【推荐3】Think about what you are able to do if you find yourself in a survival situation. If you don’t want to fall into despair, you should learn some outdoor skills.     1     The following are some outdoor skills you should learn:

Build an emergency shelter. If it’s still winter where you live, find a pile of snow and learn how to build a cave. Don’t dig straight but create a wider space in the back. Make a small hole through a wall to let in fresh air.     2    

Navigate in the old way. Get out your map and compass and start going over those skills you likely learned as a kid.     3     Ask others to hide something and then give you a starting point, a searching direction and some type of tips. Then you have to try your best lo find the hidden thing.

Go over building fires. If you haven’t learnt how to start a fire in the woods, now is the time. Even a 3-year-old knows how to strike matches on top of red needle to start a fire. The older you are, the more complex you can be with fire starting.     4     Add a little chemistry by lighting steel wool on fire with a battery.

    5     It’s spring, and if you don’t have a garden yet, now is a good time to start putting one in the ground and learn how to grow basic vegetables. Then put yourself in charge of watering and working on weeding, learning what you should do in the garden. You also can head into the woods to harvest native plants.

【推荐1】A recent survey in the US found that Gen Z-ers and Millennials (千禧一代) visit libraries more often than their parents or grandparents. The young love libraries because they are secure, comfortable, free and — as my 11-year-old would say — “aesthetic”. This means they look good in the background of an Instagram post or TikTok video. It’s also a great place to meet people. If you’re both young and in a library, chances are you have similar interests.

And then, too, there are the books. Gen Z-ers are turning out to be big readers, especially of paper books. Even though, or perhaps because, they have in their pockets the most limitlessly distracting devices ever invented, many are deliberately choosing to pick up a piece of 15th-century technology instead. They like the fact that books are self-contained and require concentration.

There is, sometimes, a sense of nostalgic (怀旧的) cosplay in the way young people read. In New York, for example, the latest TikTok-fuelled craze is reading with strangers in bars. You have to buy a ticket in advance, and then you all gather and sit in silence for 30 minutes, reading whatever book you’ve brought along. Like an expensive version of going to the library, except that afterwards you all have a drink and talk about books.

The very thought of it makes me suffer, but that’s because I’m a child of the 1970s and 80s. To me, reading is a private pleasure, while screens — TV or cinema — are social. I did once, in a fit of ambitious parenting, introduce a “family reading hour”, during which my husband and children were pressed to join me at the fireside for some silent reading. It could not have felt more performative if we had dressed up in top hats and crinolines (旧时的衬裙). But still, I applaud these young readers — for knowing what is good for them, for seeking out human connection, for finding the beauty and pleasure in old institutions, and for bringing new life to the library.

【推荐2】As a published author, reading the reviews of your book is really a good habit. If you are not, you are missing out on something. Indeed, there are some writers who refuse to read reviews just as there are actors, directors or musicians who don't want to know what other people say about their works. That's their right.     1    .

The number one reason for doing this is that a positive review which tells you your book is just fine will make you feel good.     2    . You will copy the review and send it to your writer friends, your family, your children's teacher, in fact anyone who happens to be in your address book. This good review can help get rid of any doubts you might have had about it.

    3    . You might cry, or throw things at your computer monitor or shout. You still might copy it and send it to your writer friends or even your family so that they will share your blues or other feelings caused by the review.     4    , you might learn something from that review.

For example, a reviewer you know said your plot is thin. Have another look at your book. She might be right and you can learn from that. Or she might be wrong and you can learn not to submit future books to her for review because she doesn't know what she's talking about.     5    , there's a good chance that the reviewers are right and you can choose to be beaten or to work on the points they have identified in your next book.

【推荐3】I'd always loved the idea of reading to kids when I was a teen and sworn that by the time I had children of my own, I'd read to them as often as possible. Even when my older son was a baby, I read to him every single night. As time went on, it became a place, a time of bonding, of uninterrupted connectivity, of non — formal learning and deep joy. Bedtime stories became an essential part in our household.

In the days and months after my older son's autism （自 闭症）assessment, sleeplessness would raise its ugly head so frequently. I read as much literature and observed my son as much as I could. I decided that even routinizing something as simple as preparation for bed may be key to both him and the rest of the household getting a good night's sleep.

“Our Bedtime Routine” was thus born. I made sure to include a massage （按摩）as often as possible. Even a cup of delicious hot chocolate was part of the schedule. But central to our routine was a bedtime story. Having a solid bedtime routine meant that most days，my sons had a good start to their next day.

My older son still struggled with the simple yet challenging business of falling asleep. There has been a bedtime story program where local stories are being read to children on social media. Three of my very own stories were read on this program? Read2MeTT. When my older son again struggled to close his eyes, I, inspired by Read2MeTT and recalling our old routine? read one of my stories to my sons.

At 16, my older son's too old for a bedtime story, too old to be comforted by the gift of a nightly tale. Or is he? For the first time in over a month, my older son smiled, pulled up his sheets and simply went to sleep.