One cool thing King Arthur Flour does is travel to schools and teach kids to bake bread (free): [link]

Cooking is great for math skills, among other things. Especially since we use the wacky not-metric system of measurements!

but you need the parents to have the ability and the interest to continue that when they are food shopping for the family.

And the energy. I barely have enough energy to cook and shop for healthy food in a food desert with no car, as a single person with a stable job.

Of course, riding the bus in a city where public transportation is not so good has made me a lot more sympathetic to this sort of issue. If I had kids I think it would be a full-time job, on the bus just to take them to and fro from school (in Rochester, you are pretty much expected to do that) and get food and clothing.

Cooking is great for math skills, among other things. Especially since we use the wacky not-metric system of measurements!

Bring back home-ec! For everyone, though, not just the girls.

Yeah, that NYT guy turned down a job that's $11,000 a year more than I make, and I'm 37 and have two Master's degrees. (I mean, if making money was my heart's desire, I could have chosen a different profession, but seriously, let me wipe away my tears with my PLASTIC HAND).

I do kinda feel for that dude (admittedly I just skimmed the article). It sounds like his boomer parents were successful, and he knows he's supposed to be, but success (at least from my perspective) seems more elusive now. He is dreading the convo with his parents, so it doesn't sound like he expects to just loaf on their dime.

ita, I could share some of Grace's blend with you! This one is actually tasty if you like strawberries.... and it's 1.1 calorie per mL.

I mean, if making money was my heart's desire, I could have chosen a different profession

At my MLS program orientation, the very first thing the dean said was, "If you're here because you think you'll be making big bucks as a librarian, you are seriously mistaken."

Except he has been doing exactly that - loafing on their dime - for two years already, and he expects to come right out of a (IMO second-tier) liberal arts school and get a job in finance making $75K a year like his brother did right away. His father and grandfather, the article notes, both worked their way up, they didn't expect a high level job when they were just starting.

Kids will eat almost anything they've helped to create, even if it's something as simple as letting them hand you stuff out of the refrigerator.

Well, that's not true of every kid. I was hanging out with the moms of a super picky 4-year old and a super picky 2-year old last night and they've tried every trick to get the girls to eat different things. And they just won't. The 4 year old has verrrrrrry slowly added things (like apples, for example) into her mostly chip-based repertoire but it's been rough going. the 4 year old has a twin brother who is a total omnivore so her mom at least knows it's not nurture that's making her daughter so picky. They do have a big garden growing right now and the 4 year old claims she will eat stuff she's grown. We'll see. She's mostly interested in the "baby peanut" (they planted a peanut plant).

Except he has been doing exactly that - loafing on their dime - for two years already, and he expects to come right out of a (IMO second-tier) liberal arts school and get a job in finance making $75K a year like his brother did right away.

My parents certainly helped me out during my post-Drive / strike-induced unemployment. But, at some point, you gotta man up and take the job you don't really want to take. Also, I was expected to pay them back.