He is getting exposed to a lot of radicalization attempts so we constantly have to fight against him parroting MAGA or white supremacist BS that he doesn't recognize as such.

I worry about this so much with D. He mostly follows YouTube channels that review video games, which seems like it should be harmless enough except that genre of channel is almost entirely white American men with too much time on their hands and nobody to challenge their opinions. And the content of the ads is targeted to match (even ad blockers don't filter out the embedded ones), and YIKES.

As someone with both depression and a physical disability, I have more thoughts on this than I know what to do with. I feel employees should most definitely have to make accommodations for people who need to miss work for mental illness. At the same time, I can often pretend I’m not depressed, but I can never pretend I’m not physically disabled.

As someone with depression, I'm not sure how I feel about this...sometimes it can be disabling, but not always. What accommodations does an employer put in place for it?

Especially since treatment for depression isn't covered under many employer health plans.

At minimum, you'd think a requirement to consider depression a disability would be paired with a requirement to cover basic accommodations like...providing mental health care coverage. (I was trying to think of a physical equivalent, but I'm sure there are also employers out there who are, say, legally required to provide accommodations for blind employees - screen readers or allowing service dogs in the office - but don't offer a basic vision plan for employees who just need glasses.)

Jessica, somewhat akin to my desire to not see any company allowed to March in the pride parade unless they not only have non discrimination regs on their books but also fund trans healthcare?

meara, exactly!

I haven't yet had to take any time off because of a migraine, just doctors' appointments here and there, which my manager is great about. It's not supposed to make a difference if you told them when you got hired or later, but I figured it couldn't hurt.

Yep, these are all the things that are making me conflicted. I know my depression has affected my ability to show up for my job from time to time, but more often it's made me really good at my job, so it's kind of the opposite of a disability. So am I taking up a space that could have gone to someone with a serious ability mismatch? (In this particular job, no...but in general).

A friend of mine who has been diagnosed with autism jokes that she's one of the few "out" people on the spectrum at her gov't agency. She estimates about 10-15% of the workforce is on the spectrum. For much of the work that agency does, this is ideal and will lead to personal and mission success. Another friend of mine who uses a wheelchair left that agency and career, though, because while brilliant at her job, all the opportunities for promotion were closed to her (like, she couldn't just hop in a car and go meet with a congressperson's office, so peers who could and did got promoted).

My migraines are almost always right before a big change in the weather - I am a human barometer - and I can almost always just go home/not come in. My new company does the Netflix thing - you don't accrue leave, you just take off when you need to and they expect you to be an adult about it - so I don't anticipate any issues there.

My migraines are almost always right before a big change in the weather - I am a human barometer

#TeamBarometer

But it's been so much worse than we imagined.

My kids are failing. I feel like a failure.

Oliver just flat out quit working on their assignments and is so far behind we don’t know what to do.

There is zero self-motivation. We took cell phones and non-school computers away for periods of time but it seemed to make things worse.

I finally started bringing Oliver into work with me so they can a)get away from the house and b) not have as many distractions.

We are still looking at summer school. My kids need more structure than I can give them at home with both parents working.

We are sending Oliver back to part time, blended learning next semester. Maybe face to face with teachers will actually be what they need.

Owen is more withdrawn. I know he’s struggling with gender identity but doesn’t want to discuss it with us and I think he just can’t wait to be out on his own—the only problem is he is balking on college and not sure what to do.

Cashmere, I feel so sorry for the kids. C is a college junior, was always a top student, isn't sure he's going to pass all his classes this semester, and could lose his scholarship. He found himself in a situation very like Oliver's. If it helps to tell them that, please feel free. Much love to them, to Owen, and to you.

More people than not are going through this. Structure is C's big problem, too. He is someone who needs it to thrive, and adapts to it well, but isn't good (yet?) at establishing it for himself.

I'm 53, and I'm not good at it, either.