I’ve been home full-time with my kids for the past five years. This week, my youngest starts kindergarten. Those of you who work full-time may not realize what a huge transition time this is for at-home parents when their kids start school. This is the time we feel judged by people who think we’re home all day doing nothing. (This could be actual judgement from people or what we’ve imagined in our heads, either way, it’s all the same to us.) This is a time when whatever self-imposed pressures and expectations come to light as well. There’s a lot of uncertainty. Maybe that’s why I … [Read more...]
Swimming Pool Seasons with Kids: Heaven, Hell and All in Between
A swimming pool is definitely the best/worst kid activity of the summer. For every drop of enjoyment a pool provides, there is an equal and opposite negative reaction (just ask Isaac Newton). There is no better way to cool off and feel refreshed in the summer than flopping that beach bod you planned to acquire over the winter into an 83-degree shimmering oasis with your little ones. At the same time, a day at the swimming pool requires a near-constant reapplication of sunscreen on kids. Doing this three or four times without getting sunscreen in their eyes is tough – it’s bound to happen at … [Read more...]
Cold (and Often Long) Facts about Spring Youth Baseball
Youth baseball. A sport with varied skill levels. Some kids can knock the cover off the ball and others have never put on a baseball glove before (you can tell these kids because they always put it on the hand they throw with.) Baseball is a sport with no time limit, no clock. The games could last forever … literally. It is a sport played outside, during the unpredictable weather of the spring. Games rarely get cancelled, making for some interesting situations. This season, those windy 40 degree days made me thankful for the other 165 hours of the week I wasn’t sitting in a cold lawn … [Read more...]
Parenting Trend Today; Crazy Town Tomorrow
What will parents in the next generation think crazy that we did as parents? You know, in the same way that I can’t believe I never wore a seatbelt when I was a kid? And not only did I not wear a seatbelt, on long car trips, I would sit on the floorboards of the backseat for fun. I also rode in cars with people who smoked … with the windows up. I mean, seriously -- come on! What the hell? Windows up? I remember on more than one occasion, running to the store and buying cigarettes for my grandpa. I was 6. I don’t see future parents reversing the trend, letting kids be alone more outdoors, … [Read more...]
Divide Parenting Tasks, Then Stay in Your Lane
My wife and I have a parenting style we refer to as “staying in your lane.” It isn’t for all families, but this dividing of the tasks works for us. Staying in your lane, basically means, "You do your things, I’ll stay out of the way, and I’ll do mine and you stay out of my way." Examples of tasks and lanes: I do the laundry in our house. Except for the occasional load every few weeks, laundry is in my lane. I like it this way. I have a system. I know I can’t start a load of clothes that need to be hang dried if I just filled the drying rack with other clothes. I know how many days I can … [Read more...]