HeyJaredThe Crayon Letters
Parenting for a world that is changing faster than childhood ever has. Reflections on books, play, calm tech, and raising thinkers in the AI era — without rushing or performing.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 10
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- Sep 21, 2026
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- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
I’m Done Apologizing for What My Child Can Do (opens the original)
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Gentle Parenting Scripts Felt Hollow. This Is What Replaced Them. (opens the original)
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“I see you’re angry. I’m here for you.”The words are kind and intention is also right but every time I try to utter these words, I feel like I am faking. Its not me.My son would hit me and I tried repeating the script. He would keep hitting. I would validate his emotions. He would keep testing. The boundary would get thinner.Eventually I stopped. I stopped performing understanding. I stopped assuming his emotions needed acknowledging before consequences. I stopped using scripts that felt true to
When Phonics Killed the Joy: What I Learned by Letting Go of Reading Systems (opens the original)
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My son’s reading didn’t start with a system. It started with a word on a chalkboard.I had written CAT one morning. We had one conversation about it—just talking about the rhyming sounds. Cat. Mat. Bat. Then I forgot about it completely. No follow-up. No lesson plan.A few days later, he brought wooden letters to the board and pulled out C, A, T. He said the word. Cat.I watched him do this and something clicked. Not panic. Not ambition. Just: Oh, he can do this. He is ready.I didn’t push. I just n
I Had Designed His Playroom for a Child He No Longer Was (opens the original)
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A few weeks ago, I asked my son if we could give away his play kitchen and dollhouse.I expected resistance.These were not small toys tucked inside a basket. They had been part of our home for years. We had made food, served tea and organised tiny parties for his toys. I still remembered the child who once returned to them again and again.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!EL2I!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-
The Teddy Bear Is a Phone in Fur (opens the original)
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Last month I told you how one evening, my son said me - “Please ask from mobile” when he wanted riddles. That moment stayed with me. I decided we need discussion around this how a kid visualise and understand tech they don’t fully understand. He worked it out in his growing mind, that how Mummy asks riddles. I found it funny and a little unsettling at the same time. He wasn't confused about the world. He had simply mapped it correctly: in our house, some answers come from a device, through a par
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