Captain underpants and seeing them at scholastic book fairs are such deeply nostalgic parts of my childhood

I remember them generally sucking a lot less than diary of a wimpy kid in terms of what they model for children

Hmm. Yeah not getting any feedback from him as to what the struggle is feels like it’d be really frustrating as a parent, trying to figure out what to do to support him

Neurodivergence does tend to get passed down so its definitely worth keeping back of mind. But yeah I can see how that’d make sensory issues feel like a less likely explanation

Sending love, I hope you’re able to find a path that takes things in a direction that works well for the both of you, this seems like kind of a challenging situation to navigate as his dad

The handwashing struggle reminds me of autism or adhd and sensory overload- doesn’t mean he’s on the spectrum, but you might do some research and keep your eyes open for for other signs. If hes on the spectrum diagnosis is easier as a child, and there may be resources for both you and him

I have ADHD and was a pretty sensitive child myself, and struggled with the sensory feeling of hand washing for long time

This is why I wish we focused more on structural problems as a society. It feels easy to get stuck in looking at the superficial scale at which problems exist, without engaging with how the systems and institutions played a role in creating that reality at scale.

“This company sold out”, “this cop did something bad”, “this person committed a crime”, etc.

Why did those things happen? They’re all a part of a larger structural issue, and I think there’s limited helpfulness in engaging with it on a case by case basis beyond righting wrongs. But our outrage and efforts really need to focus on fixing the structural problems that create all these small examples within the bigger picture

Not saying that to critisize op, I get thats not the point of the post. Just sharing what’s becoming a big political realization for me as a learn more about politics and try to engage more critically with how we solve our problems :)