Hello hello! Welcome to NewKid, I am excited to have you here! đ
In this newsletter, we will be exploring the singular choices we make as parents, in 2025. You can expect to hear from me every week or so from now on, either sharing my latest podcast episode or else my wanders and learnings, just like I am doing today. Bear with me as I get started and ask candid questions -about AI especially. I am hungrily curious to hear from other thoughtful parents so if you feel like it, letâs get discussions started in the comments, notes or more đď¸!
OK so what happened since you last read me? A few things đą
tl;dr
âbetter done that perfectâ x âjust do it, girlâ : my mantra the past three weeks to get started with this podcast
I feel GREAT doing all this: alive, energised, optimistic âĄď¸
all by myself
I got my hands on some basic equipment to get started ; I didnât do a ton of benchmark tbh, I had warned myself not to fall in the trap of âthe perfect setupâ. I trusted a podcast friend for the wired headphones, my geek buddy Max for the mic, and well, amazon reviews for an adaptor USB-C to HDMI VGA. All this for under 150âŹ.
I have set up my recording space - basically moving the furniture around to get the best natural light possible ; and curated a fancy background, of course
et voilà ⨠lol I sat down with podcast friends to learn from their initial mistakes and get an idea of how to be up to speed quickly with new tools - thank you Sylvana Rochet at Elan Vital and Fabrice Liut !
I benchmarked recording & editing tools, mainly Descript and Riverside. I ended up using Descript for itâs a video editor first, while Riverside is primarily a high quality video recording tool, but I digress ; if you wanna dig into the why, ask me :). Anyways, I am blown away by the countless editing features you can play with, even just minutes after getting started, but the most impressive one is certainly to be able to cut your video⌠from deleting its transcript text! This is nuts.
I scribbled my favorite questions, again and again and again ; what do I wanna learn from parents? what do I wanna dig into? the hardestâs clearly been cutting through the pile, to have a sense of linearity ; but well, f*** it I know these are just conversation starters!
I upgraded my note taking skills. If youâre like me, this is what reading a book and taking notes look like:
or worse, this:
so I started exploring voice notes with Tana ; although not extremely easy to grasp at first, their voice to text feature, wether English or French, is quite remarkable! Might worth the $10/mth. Iâll tell yâa.
and well, probably the most important of all : I recorded my first two episodes đĽ it was fun ! (and serious, too). I am so grateful to these friends for opening up on their parenting journey! Iâll be sharing the first one with you in no time!
mom stuff
#1. them negotiating to watch a cartoon > me negotiating to watch it in english (which they practice at school) or portuguese (which they are familiar with but donât really understand anymore)
Mom, I have an idea! When weâre in France we watch movies in french, when weâre in another country, we watch it the countryâs language - OK maman? And since weâre in France, wellâŚ
Kids 1 - Mom 0
#2. riding back home ; the eldest oneâs asking
- Mom, how many years before I am 13?
- 7
- do you have a phone when youâre 13?
Duh.
#3. them negotiating to watch a cartoon (bis) > me trying to introduce the idea of an animal documentary instead (?)
I donât like documentaries, I donât understand anything; whereas The Creature Cases [a Netflix show for kids], you see, we keep learning new things.
Which I must admit they do. They know species - and their singularities - that Iâve never heard about. Like the common snapping turtle that can razor-bite pretty bad if felt threatened
no time? good. read this.
believe me, I will ONLY share things Iâd enthusiastically read, listen or watch again
đ [book] The Learning Game from Ana Lorena Fabrega (see Fab Fridays ) is killing it. Sheâs opposing the Game of School (learning to fit) with the Learning Game (learning to learn). It is an optimistic, practical, action-oriented book, with many intelligent content you can refer to (my booklist doubled with Anaâs reco!) and practice with your kids. Ana was a teacher for a decade, and later joined Synthesis as their Chief Evangelist.
about Synthesis, my understanding
Synthesis started as an experimental school for the children of SpaceXâs employees, around the question: How can we best prepare our children for the unknown of tomorrow? What should they really be learning in school?
Synthesisâs special curriculum is now available to all. They provide âthe worldâs first superhuman AI math tutorâ (kids aged 5 to 11) as well as problems-solving reality-based games that kids (aged 8 to 14) play in teams, thus practicing decision-making, critical thinking and collaboration. Thatâs the pitch!
đż [series] Adolescence. Everyoneâs been obsessively talking about this series. It moved me. It moved us. Every single episode is insanely intense. I kept thinking about Ruth Whippmanâs book: BoyMom, that somehow moved me too, as a mom of two (privileged, white) boys. The âwhat do we do nowâ for me lies around deep, true, vulnerable, available connection with children, ALL THE TIME. For a thoughtful deep-dive into the series, I recommend
đ° [article] Jenny Andersonâs post:
âDiscussion is to adolescents what cuddles are to infants; necessary for brain developmentâ
đ° [article] ⌠and with a dad angle, Kevin Maguire and his guest Dan Cullen-ShuteWillâs resume:
đš [30â video] {french-speaking-AI-noob, this is for ya} I watched this to better understand how ChatGPT works. You know that already, but ChatGPTâs job is to give you the most plausible answer based on its training, which is very different from truth. The videoâs not so recent but it doesnât matter much, itâs about the mechanics of it; so I enjoyed coming back to the basics. And this guyâs just the best at popularising complex topics. Thanks Maxime Cattet !
đ° [article] I read a brilliant piece from Peter Gray about the decreasing space for autonomy in our childrenâs education over the past century
put it simply:
_children public autonomy started decreasing in the 80s (we went from encouraging independence and competence to guarding and monitoring them) to the point parents start wondering if theyâre even allowed to let them kid walk alone
_children autonomy at home in some way increased BUT for what seems like very basic actions like eating, time to bed or what to wear
_the expectation that children contribute to home economics decreased ; not a surprise but we could be asking ourselves what roles that plays in our childrenâs sense of initiative and confidence?
_messages regarding childrenâs responsibility became increasingly mixed ; aka confusing âhereâs how to be responsible <> I will keep my expectations low anywayâ (so basically showing you youâre not that responsible)
đ¤đď¸ [one-man show] Michael Hirschâs one-man show Peau Fine is a pure gem, an hour of introspection about âla joie de vivreâ as he became a dad ; it is fun, vulnerable, smart, and well documented, youâll learn a ton about the topic. Like, the three ways to deal with a problem (solve it | donât give a fuck | blame yourself or others) or that thereâs not 1 but 19 different smiles on our faces! If youâre a french-speaking person living in France, catch him on his tour - you will LOVE it! Also, he and his wife are a badass, adorable couple!
I think thatâs it for today!
Until next time â¨
Mathilde
Letâs go long life !
This was a rad read. Thank you Mathilde! I've got some things to add to the queue of "this is to become culturally competent here in France"... to watch with E.