think the best years are between 7 and 10. They’re old enough to talk intelligently on topics of interest to adults and kids alike, and young enough not to be too cool to talk to mama.
In fact, I once worked out a formula to give a “Trouble Index”, taking into account the ages and number of children involved. I think it was…1/10th of the difference in age from the golden range (so under 7 or over 10) for all the children, times the number of children, to the exponent of the number of children. So a 5yo and a 12yo would be 2.4^2; a 4yo, 6yo, 8yo, and 10yo would be 5.0 for ages, times 4 for the number, to the fourth power. Yes, it builds up very quickly. :)
1/10th of the absolute difference in age from the golden range (so under 7 or over 10) for all the children,
timesplus the number of children, to the exponent of the number of childrenInevitably, I borked it. It’s fixed above.
Dang, where does one stick the birthday candles on a blog? I’ll try this (fifth one down).
re “terrible 2’s”:
I thought the “modern” “correction” was ‘the terrible twenties‘ ( meaning months, not years). But that just accelerates the schedule, don’t it? But maybe a result of the faster pace we live in these days, not like the slow “olden days”.
Didn’t mean to snipe, just a recollection from when my own kids were in their “twenties” (who are now in their “real” twenties). Movin’ along…
Happy Bday FtB!
CaitieCat, you must be right it’s got a formula, that’s proper science, like in the adverts.
Are you kidding? Two is a piece of cake in our family. Instead, we have “the fucking threes” for some reason. There’s this series called “Your Year Old” with a subtitle summing up a lot of the interaction issues that year. Three is “Friend or Enemy”. That’s pretty accurate.
So FTB has the same birthday as Questionable Content, a webcomic made by Jeph Jacques (who happens to be an atheist).
It just happens that QC is 10 years old to FTB’s 2.
Since I was a high school teacher, I find the teen years to be the most fun.
Yes, they are challenging, but I found that if you treat them like the young adults that they are, truly respect their opinions, and listen to them before giving your own opinion, they can be fun people to be around.
I’ve always thought that teachers can be divided into groups according to their temperaments – There are those who have the patience and temperament to deal with pre-school through 5th grade, there are those of us who truly like teens and do well teaching high school, and then there are the really brave souls who are crazy enough to teach middle school.
I’ve always said that if you gave me a room full of kindergarteners, I would be on the floor crying with them, but give me a room full of high school seniors, and I would soon have them having a reasonable discussion about Roman culture.reat them as the young adults that they are, respect their opinions, and really listen to them before giving your opinions, they can be fun people to be around.
I’ve always thought that teachers are divided into groups, according to
Wow, I wish that we had an edit feature here. My internet connection is slow today, and it took two tries to post, and I wound up with some overlap. Please excuse the repetition in my post.
“Three is the age of Peak Cuteness — we’ll be all adorable and winsome”
What? I thought this was a blog for smart people, people who make judgements based on the evidence! And for your information, Mr. Scientist, my mother has always asserted that at three years old, I was at a zenith of youthful unattractiveness, splotchy, constantly secreting something or other, and very smelly, too. It was so bad she left home and didn’t contact me again until I was 30.
“Adorable and winsome”, forsooth! Do the facts support that conclusion, were you to face them squarely?
Whoa, is that all? It seems like its been a LOT longer for some reason.