2 . It is challenging to teach children about seasonal foods in a modern-day grocery store (杂货店). Having lots of choices of fresh produce from all around the world means that a sense of the seasons is lost. That’s why I like being part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Every week I receive a share of vegetables that comes from a nearby farm. I do not know ahead of time what I’m getting, nor do I have any say on what comes home; I take whatever was harvested earlier that same day, based on the week’s weather conditions, and use them to the best of my ability.

My kids have had a good knowledge of the supply of certain vegetables throughout the harvesting season. They know what it’s like to eat a lot of asparagus (芦笋) until they’re sick of it, only to move on to dark greens and leafy salads, then eggplants, and tomatoes, and finally the root vegetables that mark the arrival of cold weather.

The funny thing is, when you’ve eaten a ton of something for a few weeks, you’re ready to move on to the next crop (作物) and leave the other behind, but when its time comes the following year, the expectation will return. In this way, a CSA share creates excitement at vegetables that can’t be felt when everything can be bought all the time, as it is in a grocery store.

A farmers’ market can offer similar lessons in seasonality to a CSA, but it differs in that you have more choices about what you buy. A CSA share, however, only offers few kinds of vegetables and sometimes fruits, forcing you to work out ways of using them up. I enjoy this challenge because it tests my cooking skills and introduces my family to new and unusual vegetables. What’s more, it is glad to know I’m supporting local farmers by eating what they want to grow, not just what I’m used to eating.

3 . With the rising cost of living, a growing number of adult children are moving back in with their parents. While lots of parents will enjoy the chance to spend more time with their grown-up children, having them move back in can also cause some problems.     1     ?

Sit down and talk

While the situation is clearly hard for the parents, Counselling Directory member Octavia Landy advises them to take a step back. “     2     ,” says Landy. “Talk with your kids. Parents need to find out: How are they? What would they like to happen in their life?”

    3    

When things get heated, it can be easy to just storm off and not really hear each other out. But every effort needs to be made, on both sides, to properly listen. “As parents, you need a cool head,” suggests Landy. “Bring the conversation back to the matter at hand, and listen to your kids.”

Set clear boundaries (界限)

“Boundaries and communication lie at the heart of this difficult situation,” says Landy. “At the moment, it feels as if no boundaries will lead to a sense of anger on your part. Consider what your boundaries look like.     4     . It’s important to check in with your kids on how things are going.”

Ask yourself what you need to feel happy in your home

Landy suggests parents ask themselves what they need to feel happy and safe in their home—and the answer might be a difficult one to come to terms with. “It might mean that you need to ask your kids to leave,” she says. “    5    .”

4 . My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere _________ it. I scrolled through my friends’ _________ into late night and turned my phone on before my eyes were fully open. I enjoyed having it until that day when I realized that what had started as a useful tool had turned into a(n) _________. So, I made a _________ decision to turn off that smartphone and _________ my old dumb phone out of hiding.

When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I _________ picking up the phone and checking out “what everyone else was doing.” Now I had to pay attention or find a way to _________ myself with my thoughts instead. When I visited New York City, I had to write out _________ and ask people where an intersection (十字路口) was _________ pulling out my phone.

I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased __________ from not constantly having to fight with the __________ to check my phone while I’m trying to get something done. I am allowing my thoughts to speak to me instead of my phone. I am connecting with others in a __________ way that isn’t all about me. Instead of always posting about what’s going on in my __________ perfect life, I am connecting with my friends one-on-one, talking about the reality of our lives and being there for them from a place of __________.

As much as having a smartphone was __________, not having one is freeing on a much bigger level.

6 . The phrase "The early bird catches the worm" may be true. It means people who wake up early get more done than people who don’t. Another saying is, "Early to bed, early to rise" makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." Scientists have found that people who go to bed before 11: 00 p. m. may do better in life than people who sleep around 2:30 a.m.

The researchers are from Birmingham's Centre for Human Brain Health in the UK. Their research showed that people who slept and rose early (early birds) had an advantage over people who slept and woke up late(night owls). There were differences in the brain function of early birds and night owls.

The scientists tested 38 people in their research. The people answered questionnaires about their sleeping pattern and when they felt tired during the day. They were then put into an early bird or night owl group based on their answers.

All of the people had MRI scans on their brain and did different tests throughout the day. The researchers said there were big differences between the two groups. The early birds said they felt less sleepy and were able to do the tests quicker than the night owls. The researchers said, "Night owls during school have to get up earlier, then they go into work and they have to get up earlier, so they re constantly having to fight against their bad life habits.”

8 . In recent years, scientists have found a surprising phenomenon: In many cultures around the world, parents don’t struggle to raise helpful, kind kids. From ages 2 to 18, kids want to help their families. They wake up in the morning, voluntarily do the dishes, hop off their bikes to help their dad carry groceries into the house and when somebody hands them a cake, they share it with a younger sister or brother before taking a bite themselves. You can find these charitable kids among farmers, hunters and fishermen,

During the past four years, I’ve been interested in learning what are these parents doing to nurture such helpfulness in their kids? While doing the research, I traveled to three of the world’s most honored cultures — the Maya, Inuit and Hadzabe, and describe what I found in my new book—Hunt, Gather, Parent.

Supported by psychologists, my research result shows that parents raising helpful children welcome young children and babies into family chores and work — even if the child will make a bit of a mess or slow down the work, just opposite to many of American parents. What they say is that, “I know they are not going to do a good job, but to create more work for me.” In fact, turning down help from kids can have a bad influence, destroying their desire to help and possibly stop their desire to take care of their families.

“Given request at an early age, the children would start to act on what’s needed, and then the less likely parents need to be telling them what to do later,” Lew-Levy, a psychologist in Harvard University, says “You can pull back on the teaching, and kids just do it on their own.” But how does a parent let a young baby help with a task they can’t actually do yet — especially a task that may be too dangerous for them? You can find specific instructions in the following chapter.