On the one hand, as parents of kids with special needs, we're desperate for them to do the things their age peers are doing. We want them to be adept at the tools of the world today and fluent in the language of our times. On the other hand, don't lie and stop cursing and don't make secret social media accounts, and get away from that computer and stop playing video games and put down that phone. Amanda chats with Charlie Zegers, who writes about sports and also about parenting kids on the autism spectrum, about how you tease out what's the condition and what's the age, and how to discipline without stamping out important developmental progress. Are we expecting more from kids on the autism spectrum than we'd expect from typical kids, as About.com's autism expert Lisa Jo Rudy asked in an article on her site? Or should we be expecting more from typical kids? Listen in for some good food for thought on parenting on and off the spectrum (and if you're interested in getting your kids coding, the sites referred to are Scratch and Game Salad). If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Who do you feel is more judgey about your parenting -- your kids' grandparents or Pinterest? According to Susan Adcox, grandparenting expert for About.com, your parents and in-laws may actually be trying to free you from that 500-crafts-you-must-make-for-your-baby's-birthday-party ideal. Susan chatted with Catherine about the things grandparents want to tell their children — like enjoy life, eat healthy, put down the screens, stop spending money on meals out and cars, and more wisdom picked up through experience — but may stop themselves from saying because both parents and kids need to learn things on their own, and keeping the lines of communication open is sometimes more important than being right. For more on what your parents would like to tell you about your parenting, read "8 Things Grandparents Would Like to Say to Parents" on About.com Grandparenting; and for the article Catherine mentioned on dinner planning, read "5 Ways to Deal with Dinner Time (When You're Never Home at Dinner Time)" on About.com Family Fitness. Reading this somewhere without hyperlinks? Come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Catherine has two movies to talk about -- three if you count her homework for seeing Pitch Perfect 2 of watching Pitch Perfect. In addition to catching the new a capella comedy with a gaggle of 13-year-olds, she caught up with the much smaller but still entertaining Chef thanks to Netflix, and came away most impressed by its youngest star. Meanwhile, Terri spent the week watching very very short movies: the trailers created by networks to sell their new series. She gives thumbs up to this trailer for Supergirl (find the Glen Weldon post defending the show's rom-com-iness here), thumbs sideways to the one for Code Black, and thumbs down to Quantico, and in general figures that six or seven minutes is too long of a trailer for a sitcom and may be enough to un-sell her on a drama as well. What's looking good to you in the upcoming season? Give the comments here a try, or talk back on our Facebook page or @RoundAboutChat on Twitter. And if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Are you ready for the summer? We're not so much ready for the summer as ready for the school year to END. In an early-morning podcast recording that had us saying "energy up!" on a regular basis, we talked about end-of-the-school-year field trips, end-of-the-school-year burnout, and end-of-the-school year exams upon exams that have Nicole ready for her daughter to graduate the University of Middle School. While we're light on actual constructive advice, do listen in to find out how to make it look like you didn't really sign all those lines of the reading log in one sitting.

Of course, once you have that glorious TGIthe-end-of-school moment, you have to figure out what to do with your kid during those structure-free months. We talked about camps both exciting (tall ships!) and not (typing camp!), the hopeful pursuit of a modest minimum-wage McJob, educational and sports programs for serious summertime progress, and the dreadful prospect of no structure when kids and parents must have it to function.

Finally, we shared our recommendations for the week: Catherine wants to keep you moving with her articles "How to Stop a Fitness Backslide" and "Have an Active Summer"; Amanda thinks you should look at that IEP (eek!) over the summer with her article "Reinforcing IEP Goals Over the Summer"; Nicole suggests checking www.summercamps.com for lots of fun summer camp options; and Terri commisserates with your end-of-year woes with "10 Things to Hate About the End of the School Year" and your routine-and-structure needs with "Camp Mom" and "DIY ESY."

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Fresh off hosting 75 people for a four-year-old's birthday party with a theme of "Space, Ranbows, and Superheroes," Lexi Walters Wright chats with Terri about present protocols, color-coordinated superhero cupcakes, backyards vs. bowling alleys, how birthday parties have changed over the years, and why you won't find a pinata at her house. For more advice on birthday parties, read Lexi's articles on Understood.org:

+ 3 Reasons Kids May Struggle With Birthday Parties+ 8 Ways to Make Your Young Child’s Party a Success+ Common Party Pitfalls for Grade-Schoolers With Learning and Attention Issues

(If you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Before TV networks started showing off their shiny new series to critics and advertisers at the upfronts this week, they cleared the decks of a whole lot of shows you may have hoped wouldn't get canceled. We started our chat with a different sort of canceled -- the kind where you get beheaded, as Anne Boleyn was at the end of this first season of Wolf Hall (500 year old spoiler alert!) -- and then took a brief spin past the Dancing With the Stars semifinals before landing in the TV show graveyard for a look at whether anything we cared about was lost in the carnage. (Wondering if your favorites still have a pulse? Mashable has a list of the dearly departed.) We also tipped a hat to shows that have survived in creative ways, by jumping to other content providers, getting a final year as a victory lap, or getting a gimmick (good luck with that all-live season, Undateable!) Are you mourning the dead, celebrating the living, or looking forward to something new? Share with us on Twitter at @RoundAboutChat, on our Facebook page, or on the comments here if you can get them to work. And if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

What promises would you make to your child if you had the opportunity to do so publicly, on Twitter, for everybody to see? That's the question asked by an Understood.org campaign, #ParentPromise, to inspire parents to demonstrate their devotion with a selfie and a commitment. Amanda promised to see the world through her children's eyes and put them before the laundry (literally, judging by her photo); Nicole promised to help her children survive and thrive, and earn college degrees they won't have to lease out later; Catherine promised to help her kids grow up to be their own persons, and to not complain too much about the cost of skating equipment; and Terri promised not to make big promises, but maybe some small easily achievable ones like "I promise to let you watch TV at least five hours a day."

From promises to keep, we moved on to promises we often see people break, like, "I promise to respond promptly when you send me an e-mail" and "I promise to leave a voice-mail message if I expect you to call me back." We discussed such digital dilemmas as accidentally replying-all, posting to the wrong Twitter feed, properly using social-media slang, and knowing when you can stop saying "Thank you" at the end of an e-mail conversation.

Finally, we gave our recommendations for the week: Catherine thinks you should get out and enjoy National Bike Month, Bike to Work Day, and the National Bike Challenge, which might score you the coveted prize of a year's supply of TP; Amanda has not yet read Emily Post’s Manners in a Digital World, but she thinks we should all look it over and compare notes; Nicole mentioned another online-comportment resource, Kindness Wins by Galit Breen, for parents who are new to social media and want their kids to behave; and Terri recommended her articles on putting together your own Camp Mom do-it-yourself day camp (in case your #ParentPromise was, "I promise to forget to enroll you in a summer program until school is almost out and every deadline has passed.")

Thanks as always to Jon Morin for producing our episode and Kristin Eredics for our happy in-and-out music. (If you're reading this description somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.)

Although embarrassing children has long been a specialty of parents, the addition of social media to the options for spreading stories about that thing your kid did has raised privacy issues and caused concern over the way parents of children with disabilities in particular portray their youngsters and to what purpose. Terri chatted with Robert Rummel-Hudson, author of Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter and blogger at Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords and Support for Special Needs, about the value of parents sharing their stories, the importance of balancing bad with good, the danger of pity parties, the hope of preparing a platform from which kids can launch their own adult advocacy, and the sneaking suspicion that a generation that's grown up online doesn't have the same conception of "privacy issues" that their pearl-clutching elders do. Listen in, and check back the first Thursday of every month for more conversations with Rob about raising kids with special needs.

Is the weather finally nice where you are? If you're looking for fun things to do outdoors with your kids, pediatric occupational therapist Meghan Corridan, who blogs at MAC&Toys, has some ideas for you. She and Catherine chat about simple and fun activities like riding a scooter, doing some gardening, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and blowing bubbles that are simple springtime pleasures and also provide lots of opportunities for motor planning, proprioception, fine- and gross-motor skill-building, attention focusing, sharing, problem-solving, and family fun. On the topic of wheeled conveyances, they both recommend the Razor RipRider 360, a three-wheel bike that both older kids and grown-ups will enjoy pedaling around. What are you doing outdoors with your kids these days? Share in the comments or by tweeting us at @RoundAboutChat, and if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.

Mother's Day is almost here, and so it seemed like a good time to talk about mothers in books, movies, and TV, particularly since Catherine's latest book-club read is Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. We chatted about that book and two others focusing on mother-daughter relationships, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan and Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry, and then moved on to discuss moms in movies like Freaky Friday, The Parent Trap, and Almost Famous (see video clip for mom Frances McDormand putting the smackdown on rocker Billy Crudup), and TV shows including Mom, Brothers and Sisters, Parenthood, Modern Family, and My So-Called Life. Who are your favorite moms in pop culture? Share in the comments, tweet them to us at @RoundAboutChat, or talk back on our Facebook page. And if you're reading this somewhere without hyperlinks, come to http://parentingroundabout.com for the full recap experience.