“When they become full-fledged teenagers, they don’t want you to text them.”
A mom of five took to Instagram to share what she thought would be “controversial” parenting advice.
Instead, her followers argued that she might’ve just unlocked the secret to raising smart kids.
Stephanie Woodward, the executive director of Disability EmpowHer Network, revealed in the video the three things she makes her 9-year-old and 7-year-old foster kids do when on a vacation with kids.
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First on her list was making her kids do one math worksheet “every single day” while on vacation.
“The math worksheet is for the grade that they’re going into,” she said. “I don’t want them to experience a summer slump and I want them to feel really prepared and excited for the year ahead of them.”
A summer slide is when “kids lose significant knowledge in reading and math over summer break, which tends to have a snowball effect as they experience subsequent skill loss each year,” per Scholastic.
Secondly, she makes her kids navigate and read maps everywhere they go.
“They are going to be able to read the map and tell us how to get there,” Woodward explained in the video. “And if this means we waste some time going in the wrong direction, then so be it.”
She went on to add that her kids are “always so proud of themselves” once they reach the destination, especially since they know that “they’re the reason we were able to get there.”
Thirdly, Woodward said that she makes her kids read rule signs (out loud) whenever they come across them — such as at a water park or playground.
“This helps their reading and comprehension skills,” she explained.
“It also helps because if I have to correct them for any reason while we’re engaging in whatever we’re doing, then I can tell them, ‘Hey, did you read the rules?’”
Woodward was praised for her parenting advice in the comments
Woodward ended her video by asking her followers whether or not her parenting advice should be viewed as “controversial.”
While some commenters described her rules as “torture” and “difficult,” most of them were positive.
“Why is any of this controversial? These all seem like reasonable things to do,” one follower wrote.
“I don’t think any of these are controversial. You’re teaching them how to be adults. We need more of this,” another user commented.
“We made our kids navigate too and now they’re super confident travelers,” another wrote.
In her caption, Woodward added, "I’m just trying to raise smart, polite humans who know how to get where they’re going."
This isn’t the first time Woodward has gone viral.
In addition to her two foster boys, whom she shares with husband Ryan Chalmers, the attorney and disability rights activist also welcomed a set of triplets in July 2024, according to People.
Woodward started documenting the couple’s journey as parents — which wasn’t easy, considering they were both born with spina bifida — on social media.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, spina bifida is a “type of neural tube defect that happens when a fetus's spine and spinal cord don't close properly during early pregnancy.”
As a result, both Woodward and Chalmers are often confined to wheelchairs.
The couple were about ready to give up on their pregnancy journey after years of fertility struggles, which is when they decided to go the foster route.
Not long after being placed with their two foster boys, they learned they were pregnant with triplets.
"When I was pregnant, people commented, asking who would care for these babies, as if they thought I would just sit back and watch them," Woodward told People in May.
"I hoped that by sharing our journey, they would learn and grow, letting go of preconceived notions and stereotypes that suggest people with disabilities can’t be good parents,” she added.
The triplets were born at 28 weeks gestation and spent nearly three months in the neonatal intensive care unit. Woodward and Chalmers brought them home for the first time in October.
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Their two girls, Mimi and Gigi, and boy, Max, have since enjoyed their first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and, most recently, their first birthday.
