r/AustinParents

My son is in 4th grade. The school he attends has 4th and 5th grade doing recess at the end of the day when it is 10,000 degrees outside. Naturally, they cancelled outdoor recess yesterday due to the temp being over 100. I suspect they won't have outdoor recess until October if that is the criteria. I'm pretty annoyed about this late recess because I think it defeats the purpose of recess, especially for kids with as much energy as my guy (I was the same way, always moving and fidgeting). I think recess is a chance for kids, boys especially, to get the energy out. They get a break from academics and reset their brains for more learning...

They did this same thing last year for my 5th grader, and back then his teacher told me proudly that they had fought hard to get this time slot..... As much as I like the teachers at his school, I suspect this is a selfish move by them because it doesn't seem to benefit the kids at all and I think it just makes the end of the school day easier for the teachers... IDK. I had beef with the teachers and principal previously because they were letting kids (my older son especially) have unsupervised time on a class laptop at recess if they chose. I put an end to that quickly because I felt like that was such an awful idea and because I'm a dad who cares about my kids physical well-being as well as the educational side. My kid was mad about it but he got over it.

Does anyone have feelings about this recess time slot? I think I'm gonna raise a stink, but I don't want the teachers to feel like one of their students has a dad who's gonna fuck up the good thing they have going....

It is the first week of school and nobody should have to cook on top of it. So here is something practical: the eight restaurants I would hand a tired parent, spread around town.

One note on how these were picked. I keep a database of Austin restaurants as a long-running side project, 2,857 of them at last count, and everything below rates 4.5 or better across at least 500 reviews, so the food holds up. But the real test with a small child is structure: you order at a counter so nobody sits trapped waiting for a server, the food comes fast, the room is loud enough that your kid is not the loudest thing in it, and there is somewhere outside to escape to.

Terry Black's Barbecue (Barton Springs Rd, 4.7 across 25,000+ reviews). Counter service, so meat is in front of you within minutes of walking in. Long communal tables, outdoor seating, and a room that absorbs toddler volume without anyone glancing over.

Home Slice Pizza (South Congress, 4.7 across 10,900+). Loud in the useful way. And if a sit-down meal feels ambitious tonight, the slice window next door turns it into a takeout dinner you eat at a park. There is a second location on North Loop, also at 4.7.

Pinthouse Pizza (South Lamar, 4.7 across 5,100+). Order at the counter, claim a big table, and the pizza holds its own against places with triple the fuss. Weeknights it is one of the most family-normalized rooms in the city.

Loro (South Lamar, 4.5 across 5,600+). A big shaded patio, and a menu of smoked meats and rice bowls that sits exactly in the overlap of what adults want and what small children will actually eat.

Stiles Switch BBQ (North Lamar in the Violet Crown center, 4.6 across 5,700+). Strip-center brisket with zero ceremony. Counter order, room for a stroller, and sides that double as a kid's meal.

Little Deli & Pizzeria (Crestview, 4.8 across 2,400+). The one 4.8 on this list. Shaded picnic tables out front, pizza and hoagies, in and out in forty minutes. The Windsor Park location holds a 4.8 too.

Meanwhile Brewing (far South Austin off William Cannon, 4.7 across 1,300+). The only place here actually built for letting a kid loose: a huge yard, a playground on site, pizza and ice cream vendors, and beer for the adults. The whole property assumes children exist.

Mozart's Coffee Roasters (Lake Austin Blvd, 4.5 across 10,600+). Not dinner, but a reset button: a deck on the water, hot chocolate, an absurd dessert case, and ducks and turtles below the rail for your kid to narrate at length.

My kid is a year and a half, so I am not in the drop-off trenches with you yet, but these criteria are the ones that have mattered with mine. If your part of town is missing here, say so in the comments and I will pull what the list has for your neighborhood.

We had our baby last week and initially I didn’t want a newborn photography session. I thought I’d be happy with a family session at 8-12 weeks. Of course in all the postpartum emotions I’m absolutely full of regret for that decision. Does anyone have photographer recommendations for me to reach out and see if they may have last minute availability? I’m overwhelmed with the idea of just blanket contacting photographers but I’m going to start doing that. Budget is flexible.

As my son has a late October birthday, we have been taking advantage of the nice weather and have had park Birthday parties the last 2 years. I would like to do the same again this year (because they are so easy) but my wife is worried my son will get bored of the same ole same ole. I was thinking that maybe we could hire a magician (non clown) to potentially add some excitement or maybe have someone come out and teach the kids some stuff with legos.

Does anyone have any experience hiring a professional to come to a birthday party to liven things up? We have done a mobile petting zoo in the past, but I think they are too old for that (8). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thinking about when my daughter could or would start dance lessons. What’s the typical age in Austin? Recommendations for studios?

Looking for a newer Doula in Leander area for September

https://x.com/texasobserver/status/2089004381035180460?s=46&t=eCOfVS2egw\_pQJUjO97WzA

The fact that the Austin ISD Board of Trustees extended Matias Segura’s contract under the guise of “stability during a TEA takeover” is both infuriating and unnecessarily expensive for Austin taxpayers.

It is WELL KNOWN that during a State takeover, TEA replaces the superintendent along with the Board of Trustees. So essentially all this decision has done is potentially put Austin Taxpayers on the hook for even more money to release Matias from his contract.

It has been under HIS leadership that the budget has exploded, the number of staff we employee is essentially the same as it was 13,000 students ago, and we have the highest number of failing schools in the entire State of Texas.

I have entrusted my kids to Austin ISD and watched the district do everything BUT take responsibility. We didn’t have to move straight to cutting planning periods, reduce busing, or even discuss reducing librarians if the adults were willing to manage our resources effectively. We kept every teacher and staff member from every single one of the school closures. We have the most bloated central admin staff I’ve ever seen in an urban school district.

And despite having this many administrators, teachers and staff, we apparently don’t have a comprehensive academic strategic plan. That is literally their job! We are failing more kids that will never have the opportunity to make up this time.

But the thing that probably upsets me more than anything is that the community outrage hasn’t been directed at the failure to properly educate students for literally YEARS. This takeover didn’t sneak up on us. The time for urgency was when the failure first manifested.

And before anyone says it’s the STAAR test (which I’m not at all a fan of), look how the district is patting itself on the back for the A & B ratings. If the D & F ratings are wrong, then why aren’t they ALL wrong?? You can’t pick and choose when you like the outcomes.

And yes recapture sucks and Austin is and has been penalized for years. But Austin ISD also cannot seem to manage taxpayer dollars appropriately. Both things can be true.

We need to hold ALL of them accountable and frankly that’s the job they asked for. Our kids deserve better.

This shit with the TEA sucks so fucking badly. One thing I’ve come across a few times is that in Houston, non-NES schools with really strong PTA’s seem to be surviving the takeover OK. Are there any north-central elementary schools that have stronger than normal PTA’s?

My 1-year-old went in this week to have a dermoid cyst removed behind ear. The surgeon operated in the wrong location (2-3 inches away from cyst on neck/head) and removed a lymph node instead. The cyst is still there, so my baby now needs another surgery. Doctor admitted the mistake when we showed him after surgery that cyst is still there. I feel devastated, angry, guilty, and unable to accept what happened. In search of another surgeon now and would like recommendations in Austin. Thanks

Do I need to register my kid to ride the bus home? I got the where is the bus app it don’t see any info about actually signing them up so the school knows they are riding the bus

Expecting our first baby soon and homeowners in Easton Park. Have heard good things so far but want to get some other opinions. I grew up in RRISD and have heard not so great things about Del Valle ISD as a whole, but thinking that this school is an outlier?

My has been recently got transferred to Austin. We have three kids - 13, 8 and 6. We live in the woodlands & love everything here — my kids attend Catholic school and we’d love to keep them at one in Austin. We can live anywhere — I’d like to be close to the kids school. We in the suburbs now, but the idea of living in Austin seems pretty exciting, however the cost of living is overwhelming! My boys both play select baseball —- Where are some good areas that won’t break the bank. Any great realtor recommendations?

Damn.

Hello! Not a mom but a nanny of an 18 mo girl looking for inspo for fun activities? We’ve been to plenty of parks but she seems to be a little bored of the ones we typically go to so any ideas would be amazing! Preferably North Austin if possible!

I guess I will be left hanging as if to Winn would have made the grade….

(Don’t mind the header labeled 2024-25, click on your school and it says 25-26)