by Ari Yares | Dec 7, 2016 | The Innovative Dad Blog
I never particularly cared for the cliché that “curiosity killed the cat.” It has always struck me as a way of conflating curiosity with senseless risk taking. The cat wasn’t killed because it was curious; it died because it made poor choices when assessing a...
by Ari Yares | Nov 24, 2016 | The Innovative Dad Blog
Many parents view parent-teacher conferences as a necessary evil. Frequently, they are inconveniently scheduled, causing you to take a day off from work (either to attend or to watch your kids). And they are short because the teacher had to get through a whole bunch...
by Ari Yares | Nov 18, 2016 | Design Thinking, Menu Planning, The Innovative Dad Blog
Packing school lunch is one of my least favorite tasks as a parent. It has to happen every school day. And then happens again the following night. Then, the lunches come home, often not completely eaten, with the kids complaining about what you packed and saying that...
by Ari Yares | Nov 8, 2016 | Design Thinking, The Innovative Dad Blog
No, that’s not a typo. My kids are not Vulcans. They are, however, volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Hence, VUCA. The Harvard Business Review defines VUCA as one of those trendy management catch phrases which is short for “Hey, it’s crazy...
by Ari Yares | Oct 26, 2016 | The Innovative Dad Blog
No, the changes in the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics does not mean that you can just drop your 12-month-old in front of the television. There’s a pretty big asterisk in their recommendation. Most of the buzz on the appointment has...
by Ari Yares | Oct 7, 2016 | 21st Century Learning
Imagine if you could encourage literacy simply by having a family visit the grocery store? That’s the idea behind a recent story covered by NPR. It shared the results of a small study about a placing signs in grocery stores to encourage conversations between...
by Ari Yares | Sep 30, 2016 | School Leadership, School Psychology
A parent was describing how best child’s school was so proud that they had added 20 minutes of mindfulness during the school week. I had this feeling that I was listening to a late night infomercial. The infomercial in my head went something like this:...
by Ari Yares | Sep 22, 2016 | The Innovative Dad Blog
As much as we had wanted to spend time with our kids, my wife and I were quickly becoming frustrated with our kids’ morning and afternoon routines. It was filled with nagging, yelling, and everyone generally being miserable. This was not a recipe for a happy...
by Ari Yares | Sep 16, 2016 | 21st Century Learning, Design Thinking
Like many parents at this time of year, I am somewhat dreading “Back to School Night.” It’s not out of any sense of school phobia or flashbacks to my own education. After all, I’ve spent my entire professional life working in schools. I’m...
by Ari Yares | Sep 6, 2016 | 21st Century Learning, Design Thinking, Writings
The school year has started and many educators are already talking about failure. This isn’t the failure that many of us are familiar with from school (not from personal experience, just from being in school. It isn’t the glaringly big red F that we...
