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A narrative essay is one of the most intimidating assignments you can be handed at any level of your education. Where you've previously written argumentative essays that make a point or analytic essays that dissect meaning, a narrative essay asks you to write what is effectively a story .

But unlike a simple work of creative fiction, your narrative essay must have a clear and concrete motif —a recurring theme or idea that you’ll explore throughout. Narrative essays are less rigid, more creative in expression, and therefore pretty different from most other essays you’ll be writing.

But not to fear—in this article, we’ll be covering what a narrative essay is, how to write a good one, and also analyzing some personal narrative essay examples to show you what a great one looks like.

What Is a Narrative Essay?

At first glance, a narrative essay might sound like you’re just writing a story. Like the stories you're used to reading, a narrative essay is generally (but not always) chronological, following a clear throughline from beginning to end. Even if the story jumps around in time, all the details will come back to one specific theme, demonstrated through your choice in motifs.

Unlike many creative stories, however, your narrative essay should be based in fact. That doesn’t mean that every detail needs to be pure and untainted by imagination, but rather that you shouldn’t wholly invent the events of your narrative essay. There’s nothing wrong with inventing a person’s words if you can’t remember them exactly, but you shouldn’t say they said something they weren’t even close to saying.

Another big difference between narrative essays and creative fiction—as well as other kinds of essays—is that narrative essays are based on motifs. A motif is a dominant idea or theme, one that you establish before writing the essay. As you’re crafting the narrative, it’ll feed back into your motif to create a comprehensive picture of whatever that motif is.

For example, say you want to write a narrative essay about how your first day in high school helped you establish your identity. You might discuss events like trying to figure out where to sit in the cafeteria, having to describe yourself in five words as an icebreaker in your math class, or being unsure what to do during your lunch break because it’s no longer acceptable to go outside and play during lunch. All of those ideas feed back into the central motif of establishing your identity.

The important thing to remember is that while a narrative essay is typically told chronologically and intended to read like a story, it is not purely for entertainment value. A narrative essay delivers its theme by deliberately weaving the motifs through the events, scenes, and details. While a narrative essay may be entertaining, its primary purpose is to tell a complete story based on a central meaning.

Unlike other essay forms, it is totally okay—even expected—to use first-person narration in narrative essays. If you’re writing a story about yourself, it’s natural to refer to yourself within the essay. It’s also okay to use other perspectives, such as third- or even second-person, but that should only be done if it better serves your motif. Generally speaking, your narrative essay should be in first-person perspective.

Though your motif choices may feel at times like you’re making a point the way you would in an argumentative essay, a narrative essay’s goal is to tell a story, not convince the reader of anything. Your reader should be able to tell what your motif is from reading, but you don’t have to change their mind about anything. If they don’t understand the point you are making, you should consider strengthening the delivery of the events and descriptions that support your motif.

Narrative essays also share some features with analytical essays, in which you derive meaning from a book, film, or other media. But narrative essays work differently—you’re not trying to draw meaning from an existing text, but rather using an event you’ve experienced to convey meaning. In an analytical essay, you examine narrative, whereas in a narrative essay you create narrative.

The structure of a narrative essay is also a bit different than other essays. You’ll generally be getting your point across chronologically as opposed to grouping together specific arguments in paragraphs or sections. To return to the example of an essay discussing your first day of high school and how it impacted the shaping of your identity, it would be weird to put the events out of order, even if not knowing what to do after lunch feels like a stronger idea than choosing where to sit. Instead of organizing to deliver your information based on maximum impact, you’ll be telling your story as it happened, using concrete details to reinforce your theme.

3 Great Narrative Essay Examples

One of the best ways to learn how to write a narrative essay is to look at a great narrative essay sample. Let’s take a look at some truly stellar narrative essay examples and dive into what exactly makes them work so well.

A Ticket to the Fair by David Foster Wallace

Today is Press Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, and I’m supposed to be at the fairgrounds by 9:00 A.M. to get my credentials. I imagine credentials to be a small white card in the band of a fedora. I’ve never been considered press before. My real interest in credentials is getting into rides and shows for free. I’m fresh in from the East Coast, for an East Coast magazine. Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish. I think they asked me to do this because I grew up here, just a couple hours’ drive from downstate Springfield. I never did go to the state fair, though—I pretty much topped out at the county fair level. Actually, I haven’t been back to Illinois for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve missed it.

Throughout this essay, David Foster Wallace recounts his experience as press at the Illinois State Fair. But it’s clear from this opening that he’s not just reporting on the events exactly as they happened—though that’s also true— but rather making a point about how the East Coast, where he lives and works, thinks about the Midwest.

In his opening paragraph, Wallace states that outright: “Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish.”

Not every motif needs to be stated this clearly , but in an essay as long as Wallace’s, particularly since the audience for such a piece may feel similarly and forget that such a large portion of the country exists, it’s important to make that point clear.

But Wallace doesn’t just rest on introducing his motif and telling the events exactly as they occurred from there. It’s clear that he selects events that remind us of that idea of East Coast cynicism , such as when he realizes that the Help Me Grow tent is standing on top of fake grass that is killing the real grass beneath, when he realizes the hypocrisy of craving a corn dog when faced with a real, suffering pig, when he’s upset for his friend even though he’s not the one being sexually harassed, and when he witnesses another East Coast person doing something he wouldn’t dare to do.

Wallace is literally telling the audience exactly what happened, complete with dates and timestamps for when each event occurred. But he’s also choosing those events with a purpose—he doesn’t focus on details that don’t serve his motif. That’s why he discusses the experiences of people, how the smells are unappealing to him, and how all the people he meets, in cowboy hats, overalls, or “black spandex that looks like cheesecake leotards,” feel almost alien to him.

All of these details feed back into the throughline of East Coast thinking that Wallace introduces in the first paragraph. He also refers back to it in the essay’s final paragraph, stating:

At last, an overarching theory blooms inside my head: megalopolitan East Coasters’ summer treats and breaks and literally ‘getaways,’ flights-from—from crowds, noise, heat, dirt, the stress of too many sensory choices….The East Coast existential treat is escape from confines and stimuli—quiet, rustic vistas that hold still, turn inward, turn away. Not so in the rural Midwest. Here you’re pretty much away all the time….Something in a Midwesterner sort of actuates , deep down, at a public event….The real spectacle that draws us here is us.

Throughout this journey, Wallace has tried to demonstrate how the East Coast thinks about the Midwest, ultimately concluding that they are captivated by the Midwest’s less stimuli-filled life, but that the real reason they are interested in events like the Illinois State Fair is that they are, in some ways, a means of looking at the East Coast in a new, estranging way.

The reason this works so well is that Wallace has carefully chosen his examples, outlined his motif and themes in the first paragraph, and eventually circled back to the original motif with a clearer understanding of his original point.

When outlining your own narrative essay, try to do the same. Start with a theme, build upon it with examples, and return to it in the end with an even deeper understanding of the original issue. You don’t need this much space to explore a theme, either—as we’ll see in the next example, a strong narrative essay can also be very short.

Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf

After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again.

In this essay, Virginia Woolf explains her encounter with a dying moth. On surface level, this essay is just a recounting of an afternoon in which she watched a moth die—it’s even established in the title. But there’s more to it than that. Though Woolf does not begin her essay with as clear a motif as Wallace, it’s not hard to pick out the evidence she uses to support her point, which is that the experience of this moth is also the human experience.

In the title, Woolf tells us this essay is about death. But in the first paragraph, she seems to mostly be discussing life—the moth is “content with life,” people are working in the fields, and birds are flying. However, she mentions that it is mid-September and that the fields were being plowed. It’s autumn and it’s time for the harvest; the time of year in which many things die.

In this short essay, she chronicles the experience of watching a moth seemingly embody life, then die. Though this essay is literally about a moth, it’s also about a whole lot more than that. After all, moths aren’t the only things that die—Woolf is also reflecting on her own mortality, as well as the mortality of everything around her.

At its core, the essay discusses the push and pull of life and death, not in a way that’s necessarily sad, but in a way that is accepting of both. Woolf begins by setting up the transitional fall season, often associated with things coming to an end, and raises the ideas of pleasure, vitality, and pity.

At one point, Woolf tries to help the dying moth, but reconsiders, as it would interfere with the natural order of the world. The moth’s death is part of the natural order of the world, just like fall, just like her own eventual death.

All these themes are set up in the beginning and explored throughout the essay’s narrative. Though Woolf doesn’t directly state her theme, she reinforces it by choosing a small, isolated event—watching a moth die—and illustrating her point through details.

With this essay, we can see that you don’t need a big, weird, exciting event to discuss an important meaning. Woolf is able to explore complicated ideas in a short essay by being deliberate about what details she includes, just as you can be in your own essays.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

On the twenty-ninth of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month before this, while all our energies were concentrated in waiting for these events, there had been, in Detroit, one of the bloodiest race riots of the century. A few hours after my father’s funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker’s chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the third of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass.

Like Woolf, Baldwin does not lay out his themes in concrete terms—unlike Wallace, there’s no clear sentence that explains what he’ll be talking about. However, you can see the motifs quite clearly: death, fatherhood, struggle, and race.

Throughout the narrative essay, Baldwin discusses the circumstances of his father’s death, including his complicated relationship with his father. By introducing those motifs in the first paragraph, the reader understands that everything discussed in the essay will come back to those core ideas. When Baldwin talks about his experience with a white teacher taking an interest in him and his father’s resistance to that, he is also talking about race and his father’s death. When he talks about his father’s death, he is also talking about his views on race. When he talks about his encounters with segregation and racism, he is talking, in part, about his father.

Because his father was a hard, uncompromising man, Baldwin struggles to reconcile the knowledge that his father was right about many things with his desire to not let that hardness consume him, as well.

Baldwin doesn’t explicitly state any of this, but his writing so often touches on the same motifs that it becomes clear he wants us to think about all these ideas in conversation with one another.

At the end of the essay, Baldwin makes it more clear:

This fight begins, however, in the heart and it had now been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair. This intimation made my heart heavy and, now that my father was irrecoverable, I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now.

Here, Baldwin ties together the themes and motifs into one clear statement: that he must continue to fight and recognize injustice, especially racial injustice, just as his father did. But unlike his father, he must do it beginning with himself—he must not let himself be closed off to the world as his father was. And yet, he still wishes he had his father for guidance, even as he establishes that he hopes to be a different man than his father.

In this essay, Baldwin loads the front of the essay with his motifs, and, through his narrative, weaves them together into a theme. In the end, he comes to a conclusion that connects all of those things together and leaves the reader with a lasting impression of completion—though the elements may have been initially disparate, in the end everything makes sense.

You can replicate this tactic of introducing seemingly unattached ideas and weaving them together in your own essays. By introducing those motifs, developing them throughout, and bringing them together in the end, you can demonstrate to your reader how all of them are related. However, it’s especially important to be sure that your motifs and clear and consistent throughout your essay so that the conclusion feels earned and consistent—if not, readers may feel mislead.

5 Key Tips for Writing Narrative Essays

Narrative essays can be a lot of fun to write since they’re so heavily based on creativity. But that can also feel intimidating—sometimes it’s easier to have strict guidelines than to have to make it all up yourself. Here are a few tips to keep your narrative essay feeling strong and fresh.

Develop Strong Motifs

Motifs are the foundation of a narrative essay . What are you trying to say? How can you say that using specific symbols or events? Those are your motifs.

In the same way that an argumentative essay’s body should support its thesis, the body of your narrative essay should include motifs that support your theme.

Try to avoid cliches, as these will feel tired to your readers. Instead of roses to symbolize love, try succulents. Instead of the ocean representing some vast, unknowable truth, try the depths of your brother’s bedroom. Keep your language and motifs fresh and your essay will be even stronger!

Use First-Person Perspective

In many essays, you’re expected to remove yourself so that your points stand on their own. Not so in a narrative essay—in this case, you want to make use of your own perspective.

Sometimes a different perspective can make your point even stronger. If you want someone to identify with your point of view, it may be tempting to choose a second-person perspective. However, be sure you really understand the function of second-person; it’s very easy to put a reader off if the narration isn’t expertly deployed.

If you want a little bit of distance, third-person perspective may be okay. But be careful—too much distance and your reader may feel like the narrative lacks truth.

That’s why first-person perspective is the standard. It keeps you, the writer, close to the narrative, reminding the reader that it really happened. And because you really know what happened and how, you’re free to inject your own opinion into the story without it detracting from your point, as it would in a different type of essay.

Stick to the Truth

Your essay should be true. However, this is a creative essay, and it’s okay to embellish a little. Rarely in life do we experience anything with a clear, concrete meaning the way somebody in a book might. If you flub the details a little, it’s okay—just don’t make them up entirely.

Also, nobody expects you to perfectly recall details that may have happened years ago. You may have to reconstruct dialog from your memory and your imagination. That’s okay, again, as long as you aren’t making it up entirely and assigning made-up statements to somebody.

Dialog is a powerful tool. A good conversation can add flavor and interest to a story, as we saw demonstrated in David Foster Wallace’s essay. As previously mentioned, it’s okay to flub it a little, especially because you’re likely writing about an experience you had without knowing that you’d be writing about it later.

However, don’t rely too much on it. Your narrative essay shouldn’t be told through people explaining things to one another; the motif comes through in the details. Dialog can be one of those details, but it shouldn’t be the only one.

Use Sensory Descriptions

Because a narrative essay is a story, you can use sensory details to make your writing more interesting. If you’re describing a particular experience, you can go into detail about things like taste, smell, and hearing in a way that you probably wouldn’t do in any other essay style.

These details can tie into your overall motifs and further your point. Woolf describes in great detail what she sees while watching the moth, giving us the sense that we, too, are watching the moth. In Wallace’s essay, he discusses the sights, sounds, and smells of the Illinois State Fair to help emphasize his point about its strangeness. And in Baldwin’s essay, he describes shattered glass as a “wilderness,” and uses the feelings of his body to describe his mental state.

All these descriptions anchor us not only in the story, but in the motifs and themes as well. One of the tools of a writer is making the reader feel as you felt, and sensory details help you achieve that.

What’s Next?

Looking to brush up on your essay-writing capabilities before the ACT? This guide to ACT English will walk you through some of the best strategies and practice questions to get you prepared!

Part of practicing for the ACT is ensuring your word choice and diction are on point. Check out this guide to some of the most common errors on the ACT English section to be sure that you're not making these common mistakes!

A solid understanding of English principles will help you make an effective point in a narrative essay, and you can get that understanding through taking a rigorous assortment of high school English classes !

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Personal Growth and Development — Going Back To School

Going Back to School

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Published: Mar 19, 2024

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Narrative Essay “Going Back To School”

Going back to school I would have to say that going back to school was a hard and challenging decision, but so far it has been a good decision on so many levels. When I was about 14 1 had to drop out of school. But going back to has been great, not only by furthering my education, but because I have gained so much pride and confidence. It has been a long rode but I finally made It and now working toward my success. Dropping out tot school was something I never Imagined. At the age tot 14, two years before graduation I had to drop out of school.

Not because I chose to, not because didn’t want to go and not because I was a lazy child and didn’t want to learn. Had to drop out of school for family issues. At the time my family was very unstable, moving from place to place, not really having a place to call home. And the effect of that unstableness was me falling behind in class, not being able to make up work, and always changing schools It was Just too much to handle. So somewhere along the line I Just stopped going to school, not planned and premeditated, I Just stopped.

I could never catch up on my work causing me to tail, and when I did get back on track. There was always another move. After about two years of basically doing nothing, I had finally decided to take the first step and sign up for my SHADS_ Adult high school at Gaston College was the next step to achieving my goal. After getting all the necessary paperwork and transcripts from the various schools I had to attend orientation and take the placement test. Took my placement test the following week and orientation came behind.

I was officially back In school although not for long. After about 2 months of the program, left and never went back. Later, after wasting too much time, although I was working I seemed to not be going anymore. So I decided to sign up for my G. E. D at Goodwill job connection. It seemed to be a good idea and it was right down the street from home, so getting there was not an issue. After waiting and calling numerous of time Goodwill never contacted me about starting classes. So I decided to do something else, I contacted Gaston Literacy. Ms.

Kelley, a wonderful lady, set up my appointment tort my G. E. D practice test. After the first 3 test she took me in her office and told me about my scores. I had passed with only 2 more to go, and then back to the testing room I went. After completing the entire test Ms. Kelley told me how I did so well on the practice test, that she believed that I didn’t need any classes, that I was ready for testing. That lady made me feel so good; she gave me some sense of confidence and motivation, she made me feel good about what I was trying to achieve.

After testing

Ms. Kelley and I had a long talk about my future and what I wanted for It. Then she gave me my test scores and was off to complete my goal. Finally, a week later, I was at Gaston College for my final testing. The first day I took my first 3 test and passed and the next day finished all my testing. Proud of myself and more motivated then ever I was done. I had passed my entire test and surprisingly with good scores. Just passing those test gave me the push I needed to ‘ Off continue Delving stressful.

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Crafting a Winning Narrative Essay Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide

Many students struggle with crafting engaging and impactful narrative essays. They often find it challenging to weave their personal experiences into coherent and compelling stories.

If you’re having a hard time, don't worry! 

We’ve compiled a range of narrative essay examples that will serve as helpful tools for you to get started. These examples will provide a clear path for crafting engaging and powerful narrative essays.

So, keep reading and find our expertly written examples!

• 1. Narrative Essay Definition
• 2. Narrative Essay Examples
• 3. Narrative Essay Examples for Students
• 4. Narrative Essay Topics
• 5. Narrative Essay Writing Tips

Narrative Essay Definition

Writing a narrative essay is a unique form of storytelling that revolves around personal experiences, aiming to immerse the reader in the author's world. It's a piece of writing that delves into the depths of thoughts and feelings. 

In a narrative essay, life experiences take center stage, serving as the main substance of the story. It's a powerful tool for writers to convey a personal journey, turning experiences into a captivating tale. This form of storytelling is an artful display of emotions intended to engage readers, leaving the reader feeling like they are a part of the story.

By focusing on a specific theme, event, emotions, and reflections, a narrative essay weaves a storyline that leads the reader through the author's experiences. 

The Essentials of Narrative Essays

Let's start with the basics. The four types of essays are argumentative essays , descriptive essays , expository essays , and narrative essays.

The goal of a narrative essay is to tell a compelling tale from one person's perspective. A narrative essay uses all components you’d find in a typical story, such as a beginning, middle, and conclusion, as well as plot, characters, setting, and climax.

The narrative essay's goal is the plot, which should be detailed enough to reach a climax. Here's how it works:

• It's usually presented in chronological order.
• It has a function. This is typically evident in the thesis statement's opening paragraph.
• It may include speech.
• It's told with sensory details and vivid language, drawing the reader in. All of these elements are connected to the writer's major argument in some way.

Before writing your essay, make sure you go through a sufficient number of narrative essay examples. These examples will help you in knowing the dos and don’ts of a good narrative essay.

It is always a better option to have some sense of direction before you start anything. Below, you can find important details and a bunch of narrative essay examples. These examples will also help you build your content according to the format. 

Here is a how to start a narrative essay example:

Sample Narrative Essay

The examples inform the readers about the writing style and structure of the narration. The essay below will help you understand how to create a story and build this type of essay in no time.

Here is another narrative essay examples 500 words:

Narrative Essay Examples for Students

Narrative essays offer students a platform to express their experiences and creativity. These examples show how to effectively structure and present personal stories for education.

Here are some helpful narrative essay examples:

Narrative Essay Examples Middle School

Narrative Essay Examples for Grade 7

Narrative Essay Examples for Grade 8

Grade 11 Narrative Essay Examples

Narrative Essay Example For High School

Narrative Essay Example For College

Personal Narrative Essay Example

Descriptive Narrative Essay Example

3rd Person Narrative Essay Example

Narrative Essay Topics

Here are some narrative essay topics to help you get started with your narrative essay writing.

• When I got my first bunny
• When I moved to Canada
• I haven’t experienced this freezing temperature ever before
• The moment I won the basketball finale
• A memorable day at the museum
• How I talk to my parrot
• The day I saw the death
• When I finally rebelled against my professor

Need more topics? Check out these extensive narrative essay topics to get creative ideas!

Narrative Essay Writing Tips

Narrative essays give you the freedom to be creative, but it can be tough to make yours special. Use these tips to make your story interesting:

• Share your story from a personal viewpoint, engaging the reader with your experiences.
• Use vivid descriptions to paint a clear picture of the setting, characters, and emotions involved.
• Organize events in chronological order for a smooth and understandable narrative.
• Bring characters to life through their actions, dialogue, and personalities.
• Employ dialogue sparingly to add realism and progression to the narrative.
• Engage readers by evoking emotions through your storytelling.
• End with reflection or a lesson learned from the experience, providing insight.

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Going Back to School, Essay Example

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Words: 579

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Returning to school after a long break is a challenge for every person. For me, it was extremely difficult because it involved changing my daily schedule, traveling, and term work assignment preparation. According to James Clear (web), changing habits takes weeks. Your body needs to get used to the different biorhythm, meal times, bedtime, and energy needs. However, for me, it was the mental adjustment that was harder than the physical changes.

I have researched several sources to make the process of getting used to being back to school easier. James Clear states that there is a 3-step pattern that makes the adjustment easier: reminder, routine, and reward. For people, who are not used to different activities, setting up a routine, and sticking to it is essential. I have done this from day one, when I planned my returning to school. Although I did not know exactly how much time it would take me to complete assignments and research, I had an idea of how long it takes me to wake up in the morning and get ready for classes. Therefore, I created a daily routine, and added to it over time. I set my wake up time, and created a target of when I would need to be in bed. I set my lunch hours, as well as my break times. I allocated half an hour to lunch every day, an hour for an evening meal with my family, and two hours for revision, library work, and assignment. I knew that even if I had no assignments or homework, I could benefit from rehearsing and reviewing the information I learned about in school.

After getting my schedule and timetable from school, I adjusted the routine schedule, so I could allocate more time for studying on days before tests, and create more free leisure time on other days. Weekends were planned out ahead, while I added four hours of studying for every weekend.

I understood from the beginning that getting good grades was important for my future, therefore, I also created a target for every subject studied. It was hard, and the targets needed to be adjusted, based on my interest and preferences. For some subjects, I had to study less, while some assignments proved themselves to be more challenging.

On the top of my schedule, I also had to ensure that I keep time during school, therefore, I marked all the important assignment dates in my Google Calendar and set up reminders 7, 3, and 1 days before it was due. This way I could manage to complete all coursework in time, and avoid last minute studying for tests.

I also created a reward schedule for attaining good grades. I created my own rewards, such as a Chinese dinner, a picnic in the park, or a movie for every single graded assignment. I had a minimum grade target for all coursework and tests, therefore, I remained motivated to do well in school. Keeping up one’s motivation is the greatest challenge of going back to school: when it becomes a routine, many people start forgetting about their goals.

My goal with going back to school was to learn as much as I can, attain good grades and advance my education further. I believe that self-motivation and a strict routine has helped me achieve my goals so far, and I will use the same method in the future.

Works Cited

Clear, James “The 3 R’s of Habit Change: How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick” n.d. Web.

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My First Day At School Essay

500 words my first day at school essay.

Our lives are full of new events which we experience on different days. Similarly, going to school for the first time is also memorable. How can one forget their first day, it is only natural to remember the day, no matter good or bad. Thus, my first day at school essay will take you through my experience.

A New Experience

My first day at school was a completely new experience for me. It is because the atmosphere completely changes for any child. You always stay in the comfort and safety of your own home.

However, your first day at school opens door to unknown experiences and opportunities. Much like any other child, I was also scared on my first day. I remember clearly not letting go of my mother’s hand, hesitant to go in the classroom.

On my first day, I got up excited and put on my uniform for the first time. The feeling it gave me was so memorable, I can never forget it. As it was my first day, both my parents went to drop me off.

I remember seeing the classroom full of little children. Some crying while the others playing with others. I looked at my mother and gave her the look that I didn’t want them to leave. They had to go so I kept crying but eventually, my teacher consoled me.

Once I settled in the class, I talked with the other kids and started playing with them. The colourful walls of the classroom fascinated me a lot. We got many toys to play with so it all the other kids also got distracted and stopped crying.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

My Sister My Saviour

My advantage was that my sister was also studying in the same school. She is 3 years older than me so she was my senior. During recess, I was starting to miss my parents so I got teary-eyed.

But, then my sister came to meet me and I feel she was no less than a saviour for me that day. She took permission from the teacher to take me out and I went with her to the playground.

We were swinging throughout recess. All my worries went away because I had a known face with me. After eating and swinging together, the bell rang to mark the end of the recess . So, she dropped me back to my class.

Before leaving, she gave me a kiss and patted my head. It was enough for me to go through the rest of the day without crying. Thus, it made me feel extremely blessed that I had my sister there for me.

Conclusion of My First Day At School Essay

Thus, my first day at school was really pleasant. It fills me with pride when I look back at it and share my experience with others. I feel my first day helped me become confident in school which ultimately shaped the rest of my years there. Thus, it was indeed a memorable experience for me.

FAQ on My First Day At School Essay

Question 1: Why is the first day of school memorable?

Answer 1: We usually remember the first day of school because it is a new experience for us completely. It is the first time we step out from the comfort of our home as kids, so it will be memorable.

Question 2: Does everyone have a good first day at school?

Answer 2: Not necessarily. Everyone’s experience differs, some kids enjoy a lot on their first day. While some which are maybe shy or feel homesick don’t enjoy it that much. Nonetheless, it grows on you and eventually kids start to love going to school.

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Going back to school during the covid-19. - voices of children, children tell about their feelings and challenges they face.

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Starting a new school year is always full of emotions and especially during a pandemic.

Part of the schools in Georgia started teaching at classrooms, other part continues the distance learning. But children in every city or village are looking forward to meet their friends and teachers in person.  

We asked children to tell what they feel, how their lives have changed and how they handle these challenges.

Natia Samnashvili, 10 years old.

"I am happy to return to school. Distance learning was hard, working with computer caused pain for eyes and fingers. I could understand the online lessons, but it was easier when we had face-to-face meetings with the teacher. One more thing I am happy about is to see my friends, meet new teachers. If the lessons were distance again, we won't have a chance to get introduced with teachers. We have new teachers this year." 

Andria Khocholava, 9 years old.

"Don’t remind me about online lessons. Going to school is cool. There are many changes though: you can’t hug the teachers, they always wear masks, hugging friends is not allowed either, but we violate this rule sometimes. Breaks are shortened and we have to wash our hands many times. Also, you are not allowed to lend something to others. I am carrying water in the bottle as the water dispensers are turned off. Still, it’s good to go to school. We are repeating the materials from the previous year and I understand everything better in class than on the online lesson. We have a new game called “Coronobana” – it’s like a game of catch." 

Teona Jghiradze, 13 years old.

"I didn’t have a personal computer and was attending online lessons from a mobile phone. We had to either write the homework in the workbook and then send the photo of it or type it on the keyboard.  Sometimes there were technical problems with the internet or electricity and we were missing the lessons, now we will cover those materials too. I am happy to return to school, it was boring at home and also I missed my friends and I am happy to see them."

Lasha Devlarishvili, 11 years old.

"Yes, I am happy to return to school. It was boring at home. I was playing or reading books. In school, there will be more positivity and better learning process". 

Elene Melikadze, 12 years old.

"Online classes were interesting at the beginning, but now I think going to school is better. We could only see the face of the teacher at online lessons, eyes were getting tired and you miss the human interaction. But it was good that the exams were cancelled.

Now I am back to school. My friends got taller in this period. I am happy to return to school because I can see the people and talk to them. I am having fun on breaks, but we all remember that we must be careful. We have to avoid getting the virus or transfer it. Yes, we have lots of homework, but I don't complain. I like school and I am happy. If the online lessons are back, I don't know what will I do. I think I will start drawing instead of studying."

Data Sulaberidze, 10 years old.

"I am happy to return to school because I really missed my friends and teachers. I love school and I think that interaction with my peers is part of the education process." 

Nino Khvichia, 10 years old.

"I am very happy to go back to school. I was very nervous on the first day about the mandatory distance, and I was looking forward to hug everyone, I missed everyone so much. I am getting up early in the mornings not to be late and get to school early. Sometimes I was forgetting about the lessons when we were on distance learning and could not join the classes, could not interact with children normally and sometimes I was shy to ask questions. I love the lessons held in school, they are more interesting and joyful." 

Giorgi Alavidze, 6 years old.

"School is good. Very good. It is fun there. There are many friends of mine from kindergarten. We have two new students too and I made friends with one of them. From lessons, I like Georgian more than math, teachers read books and it is like a literature club. I like drawing club too. I want the breaks to be longer to have more time for playing with friends. I want to go to school by school-bus and make friends with more people. Teachers were masks and gloves at school. I know if anyone catches the virus in school, it will be closed again."

Aleksandre Alasania, 7 years old.

"I was happy to return to school. It was different though, our class was split into half. We wore masks and maintain the distance, and we could not play and "go crazy".

When we turned back to distance learning, I was very upset. I am not able to communicate with friends and miss them. The software is always laggy during the lessons, I can't hear the voice well. When everyone starts to talk together, I am getting tired and turning off the software. We again have to sit at home to avoid getting infected by "Conora" (he calls Coronavirus like that)." 

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David French

Colleges Have Gone off the Deep End. There Is a Way Out.

By David French

Opinion Columnist

I had my head in a law book when I heard the drums. That was the sound of the first campus protest I ever experienced. I’d come to Harvard Law School in the fall of 1991 as a graduate of a small, very conservative Christian college in Nashville. Many of my college classmates had passionate religious and political commitments, but street protest was utterly alien to the Christian culture of the school. We were rule followers, and public protest looked a bit too much like anarchy for our tastes.

But Harvard was different. The law school was every bit as progressive as my college was conservative, and protest was part of the fabric of student life, especially then. This is the era when a writer for GQ magazine, John Sedgwick, called the law school “ Beirut on the Charles ” because it was torn apart by disputes over race and sex. There were days when campus protests were festive, almost celebratory. There were other days when the campus was seething with rage and fury.

That first protest was in support of faculty diversity, and it was relatively benign. I walked outside and followed the sound of the drums. A group of roughly 100 protesters was marching in front of the law school library, and soon they were joined by an allied group of similar size from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. I watched as they danced, sang and listened to speeches by student activists and sympathetic professors. That first protest had an angry edge, but it was also completely peaceful and endlessly fascinating to a kid from a small town in Kentucky who’d never seen a drum circle before.

But things soon got worse, much worse. Protests got more unruly, and student activists got more aggressive. The entire campus was in a state of conflict. In Sedgwick’s words, students were “waging holy war on one another.” Small groups of students occupied administrative offices, and angry activists shouted down their political opponents in class and often attempted to intimidate them outside class. I was shouted down repeatedly, and twice I received disturbing handwritten notes in my campus mailbox in response to my anti-abortion advocacy. My student peers told me to “go die.”

Watching the protests and experiencing the shout-downs changed the course of my career. I was both enthralled by the power of protest and repulsed by the efforts to silence dissenters. Given the immense cultural influence of American higher education, I agreed with the Supreme Court’s famous words in the 1957 case Sweezy v. New Hampshire : “Teachers and students must always remain free to inquire, to study and to evaluate, to gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise, our civilization will stagnate and die.” Those words, combined with my own negative encounters at Harvard, helped define my legal career. From that point forward, I would defend free speech.

It’s been more than 30 years since that first campus protest, and over that time I’ve seen countless protests, I’ve defended countless protesters — and I’ve even been protested against at several schools. In the course of those cases and confrontations, I’ve learned that the issue of campus protest is remarkably complex and that campus culture is at least as important as law and policy in setting the boundaries of debate.

There is profound confusion on campus right now around the distinctions among free speech, civil disobedience and lawlessness. At the same time, some schools also seem confused about their fundamental academic mission. Does the university believe it should be neutral toward campus activism — protecting it as an exercise of the students’ constitutional rights and academic freedoms but not cooperating with student activists to advance shared goals — or does it incorporate activism as part of the educational process itself, including by coordinating with the protesters and encouraging their activism?

The simplest way of outlining the ideal university policy toward protest is to say that it should protect free speech, respect civil disobedience and uphold the rule of law. That means universities should protect the rights of students and faculty members on a viewpoint-neutral basis, and they should endeavor to make sure that every member of the campus community has the same access to campus facilities and resources.

That also means showing no favoritism among competing ideological groups in access to classrooms, in the imposition of campus penalties and in access to educational opportunities. All groups should have equal rights to engage in the full range of protected speech, including by engaging in rhetoric that’s hateful to express and painful to hear. Public chants like “Globalize the intifada” may be repugnant to many ears, but they’re clearly protected by the First Amendment at public universities and by policies protecting free speech and academic freedom at most private universities.

Still, reasonable time, place and manner restrictions are indispensable in this context. Time, place and manner restrictions are content-neutral legal rules that enable a diverse community to share the same space and enjoy equal rights.

Noise limits can protect the ability of students to study and sleep. Restricting the amount of time any one group can demonstrate on the limited open spaces on campus permits other groups to use the same space. If one group is permitted to occupy a quad indefinitely, for example, then that action by necessity excludes other organizations from the same ground. In that sense, indefinitely occupying a university quad isn’t simply a form of expression; it also functions as a form of exclusion. Put most simply, student groups should be able to take turns using public spaces, for an equal amount of time and during a roughly similar portion of the day.

Civil disobedience is distinct from First Amendment-protected speech. It involves both breaking an unjust law and accepting the consequences. There is a long and honorable history of civil disobedience in the United States, but true civil disobedience ultimately honors and respects the rule of law. In a 1965 appearance on “Meet the Press,” the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the principle perfectly: “When one breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust, he must do it openly, he must do it cheerfully, he must do it lovingly, he must do it civilly — not uncivilly — and he must do it with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

But what we’re seeing on a number of campuses isn’t free expression, nor is it civil disobedience. It’s outright lawlessness. No matter the frustration of campus activists or their desire to be heard, true civil disobedience shouldn’t violate the rights of others. Indefinitely occupying a quad violates the rights of other speakers to use the same space. Relentless, loud protest violates the rights of students to sleep or study in peace. And when protests become truly threatening or intimidating, they can violate the civil rights of other students, especially if those students are targeted on the basis of their race, sex, color or national origin.

The result of lawlessness is chaos and injustice. Other students can’t speak. Other students can’t learn. Teachers and administrators can’t do their jobs.

In my experience as a litigator , campus chaos is frequently the result of a specific campus culture. Administrators and faculty members will often abandon any pretense of institutional neutrality and either cooperate with their most intense activist students or impose double standards that grant favored constituencies extraordinary privileges. For many administrators, the very idea of neutrality is repugnant. It represents a form of complicity in injustice that they simply can’t and won’t stomach. So they nurture and support one side. They scorn the opposition, adopting a de facto posture that says , “To my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law.”

I’ve experienced this firsthand. I vividly remember representing a campus Christian group in a dispute at Tufts University in 2000 . The group had been derecognized for requiring that student leaders of their group share that group’s traditional sexual ethic, which reserves sex for heterosexual marriage. You might disagree strongly with that view, but granting religious groups the flexibility to impose faith-based requirements on religious leaders fits squarely within the American tradition of free exercise of religion.

Tufts is a private university, so it has some flexibility in suppressing religious expression on campus, but it had no excuse for attempting to toss a Christian group from campus at the same time that it permitted acts of intimidation against those Christian students. For example, at the most contentious moment of the dispute, Tufts officials prevented my student clients and me from entering the hearing room where their appeal was being heard, while a crowd of protesters gathered in a darkened hallway, pressed up around us and herded us into a corner of the hall. There was no campus outrage at this act of intimidation. We saw no administrative response.

University complicity in chaos isn’t unusual. In a case I worked on when I was president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, we discovered that administrators at Washington State University’s Pullman campus had actually helped plan a disruptive protest against a play put on by a student director, an intentionally provocative show that mocked virtually every group on campus.

University or faculty participation in unlawful protest isn’t confined to the cases I worked on. At Oberlin College, administrative facilitation of ugly and defamatory student protests outside a local business ultimately cost the school $36 million in damages. At Columbia, hundreds of sympathetic faculty members staged their own protest in support of the student encampment on the quad, and there are reports that other faculty members have attempted to block members of the media from access to the student encampment.

None of this is new. All of it creates a culture of impunity for the most radical students. Disruptive protesters are rarely disciplined, or they get mere slaps on the wrist. They’re hailed as heroes by many of their professors. Administrators look the other way as protesters pitch their tents on the quad — despite clear violations of university policy. Then, days later, the same administrators look at the tent city on campus, wring their hands, and ask, “How did this spiral out of control?”

There is a better way . When universities can actually recognize and enforce the distinctions among free speech, civil disobedience and lawlessness, they can protect both the right of students to protest and the rights of students to study and learn in peace.

In March a small band of pro-Palestinian students at Vanderbilt University in Nashville pushed past a security guard so aggressively that they injured him , walked into a university facility that was closed to protest and briefly occupied the building. The university had provided ample space for protest, and both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students had been speaking and protesting peacefully on campus since Oct. 7.

But these students weren’t engaged in free speech. Nor were they engaged in true civil disobedience. Civil disobedience does not include assault, and within hours the university shut them down. Three students were arrested in the assault on the security guard, and one was arrested on charges of vandalism. More than 20 students were subjected to university discipline, three were expelled , and one was suspended.

The message was clear: Every student can protest, but protest has to be peaceful and lawful. In taking this action, Vanderbilt was empowered by its posture of institutional neutrality . It does not take sides in matters of public dispute. Its fundamental role is to maintain a forum for speech, not to set the terms of the debate and certainly not to permit one side to break reasonable rules that protect education and safety on campus.

Vanderbilt is not alone in its commitment to neutrality. The University of Chicago has long adhered to the Kalven principles , a statement of university neutrality articulated in 1967 by a committee led by one of the most respected legal scholars of the last century, Harry Kalven Jr. At their heart, the Kalven principles articulate the view that “the instrument of dissent and criticism is the individual faculty member or the individual student. The university is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic. It is, to go back once again to the classic phrase, a community of scholars.”

Contrast Vanderbilt’s precise response with the opposing extremes. In response to the chaos at Columbia, the school is finishing the semester with hybrid classes, pushing thousands of students online. The University of Southern California canceled its main stage commencement ceremony , claiming that the need for additional safety measures made the ceremony impractical. At both schools the inability to guarantee safety and order has diminished the educational experience of their students.

While U.S.C. and Columbia capitulate, other schools have taken an excessively draconian approach. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas posted on X, “Students joining in hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled.” On April 25 the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sent a forceful letter to the president of the University of Texas at Austin condemning the display of force on campus. “U.T. Austin,” it wrote, “at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, appears to have pre-emptively banned peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters due solely to their views rather than for any actionable misconduct.”

At Emory University, footage emerged of police tackling a female professor who posed no obvious danger to the police or anyone else. Protests are almost always tense, and there is often no easy way to physically remove protesters from campus, but the video footage of the confrontation with the professor was shocking. It’s hard to conceive of a justification for the violent police response.

At this moment, one has the impression that university presidents at several universities are simply hanging on, hoping against hope that they can manage the crisis well enough to survive the school year and close the dorms and praying that passions cool over the summer.

That is a vain hope. There is no indication that the war in Gaza — or certainly the region — will be over by the fall. It’s quite possible that Israel will be engaged in full-scale war on its northern border against Hezbollah. And the United States will be in the midst of a presidential election that could be every bit as contentious as the 2020 contest.

But the summer does give space for a reboot. It allows universities to declare unequivocally that they will protect free speech, respect peaceful civil disobedience and uphold the rule of law by protecting the campus community from violence and chaos. Universities should not protect students from hurtful ideas, but they must protect their ability to peacefully live and learn in a community of scholars. There is no other viable alternative.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

David French is an Opinion columnist, writing about law, culture, religion and armed conflict. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator. His most recent book is “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation .” You can follow him on Threads ( @davidfrenchjag ).

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My Daughter Is the School’s Recluse. She’s Repeating My History.

I’m not sure if i should step in..

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column.  Have a question for Care and Feeding?  Submit it here .

Dear Care and Feeding,

My daughter is neurodivergent and still adjusting to a new school, even though we have been living here for about nine months. She had many friends at her old school, but for months now, she hasn’t played with anyone at recess or eaten with anyone during lunchtime. I had one or two years like this and got over it (I am most likely also neurodivergent). I don’t think this will get better this year and even my daughter says it may be the same next year. Do I need to make more of an effort to help her to socialize after school? Would that help her? I am introverted and recently left a toxic work environment and am burnt out. My daughter is an extrovert.

—Mulling Over Socializing in Maryland

Dear Mulling,

Yes, you probably need to make an effort, even though it’s uncomfortable. You don’t say how old your daughter is, but early elementary age is full of parents asking themselves the same question as you. So, take a leap of faith and reach out to the parents around you. If your daughter can’t pinpoint specific kids she’d like to get to know better, ask the teacher. See if they can offer any suggestions of kids that seem to get along better with your daughter, or who could be possible fits in terms of disposition or interests.

This doesn’t all have to be on you, though. Consider using your daughter’s individualized education plan ( IEP ) to your advantage, presuming she has one, by including social therapy in her plan. If that’s not something the school is willing or able to provide, you may be able to find local therapists and occupational therapy practitioners who offer small-group social therapy that would benefit your daughter. Whether you are neurodivergent or shy, it can be really hard to make friends. But like any other skill, it can be learned and practiced. Good luck!

Want Advice on Parenting, Kids, or Family Life?

Submit your questions to Care and Feeding here . It’s anonymous! (Questions may be edited for publication.)

My partner and I have been together since 2014. When we met, I warned her that I had been battling opiate addiction since 1998, which started with being over-prescribed due to an injury. I was definitely at one of the lowest points in my life. In hindsight, she obviously was as well. She jumped right into my wreck of a life, despite the warning. Somehow, despite the odds, we managed to get clean together and move away from a lifestyle that included habitual drug use. During COVID, we moved in together and she started going to school for her master’s degree in psychology. At some point, she discovered I had an Adderall prescription, which was provided in conjunction with my opioid use disorder meds, to help avoid any relapses. This approach worked and I used the medication as directed. My partner expressed interest in getting on Adderall as well, but I cautioned her that it could become a Pandora’s box if she wouldn’t be able to be honest with herself about her ability to police her own intentions and impulse to abuse it.

Fast forward four years, and sadly, I’ve watched her spiral to a point of complete brokenness. The strain it’s put on our relationship as well as how it’s affected my son has me feeling bitter and resentful. After an intervention with her family and years of badgering her, she has finally decided to go to an intensive outpatient program. They want her to go inpatient, but she’s dragging her feet. I’ve reached a point where I’m ready to pull the plug on our relationship for my own sanity and my son’s, but I feel guilty that I may be abandoning her in a time of need. I know people must walk that journey for themselves and feel if she does it to alleviate consequences it won’t be worth much anyhow. Am I selfishly overreacting for wanting to leave?

—Confused in Somewhere Other Than The Calabasas

Dear Confused,

Congratulations on your sobriety, and I’m sorry for the situation you and your partner are in. In a word, no, you are not selfish for wanting to leave. Not only have you been living with a self-destructive partner for the last few years, but you’ve done so while maintaining your own sobriety, which I imagine has not been easy. On top of that, you have a son to whom you owe as stable a home as you can provide. Sad as it may be to leave someone you care about when they need you most, I do think there are times when a person just can’t stay. Is this one of those times? I don’t know, maybe.

Before you decide, take full stock of the situation. Are you certain that the relationship has reached the point of no return? If she were to get sober, is there a world in which you’d want to stay with her? What is your son’s relationship with your partner and what would it look like for that relationship to stay intact, even if your romantic relationship ends? I’m not trying to talk you in or out of the decision, but I want to encourage you to be sure you’ve thought about it from all angles and that you aren’t just making your choice out of in-the-moment fatigue.

If this is truly the right decision for you and your son, then be as kind as you can. Do it at a time when you know she is sober and/or lucid and think about who you could call afterward—a best friend or family member of hers—to support her if needed. Accept with grace that you might end up being the bad guy in her, and her family’s, narrative. And seek professional help to talk through what is likely to be an emotionally laden period of your life; Al-Anon and Nar-Anon are two places you can go for peer support, as well. Good luck.

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This is a weird question but what is the best attitude to have about passing gas in a household with children? My partner and I are hoping to have a baby in the next year or two and this is something I randomly thought about when imagining daily life with a child. Despite having been together for close to a decade, my partner and I are fairly private about bodily noises around each other; when we are in the same room I try to avoid making any noise if I have to pass gas (though I don’t worry about it if we are in separate rooms and he is not likely to hear me). I don’t want a potential child to grow up thinking normal bodily functions are shameful, but I HATE “potty humor” and don’t want my kid to be the one making fart noises all the time for a laugh. Obviously, we will impart that if you make a noise with your body in public you should say, “Excuse me,” but what about at home? Should that be a safe space for passing gas without fear of consequence, or is it better to continue to enforce that some things should be kept as private as possible? I grew up in a pretty intellectually open environment, but my family was very private about any and all body-related matters so I’m not totally sure what the norm is.

—Excuse Me!

Dear Excuse Me,

Generally, I think it’s up to families to determine their own “culture” around these kinds of things. You can be a farting family or a silent family, a shower-in-front-of-toddlers family or a close-the-door family, a pee-with-the-door-open family or a privacy-please family. None of those are any better or worse than their alternatives. An easy way to parent this without making it a big deal is to frame it the way you did to me—as a personal preference rather than a universal rule. So, instead of telling your kids flat-out that farts are gross, you just say, “It’s fine if you think fart jokes are funny, but they make me uncomfortable, so no fart jokes in this house, please.” Similarly, once you’re a parent, you’ll know when your kid lets a fart escape on accident and when it’s done on purpose; you can address each of those appropriately in the moment. (However, I wouldn’t hold a child accountable for passing gas privately until about first grade or so; they won’t have that much body awareness before then.)

I loved to read my kids picture books that talked about bodily functions in a factual yet lighthearted way. It made the subject less taboo, which made it easier for me to discuss with and coach my kids. The Holes in Your Nose , The Gas We Pass and Everyone Poops are classics, but your library will have tons of options. In fact, when I was grabbing these links for you, I found this book , and this one , too! So, you’ll have plenty of choices that can help you determine and articulate your family’s policy on gas. (I’m sure you’re thrilled.)

Also, I’m a parenting book junkie. I was reading about parenting long before I became a mom, and I know those books helped me proactively figure out what kind of parenting style I’d want to have. So, if this conundrum is something that truly stymies you, grab some books on body- and sex-positive parenting, like Growing Up Great and Sex-Positive Talks to Have With Kids . And don’t worry; in my experience, having kids throws you into the deep end of all kinds of experiences around the human body. I’m sure you’ll find your way naturally via the trial-by-fire nature of childrearing.

I live in an apartment building in New York City. On a near daily basis, from inside my apartment with the door closed, I hear screaming from the parents and wailing and crying from the young girls next door. The parents berate and verbally abuse the young girls (3ish and 6ish): “You are a monster!” “You are the reason this family is unhappy!” “What were you thinking?” “Why the hell would you do that?” “You ruined a perfectly good evening!” It’s distressing and I am often reduced to tears. The parents go on and on and team up against the little girls.

What can be done? I’ve called Child Protective Services (CPS) but they have failed to intervene. I’ve spoken to the super and he says there’s nothing he can do. I’ve asked the parents if the family could please be quiet(er) in the hallway, and they’ve screamed at me in response. My heart breaks for the little girls, but I have no desire to befriend the family in an effort to help. I can only imagine the psychological toll this is taking on the children and how their future is being compromised. Please help.

—Nothing Witty Here

Dear Witty,

This is a heartbreaking letter. I don’t know the timelines, obviously, but New York’s Child Protective Services has up to 60 days to investigate your report and rule it “indicated” or “unfounded,” so it’s possible that an investigation is still ongoing. Additionally, there are many options that lie between doing nothing and removing the children from the home, so it’s also possible that CPS has other interventions underway that you wouldn’t be privy to.

If the abuse continues, particularly if it escalates in severity, I don’t think there’s any rule against calling CPS again. You can even ask the person you speak to for guidance on when/whether repeat reports are constructive.

Ultimately, this might be all you can do, which I know is demoralizing. At the risk of offering you a trite suggestion, but in an effort to give you something to work with, consider this story: Eight years ago, my friend posted encouraging signs on her fence for the middle schoolers who walked past her property on the way to school. (Think messages like, “You have a voice, you are powerful,” and “You are smarter than you think.”) While I’m sure some kids derided them, she received multiple written and verbal comments of appreciation—enough that she has continued the practice ever since. Maybe there are subtle, anonymous opportunities like this to remind your little neighbors that there is joy in the world and that they have value. And if, ultimately, you cannot help these girls, which may well be the case, let this galvanize you to be a champion for someone else the next time you are capable. Be well.

More Advice From Slate

I have three boys: a teenager, tween, and toddler. The toddler is about as demanding of attention as a toddler usually is. The teenager has mental health issues and requires more attention than the toddler most days. That leaves my tween…

Bring Back In-Person Field Trips. Here’s Why

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Just as peak field trip season was set to get underway in the spring of 2020, the pandemic hit. Schools, and the cultural institutions and countless other organizations that normally welcome K-12 students for experiential learning, closed their doors.

“The pandemic was absolutely devastating for field trips. They went off a cliff, even when schools went back to in-person,” said Susie Wilkening, principal of Wilkening Consulting, a Seattle-based audience research firm.

Statistics bear this out. In the spring of 2023, Wilkening Consulting and the American Alliance of Museums conducted a survey of 340 museum directors from around the country on post-pandemic visitation. Forty percent of respondents reported that they continued to experience lower on-site visitation from K-12 teachers and students.

Several factors may be keeping schools from venturing back to in-person field trips. Virtual field trips rose in popularity during the pandemic, allowing students to glimpse educational sites as far-flung as the Egyptian pyramids or the Louvre art museum in Paris from the comfort of their homes or classrooms—and those opportunities still exist.

Logistics and funding may also be preventing schools from returning to on-site field trips. Educational researchers have suggested that some schools prioritize putting resources toward activities that may improve student achievement on standardized tests over experiences like field trips, whose results aren’t as quantifiable. That may especially be the case for schools struggling to help students recover from pandemic-era learning declines.

The argument for doing field trips again

But a growing body of research, advocacy from some district-level officials, and anecdotes from students provide compelling reasons for bringing back in-person field trips.

Lin Tajeken Jeufack, a high school junior at Kenwood High School in Maryland’s Baltimore County schools, vividly recalls how a 6th grade field trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore that offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse into husbandry of aquatic animals planted an idea in her head about one day becoming a marine biologist.

Lin described testing the water in the animal tanks, peering under a microscope in an onsite laboratory at the aquarium, and learning about a profession she knew little about. The 16-year-old, who is now enrolled in her school’s International Baccalaureate program, volunteers at a local hospital, and says she’s leaning toward majoring in math in college, though she hasn’t ruled out a career in marine biology. Lin still welcomes the opportunity to attend in-person field trips—like a recent outing to the Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute, an art museum that features a “Giant Heart” exhibit that allows visitors to walk through the organ’s enormous, lifelike chambers.

“I think students feel safer now [post-pandemic],” said Lin. “We have a really tough course load; we’re always working. It’s good for us to get away from school for a little while.”

Field trips are especially beneficial for disadvantaged students

The lasting benefits of field trips don’t necessarily register in students’ consciousness at the moment of the visit. But these experiential outings have been proven to increase student interest in, knowledge about, and motivation to study subject matter to which they’re exposed, according to a sweeping, decade-old report by Ohio University researchers on field trips. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to reap the biggest benefits from these experiences, as they are less likely to have the opportunity to engage in these activities outside of school-sponsored trips.

That’s not lost on Kadee Anstadt, superintendent/CEO of Washington Local Schools in Toledo, Ohio, who’s committed to ensuring that the students in her high-poverty district take field trips routinely.

“We are quite intentional now about the breadth of experiences we are offering our students,” said Anstadt, who recently established what she refers to as “superinten-dates,” in which she personally takes groups of students on field trips they likely wouldn’t otherwise experience.

“As an urban district, our kids sometimes don’t get to see their larger community. We’ve been to the Detroit Auto Show, to hear a Holocaust survivor, experienced the Toledo Opera, and taken the entire junior class to the Henry Ford Museum,” she said.

Some of the field trips students in the Washington Local Schools take are culturally enriching; others, practical. The district has developed a partnership with two local YMCA branches in which every 2nd grader receives eight water safety lessons.

“This ensures our kids know the dangers of a pool, pond, or lake, and also know how to get help if they need it. Some learn to swim during this time. For so many, it’s the first time they’ve ever been in a pool,” said Anstadt.

Since last year, more than 1,000 of the district’s approximately 7,000 students have received the lessons.

Fish hatcheries, hiking, ice fishing, and Native American landmarks

Laurie Barron, superintendent of the Evergreen school district in Montana, shares a philosophy on experiential field trips similar to Anstadt’s—but with vastly different surroundings to explore.

“We are in northwestern Montana bordering Glacier National Park, a recreation mecca,” said Barron, reeling off a number of recreational and cultural resources available within a quick bus trip: fish hatcheries, hiking, ice fishing, skiing, forestry opportunities, and Native American landmarks.

Barron says administrators aim for younger students in the K-8 district to go on between two and four trips per year, a number that increases to six to eight trips by the time students reach 8th grade.

“We love for them to have several off-campus opportunities each year, experiencing the great west Montana outdoors. It’s very relevant and easy to connect that to our curriculum and content,” Barron said. “And students remember a lot more that way than just reading about places in a book.”

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