That’s a bummer. How about the Fightin’ Gaelea Baens? It’s a beetle, and it’s pronounced “Jelly Bean.”

There are a whole bunch of minor league team names that are fun. There are teams called the Jumbo Shrimp, the Iron Pigs, the Flying Squirrels, the River Bandits, and all of them have fun logos already available on baseball hats.

There is of course the question of copyrights, but there are three good reasons why you probably don’t need to worry about getting sued. First, it would be unbelievably bad press for any major or minor league or team to sue a bunch of tiny fans. Second, you’ll probably be buying a bunch of merchandise like hats and banners with their logos on it (assuming you aren’t printing your own using their logos). Third, they would probably get laughed out of court at the notion that a multi-million dollar franchise needs to differentiate itself from the sandlot kids in diapers. You’re not profiting from the name or logo (right?), and they have better things to do with their time than volunteer to be the villain in the court of public opinion.

Edit to add some more: Trash Pandas, Rumble Ponies, Sod Poodles, Yard Goats, Blue Wahoos, AquaSox, RubberDucks, PaddleHeads, Hot Rods, Cannon Ballers, and the Baby Cakes.

I recently heard someone say that the problem with making fun of a shitheel for something that they can’t help is that you’re also making fun of all the people with the same condition. And they don’t deserve that.

So I’ll apologize to all the people who have become disingenuous dipshits who deny all of science because a worm ate part of their brains.

I mean, that ship sailed as soon as the brain worm guy was put in charge.

Shout is really effective in the moment at interrupting a process. I hate shouting, too, but sometimes it’s necessary (and sometimes I lose my temper, but that’s unintentional and is followed by an apology). Teaching a child empathy is a slow and constant process where the results aren’t always immediately apparent.

You also don’t want the punishment to be emotionally cruel. Like I wouldn’t suggest you take her beloved toy away to replace something stolen. I wouldn’t probibit a child from attending a party or experience that may not happen again. Parents sometimes feel like “something bad” needs to be emotionally devastating, or rigidly absolute. I had a friend in high school who missed his prom because he got a bad grade on an exam.

Regarding the apology being sincere, of course it’s better to make an effort even if she isn’t sincere, but the point is to make her actually feel bad for what she did, not because she was punished but because she understands how it made someone else feel. Some lessons aren’t learned the first time, and the vast majority of people will make the same mistake more than once.

It’s entirely normal, and not a failure of morals or parenting, for young children to lie and steal. She’s learning how to be a person in a brain that’s been conditioned to survive above all else. All morality is built on empathy, and all empathy is learned.

Anger and fear are not the best choice to get her to stop. Punishments and yelling will just train her to hide her bad choices from you. I would absolutely not involve third parties like the police. She is learning how to be a person from you, and if you threaten her with outside societal punishments, she will stop trusting that you are the best source of morality.

It’s important to build trust. She needs to be comfortable telling you when she has done something you won’t like. She should understand and believe that things are better when she makes good choices.

Taking away desserts works as a punishment because she is losing something good. Natural consequences are best because her developing brain will make stronger connections between cause and effect, but you want her to learn to feel empathy for her victim. I wouldn’t ask her to give up something that isn’t

The best response is to have a conversation with her about how it feels to have something stolen from her. Maybe share a story about something that was stolen from you, and ask her to identify the feelings you would have felt. You want her to internalize the feeling of guilt, because that’s the voice in her head reminding her to ignore the desire to take something she wants.

If she thinks, “I want this, but the police might come get me” then the desire voice will whisper “then we better not get caught!” If she thinks “I want this, but taking it will hurt someone” then it makes no difference if she hides the crime from her parents. She might still steal and then lie avout it because she is ashamed, but that’s where the trust pays off. Eventually, you want her to generalize that empathy to think “I shouldn’t steal because this makes the world a worse place.”

TLDR: Don’t yell, definitely don’t threaten with the police, talk with her about feelings and help her understand how it feels to have something good taken away (like dessert). Also, encourage her to apologize, but only if she sincerely feels sorry. You’re not a bad parent, and she’s not a bad kid. People aren’t good or bad, it their choice that are good or bad.

Nope.

Lock it down until they understand stuff like sex and death and propaganda and trolls. You don’t want them learning that shit on tiktok.

Oh yeah, it’s the generally safe at a short distance, but people do stupid shit all the time, like light fires in enclosed spaces, or cook over a tire fire.

Styrofoam also releases toxic fumes when it burns. So as a firestarter, it’s great in an emergency. For a campfire, don’t sit too close or cook your marshmallows on it.

Right to repair won’t be retroactive. The cellphones will still have been epoxied around a battery designed to fail after two years. Hardware that can be repaired won’t be supported by new software, and the new replaceable parts will not fit into products that were built before the right to repair was enshrined in law.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good step in the right direction, and I applaud your effort to reuse and repurpose. Anything kept from the landfill is a win. But you can go ahead and start repairing stuff now. Void warranties, because the warranties are already proven to be worthless. Jailbreak old devices, unlock your tractors, and use open source everything. Better still, stop buying products that can’t be repaired.