ML Interest Tag: reconnect

Now Is a Prime Time for Daydreaming

By Tamara Jacobi

After weeks at home, the days are starting to blur together. Abundant family time is beautiful and challenging. Can you relate?

I’m moving more slowly. No need to rush, no hurry. Life has become relatively simple. I’ve been doing plenty of rolling around on the floor with my 6-month-old. We listen to the birds, gaze at the trees, watch for butterflies. My mind wanders.

Part of me feels guilty. An inner voice admonishes, “Stop being lazy, you should be making progress, get back to doing (fill in the blank).”

“Shhh!” I respond to that nagging voice. “Be quiet, I’m daydreaming!”

I’ve learned from experience that this slowing down is valuable, it’s prime time for letting the dreams flow. This is where the magic happens. We have been gifted a mindfulness pause. We have an opportunity to go slower and explore our wild ideas; to visualize a new future. This unusual time may allow us to reconnect with our imaginations, individually and as families. Daydreamers aren’t limited by geographic restrictions, we can go anywhere!

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere,” said Einstein.

Our family business began as a daydream over a decade ago. Just prior to rolling up our sleeves and building our jungle lodge, we embarked on a two-month kayaking adventure on Baja’s Sea of Cortez. My father, brother, and I spent 8-to-10 hours a day paddling on a journey of nearly 1000 miles of wilderness. Though our arms moved rhythmically and our bodies were confined to the kayaks, our minds were free to roam.

We had an abundance of family time. As we paddled hundreds of miles of pristine coastline, I unleashed my daydreams, opened to vast possibilities. I lost myself in the peaceful dance of the water currents and ripples. With each mile of coastline, our eco-lodge dream morphed. “Questions and answers shot through my head like arrows. Some hit the target, others missed by a mile. Bull’s-eyes were collected and safeguarded in my mind.” My brother became my devil’s advocate; poking holes in my wild ideas, ultimately making our shared vision stronger.

With this abundance of time at home, why not open our minds and teach our kids the power of daydreams? So many children are told to get their heads out the clouds. Now is an ideal time to rewire that thinking.

Why is it that daydreamers have gotten a bad rap, while visionaries are celebrated? Visionaries like Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia founder) or Steve Jobs (Apple co-founder) were daydreamers long before they took action. Einstein was a classic daydreamer, yet consider all that he achieved! Daydreaming is an essential prerequisite to action.

Let’s take this opportunity to pause, surrender to our daydreams, and see where they take us—as parents and as children. May the family daydreams flow! Be realistic (we are all beholden to the laws of gravity), but don’t hold back.

As we unleash our daydreams, may we have the strength and courage to embrace inevitable change, transition, and whatever comes next. We will boldly reach for the next trapeze bar of life.

“Sometimes, I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments, I’m hurdling across space between the trapeze bars. Each time I am afraid I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless basin between the bars. But I do it anyway. I must. It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening. Hurtling through the void, we just may learn to fly.” — Danaan Parry

 

Known as “The Jungle Mama”, Tamara Jacobi is the author of Wildpreneurs:A Guide for Turning Passion into Business (HarperCollins Leadership, Feb. 2020) and founder of the Tailwind Jungle Lodge on the Mexican Pacific. Tamara is loving the adventure of motherhood! Her son Zephyr was born on Oct, 2019. 

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Nothing like a Crisis to Find Ourselves Again

By Saskia Sorrosa

Two months ago, the Coronavirus felt like a distant problem. I was sad for the countries living in pain, but even as I watched things unfold on TV, it felt far from home.

Fast forward to today, and that distant story is our reality. Not only is Covid-19 affecting life in the U.S., but one of the largest epicenters in the country is my very own backyard. I live in Westchester, NY and in a matter of days, our school districts shutdown, after school activities closed indefinitely, our governor asked that we stop commuting into Manhattan and time just seemed to…stop.

After being bombarded with messages of school closures and district decisions and—OMG THE WORLD IS FALLING APART—I regained my consciousness. I thought, OK, this is life today and we will have to adjust. I made a mental checklist and did roll call: Kids, Dogs, Husband, Business (not in that order). I gave myself permission to fumble and to figure it out as we go.

My game plan was simple:

1.     Business: Meet the increased demands of a world crisis, keep our product in stock, ship to stores, deliver to customers, have contingency plans, survive.

2.     Girls: Teach them valuable lessons about self-sufficiency and imagination.

3.     Partner: Lean into the other working parent, my husband, to manage our 24-hour schedule and sanity.

4.     Dogs: Inform everyone in the house that dogs must be fed and walked and we are all in this together.

5.     Eat.

This continues to be my game plan two weeks in.

Soon after the chaos ensued, I turned to social media to see how the rest of the world was coping. I started noticing posts about homeschooling and parents enthusiastically teaching lessons. I scrolled through hundreds of pictures with hourly schedules of fun activities to do at home with kids. I thought, well, that sucks. I was certain my plan of winging it and keeping my sanity was brilliant until I looked at the pretty pictures on social media.

Between work and no school and simply surviving, I couldn’t see beyond my nose. I felt the external pressures of Instagram telling me to be better and do more, and yet all I could think of was putting one foot in front of the other. I was doing my best but I kept questioning whether this was enough. Then a blessing in disguise: social distancing.

The mandatory space between us and the outside world finally allowed me to tune out the noise and turn inward to my family. As it turns out, that’s all I needed.

The first few days were messy. We became two parents working from home while two girls were bouncing off the walls. As the news about the coronavirus got worse, the demands of my start up business got crazier. Trade shows were canceled, orders surged to an all-time high, and pressures were placed on our manufacturing timelines, all while I prioritized making sure my team and my family stayed healthy. During this hectic time, two young girls were still bouncing off the walls that seemed to be closing in. That’s right, I thought, we can all do hard things (thank you, Glennon Doyle).

I looked around and realized we were all more than OK. We were (mostly!) happy, healthy, and had each other. No one was pressuring me to be or do more. Everyone felt loved. My husband, five and seven-year-old daughters, the dogs and I were all figuring it out as we went and it worked for us.

The past two weeks have been challenging, exhausting and scary at times, but they have also been unusually special. The girls have been learning more about us and our jobs and we have been learning more about them and their school days. We’ve learned that we don’t have to follow a set schedule, or any set of rules, to make things work for us. We can just be who we are and find our own groove. Taking a step back from the outside world gave us an opportunity to reconnect with ourselves and remember who we are without the world telling us who we need to be.

Weekends have also been a welcome change. We normally head into the weekend with a million plans—birthdays, sports, dinners—and have little time to relax. We would wake up on Saturdays and look at our calendar to strategize where we needed to be and when. Now, time on the weekends has stopped. Thanks to social distancing, all our plans are canceled. I can’t remember the last time we had nowhere to be and it feels great.

I keep thinking about how ironic this entire pandemic has been. Like we needed a virus to take our lives back from the over-scheduling, and the gadgets and the FOMO. To be comfortable with stillness and show up in our lives again. To be in the presence of other human beings and make eye contact. To stop living by external pressures and start living our own truth. To heal.

As we navigate through these uncertain times, I hope we all use the space to refuel and rebuild our humanity. Pushing through tough moments, even when it feels impossible, is exactly when we have our most meaningful breakthroughs.

Hang in there. We will all be stronger on the other side!

I'm the Founder & CEO of Fresh Bellies baby food brand. I've won foodie awards, pitched to Shark Tank and appeard on Forbes and CNBC. Originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador, I live in New York with my husband, Fernando and daughters, Isabella and Alexa Luna.

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A Love Letter Home: I’ve Been Where You Are

By Elizabeth Quon

As an American ex-pat I’ve often joked about living in the future and being 13-14 hours ahead of my parents in New Orleans, we pretty much are. But now I’m truly seeing what it’s like to be ahead in time as the U.S. begins to face what we’ve been living with for weeks. Yes, I’m talking about the new Big C: COVID-19.

I’ve been pretty quiet about the pandemic on social media, choosing to focus on my virtual 5K, silly memes, and thoughtful quotes. For one, it seemed enough people were speaking up already and if I said my piece, would I be contributing? Would I be helping in any way? The long and short of it is absolutely not. I’m not a doctor. I don’t work for any government. I’m a wife and mother and have been for over twenty years.

I guess this makes right now my time to shine because I can speak up and tell you what certain parts of your future will probably look like. While I certainly don’t have all the answers, I have practical knowledge on some things, and if I can offer reassurance in any way, make suggestions that can lessen what you feel weighs heaviest on you, then I’m glad to do my part.

At the end of February when the Prime Minister of Japan requested all schools across the nation close through the end of March, asking people to work remotely, you would have thought the end was nigh. It’s a now-familiar scene to you all, you’re experiencing it currently.

But it didn’t take long for things to settle. After the initial few days, the hoarding craze dissipated. The city grew much quieter, subways grew emptier, festivals and celebrations were canceled. In Japan, encouraged (not enforced) social distancing was put into effect, so I understand what you are seeing, what you are hearing, what you are experiencing. Like grocery shopping, several areas of life have returned with a sense of normalcy, and we’ve been checking on one another, maintaining support, but continuing to be considerate in our day to day.

Oh yes, we’re also still washing the heck out of our hands.

You will get there, too. By nature, the Japanese are a community-minded people, so it’s not terribly surprising that gradually the rest of us also picked up on that calm, remembering we are also a part of that community even if it’s for a brief time. But it was an important reminder that no matter where we are in this world we take care of one another by thinking of one another.

We’ve been doing that in different ways, and it began before our children’s DLP’s (distance learning plans) started. This is a big one and I empathize. With schools closing this will have its challenging moments. Single parents, environments where both parents work, children of varying ages, no one has a monopoly on who it’s going to affect hardest because it will affect everyone. It will test you. Thankfully, over this past week, we’ve seen a blessing of sources that are online and whether your school has a DLP in place or not, this is fantastic! Virtual museum explorations, art programs, online orchestral and operatic performances. The arts are being kept alive! Check out this link for many amazing virtual museum tours. It’s a great way to explore the world from the comfort of your home.

For academics, sites like Khan Academy, Prodigy, Explore Learning, and Zearn have been used in the classroom for years and are still encouraged with distance learning. But don’t forget one of the best classrooms, the outdoors! Get your children (and yourself) outside to work off some of that energy. Clear your mind, reset your body, have dance parties, do YouTube workouts. Your physical and mental health are important, and even 10 minutes outside in the fresh air or in a room by yourself will do wonders.

And now a gentle reminder from your friendly neighborhood ex-pat.

Remember to step away from the news and Facebook. Turn them off and do something nurturing instead. Let’s see fewer pictures of empty shelves and more gestures from full hearts. There is frustration and worry in a time like this, there is heartbreak as well, but if allow yourself to consider it, there are also blessings in disguise. We are being given time that normally isn’t afforded. In a safe manner (yep, I’m throwing that very effective social distancing at you again) many of us now have the opportunity to reconnect with family, catch up with friends, moments to share with our children that may have been otherwise missed. We are being forced to slow down.

Initial panic is beginning to give way to community consideration and thoughtful conversation, virtual hands are sharing recipes and pictures of family breakfasts. Netflix recommendations are being suggested, books we’ve put aside are being read, games we’ve had on shelves are being played, and the glorious music from the balconies of Italy are filling our feeds. This is not a request that you forget what’s happening outside, but more that you don’t overlook what’s happening inside either.

From the bottom of my heart, I feel for what you are going through. My prayers are constant but my hopes remain high. I’ve seen glimpses of everyday normalcy, a slow but steady return. We’re not there yet, there’s still a way to go, but every morning it feels just a little closer. I’ll take that and breakfast with my family. Let’s use this time to savor the good and learn from the things we want to change. With level heads, compassionate hearts, and a little time, corners will be turned. I feel confident about this.

I’ve been where you are.

   

 

This post originally appeared on https://www.hominyandhome.com.

Elizabeth has traveld and lived around the globe with her family of four, but no matter where they are their ties to the South follow. She is celebrating their last year in California as they transition back to Japan, and hopes you'll enjoy their day to day, sharing recipes, traditions, travels, and family anecdotes.

   
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20 Family Friendly Screen-Free Activities

by Amber Guetebier

When it comes to unplugging in the modern world every parent knows it can be a challenge. But whether it’s a simple meal together or a round of hide and seek, there are plenty of ways to reconnect with the fam with nary a device in hand. Read on for our favorites.

photo: Agung Pandit Wiguna via Pexels

1. Enjoy a non-hurried, no-interruptions/texts/calls, 100% screen-free meal. It doesn’t matter if it’s take-out or gourmet.

2. Do a puzzle.

3. Write a story together.

4. Play superheroes for the day.

superhero_cc_Olaf_Gadin_via_CreativeCommons
photo: Olaf Gadin via flickr

5. Become a tourist in your own town. Visit a local museum, bookshop or cafe like a newbie.

6. Bake something together.

7. Make a mailbox and exchange letters.

8. Pretend you are a snake.

9. Clean up the house. No, really.

10. Hatch a dinosaur.

dingoeggs-8
photo: Christal Yuen

11. Get creative with what you have on hand by playing low-fi games that take three props or fewer.

12. Go for a 5-minute “spot walk” around the block: Tell each member of the family to try and “spot” something they want to remember without saying what it is. Once you get home, let each person say what they observed.

13. Draw your family tree. It can be a simple tree with hearts on the branches, going back just one or two generations or you can go all Ancestry.com and get detailed. 

14. Paint a Van-Gogh like masterpiece.

15. Head to the playground for a fitness break! See how many times you can go up and down the slide in one minute. Now see how many pumps (or pushes) it takes to swing taller than a parent’s height. Take turns doing pull-ups on the bars, sync your push ups on the bench and then race a lap around the park. Here are even more playground workout ideas. 

photo: Schmidt-Reportagen via Pixabay

16. Play a board game. Here are five gross ones you may not have heard of yet. 

17. Draw out a hopscotch course and hop to it! Dressed as superheroes or princesses or spies! 

18. Set up a car wash for toy cars in your driveway. Too cold? Use the bathtub!

19. Read together.

20. Turn making the bed into a game. (We tried it ourselves and it works). 

 

Want more ideas? We’ve click here for 18 easy ways to play with the kids whether you’ve got 5 minutes or 30 minutes.

—Amber Guetebier

 

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10 Ways for New Moms to Feel Like Themselves Again

by Suzanna Logan

Becoming a parent for the first time is one of life’s wildest, most-impossible-to-prepare-for transitions. Once you’ve had a baby, it takes time to feel like your body is yours again, and things will never be the same anyway (nor should they be expected to be!). The same goes for you as a person. During the postpartum period, your thoughts, feelings and perspective changes, and it can take time for you to get back in touch with your pre-baby self. To encourage the process along, here are a few things you can do to reconnect with the old you while embracing your new reality as a mom.

1. Sleep.
We’re making this #1 on our list because we think it should be #1 on your list, too, Snagging some extra Z’s restores and refreshes the mind, body and soul in a way that nothing else can. While baby naps, throw laundry to the wind, leave the sink full of dishes, and give yourself permission to sleep while baby sleeps. (It’s the oldest trick in the new-baby book for good reason.) You may just wake up feeling as good as “old” again.

2. Laugh.
When was the last time you had a really good belly laugh? If it was while baby was still in residence in that belly, it’s time to reconnect with your sense of humor. Call up your funniest friend, turn on a TV show that makes you laugh so hard you could pee your pants (much easier now post-birth!), or, if you’re ready to make a night of it, hit up a local improv comedy show and get ready to giggle the night away. 

3. Join a moms group.
Being a new mom is bewildering, and your post-partum self could use some solidarity. At least for now, your new reality includes diaper changes and infant sleep struggles, so finding friends who can relate with the challenges, hopes, fears, joys and downright weird topics of this season of your life will give you a renewed sense of belonging. 

mom friends pushing strollers
iStock

4. Hang with your baby-free friends.
This may seem like direct opposition to the previous point, but hear us out. Staying connected with friends who aren’t in the baby stage can help keep you connected to the you that once was. Kid-less friends are more likely to do things you did pre-baby, like going to concerts, baseball games, museums, etc. While these excursions may not be doable on the reg, attending an occasional cocktail party (or even just hearing a friend tell you about one) may have you feeling more in tune with yourself.

5. Drink coffee.
We’re convinced that coffee solves pretty much everything. (After all, during these sleepless newborn days, your yawns are really just silent screams for coffee.) But even if the caffeinated nectar of the gods isn’t your thing, what matters is the ritual of setting aside the responsibilities swirling around you, even if only for a moment, to slow down and appreciate what’s in front of you—especially if what’s in front of you is the home decor aisle at Target and the drink in your hand is from the in-store Starbucks.

Related: Advice to New Moms from Moms Who’ve Been There

6. Clear the baby clutter.
Look around the room right now. Do you see baby blankets and toys here, diapers and wipes there? If baby stuff has found its way onto most surfaces of your home, it’s time to find a central spot to stash the infant items. Keeping baby’s things in a collected spot rather than strewn about may be the mental signal you need to help you feel a little more like you. While little one is an incredible part of your life, he or she needn’t take over every area of it. 

7. Sweat it out.
Squeezing in a sweat sesh a few days a week will get your endorphins surging through your system, whether it’s a casual walk in the fresh air with baby strapped into the stroller or a jog on the treadmill at your local gym that offers childcare.

mom working out with baby
iStock

8. Shop!
We’re not suggesting you go on a Carrie Bradshaw-style shopping spree, but adding a few staples to your wardrobe that fit your new shape will help you transition from pregnancy through the postpartum period. Because trying to wiggle your post-baby self into pre-baby pants…well, ain’t no one got time for that.

9. Pursue intimacy with your partner.
While your healthcare provider likely laid down the hammer on intercourse for six weeks post-partum, make an effort to reconnect without sex. Cuddle on the couch, smooch like teenagers, or give each other a massage. And while we are all about being real, a swipe of lip gloss and some dry shampoo can go a long way toward giving you the confidence you need to get romantic.

10. Embrace the new normal…and how amazing you are.
Before you try out every point on this list trying to conjure up your pre-baby self, remember that just feeling like the “old you” isn’t the goal. What’s more important—and realistic—is realizing that this new (and, dare we say, improved!) version of you deserves to be celebrated. The you who is tinged with spit-up and hasn’t showered in recent history gave life to another human being. And, let’s be real, that’s way more amazing than anything your old self ever did.  

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5 Tips for Surviving a Family Vacation

By Mollie Wilson

Family vacations are a great way to get away from the rush of modern life and reconnect with each other. The memories that come from fun-filled family vacations will last a lifetime, but sometimes their boredom and frustration can rear its ugly head. No one can be happy all the time, but with a little bit of planning, a lot of patience and these five tips, you can survive your family vacation with a wealth of happy memories.

#1. Plan Your Expenses

Money is one of the most stressful aspects of any family vacation. You should set a budget with your spouse and any other adults that will accompany on your trip well in advance. Find out who is contributing and in what amounts. You should also set what spending limits will be. Then, start saving at least three months before you plan to depart. Aside from your spending budget, you will need to set money aside for unexpected expenses such as medical cost, impulse purchases, gifts, and even inflation. This can keep everyone in the green out of the poorhouse during your family vacation. If you have kids that will be traveling with you, consider having them save their allowance for a few months. That way they can make their own “fun” or optional purchases while on vacation. Not only will this help keep you on budget, but they will also feel more involved in the planning process.

#2. Plan Your Travel Time & Know Your Limits

One of the hardest parts of going on vacation with your family is getting to your destination. Plan your travel time well in advance of your trip to stay on schedule. Can you imagine getting packed and ready only to miss your flight? How about setting a time to hit the road only to get mired in rush hour traffic due to departing from the house too late? Instead of getting stressed out, plan properly. For every child in your vacation party, add an extra 20 minutes to your departure time. For every slow-moving adult or elderly person, add 15 minutes. Once you have the extra time calculated, set your departure ahead accordingly to stay on schedule and retain your sanity. It is also critical to know your limits and that of those traveling with you. Everyone has those little things that can cause a major meltdown, keep them in mind when planning your trip. Every so often you may have to just let the baby cry or allow your spouse to pick the radio station on to keep the peace. Choosing your battles not only will ensure your trip goes smoothly, but it will also keep everyone happy and your wits intact.

#3. Set Aside Time for Yourself  

Taking a vacation with your family is a lot of fun for them, but it can also be a lot of work for you and your spouse. Creating me time allows your family to have independent fun while you get some time to yourselves. If your family has time away from you, they will begin to appreciate the time you are around them even more and you will also feel much more refreshed. Depending on the age of the people in your vacation party, downtime can mean any number of things. If you have other adults or older kids, consider letting them explore your vacation spot on their own. While everyone is away, you can kick up your feet, relax, and just let the strain of the trip melt away. You should never feel selfish or guilty for cherishing that time away from your family even on vacation. The role of a parent is one that changes often but seldom involves truly having no responsibility. Getting in your “me time” allows you to be the best parent that you can be for the rest of your vacation.

#4. Learn to Compromise  

On a family vacation, you are going to be faced with various personalities outside of their usual environment. As a result, it is important to be flexible if you want things to go smoothly. Regardless of your destination, there is going to be several things to see and events to attend. That means there is going to be conflicts about what to do first or when to go to each event. Make a point of pairing up family members with similar interest if some activities occur at the same time that different groups don’t want to miss. This can cut down on arguments and make your vacation much more enjoyable for all since no one will be stuck doing something they have no interest in. Depending on the age of your family members, some may need to sleep earlier than others. Consider taking turns going to bed early so that every night owl can have a chance to party hard all night long.

#5. Pay Attention to Family, Not Electronics

One of the main reasons to go on vacation with your family is to get away from the real world and reconnect. That is hard to do if you spend your whole trip glued to your phone, tablet or laptop. Social media and work tend to be able to reach out and touch us whenever and wherever we may be and that has to stop. Be present with your family to make memories and enjoy your time together. We are not saying to leave your electronics at home but make a point not to use them until the end of each day. Laugh, joke, and immerse yourself in the moment to get the most out of your family vacation. You may be surprised at just how much you learn about your family and how much you actually don’t miss staying connected.

The Bottom Line: Traveling can be fun though traveling with your family can be a challenge. By following our handy suggestions, you will find that your vacation flows much more smoothly and your sanity will remain intact. 

Mollie Wilson is a freelance writer from North Carolina. When she is not writing, she is perusing an adventures life- backpacking, climbing, exploring local coffee shops, and traveling.

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How to Keep Your Friends after Having a Baby

By Megan Flynn

If you’re anything like me, you assured yourself during your pregnancy that nothing would change between you and your friends once the baby arrived. And you definitely wouldn’t be like those other parents you know who totally ditched their friends post-child in order to replace them with a new set of parent friends. 

Flash forward to your new life as a parent and you might be finding that your pre-baby promise to yourself is easier said than done. Research tells us that maintaining your social circle is more critical than ever as a parent. Social isolation can lead to clinical depression in parents and “belonging to multiple social groups is a critical buffer.”* Simply stated: you need your closest friends in your life.

So how do you blend your new life as a parent with your pre-parent, childless friends—especially when getting child-free time can be a real challenge? 

Here are a few tips for blending your “parent life” with your “pre-parent life.” 

  1. Reach out to your friends. While you may want your friends to do the reaching out, the fact is you very well may be the one who needs to get in touch. Your friends may be worried about bothering you, assume you’re busy, or just busy with their own life events. Be the first to reach out and get some friend time on the books. 

  2. Let them into your “new parent life.” Your child-free friends don’t need to be separate from this new stage of your life. Involve them! (And if it turns out they don’t want to be there for you, you’ll quickly find out—and I’d suggest rethinking the friendship). Invite them to go places with you and the little one, invite them over to birthday parties and events with other parents/kids, and ask them for help. You don’t want them to cut you out, so you shouldn’t cut them out either. 

  3. Keep going out to coffee/brunch/lunch/dinner/happy hour. Chances are, this was one of your primary socializing methods pre-baby. After all, they say food tastes better with friends! It may seem overwhelming to dine out with your little one and child-free friend(s), but it doesn’t have to be. If the very idea of dining out with your little one in tow makes you want to hide under the covers, check out my post, “Tips for Dining Out With Your (Child-Free) Friends.” 

  4. Join the “serial socializing” bandwagon. The easier you can make everything in your life, the better, and building a routine helps with that. For us, “serial socializing” has been a gamechanger. We host a monthly Brunch & Board Games open house on the 3rd Sunday of each month. We issued a standing, recurring invitation and everyone is invited. If they can make it that month, great. If not, no worries. It’s helped us stay connected with our social circle and is a day we look forward to each month. 

  5. Carve out child-free time. I also encourage you to carve out time—even if it’s only once a month—to spend child-free time with friends. My husband and I alternate covering for one another a couple of evenings per month to make sure each of us gets solo time with our friends. 

  6. Host at home. In addition to the solo time, we also have found inviting our child-free friends over to hang with us in the evenings (after our kids are in bed) to be a great way to spend time with our mutual friends. We’ve had several amazing game nights on weekdays that run from 7 p.m.-10 p.m. and are completely child-free! 

I know it can sometimes feel like an insurmountable challenge to reconnect with friends in the craziness of life as a parent, but I promise it’s not —and even more importantly, I promise it’s worth it. 

Megan loves hiking with family, a good gin cocktail, and reading Llama Llama Red Pajama to her toddler on repeat. She lives in DC and is the co-founder of Highchair Society, a website & blog dedicated to helping parents have 5-star kid-friendly dining experiences. 

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This Is How Family Vacations Differ for Millennials, According to Vrbo

by Shahrzad Warkentin

From camping under the stars to exploring Disney World, the ideal family vacation is different for everyone, but age plays a major factor in choosing dream destination according to a new travel report from Vrbo.

Vacation rental site Vrbo has just released a new report “Age isn’t just a number. It reveals how you travel.” based on its U.S. travel survey. The survey found that when it comes to decisions about travel things vary a great deal between generations. When it comes to the reason for traveling, for example, 45 percent of Millennials said they travel purely for exploration, while 20 percent of Gen Xers (35 to 54-year-olds) said travel was generally in honor of a special milestone, like a birthday or anniversary.

photo: Marc Richards via Pexels

The survey also revealed that Millennials were the most likely to go into debt in order to travel versus Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. There are some things that all generations have in common, however.

The majority of respondents, regardless of age, agreed that their dream destination was Australia. Certain amenities are also universal apparently, with 75 percent of respondents refusing to unplug for vacation and requiring that accommodations include WiFi access. The majority of Americans were also united in the desire to travel with friends and family, with 52 percent of respondents planning a family vacation this year. All participants rated relaxation as their primary reason for travel, “indicating a healthy desire to disconnect from the stress of our daily lives and reconnect with family and friends while away.”

—Shahrzad Warkentin

 

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Comedian Ali Wong Is Starring in This Must-Watch Netflix Romantic Comedy

by Shahrzad Warkentin

Diversity in Hollywood is finally bringing more Asian American faces to the big screen in leading roles. A new romantic comedy on Netflix is set to star funny mom Ali Wong and you’ll want to to tuck the kids and pour a glass of wine to pair with the laughs.

As a comedian Wong has used her special brand of humor to highlight her challenging pregnancy and road to motherhood. Now she’s lending her comedic chops to a new Netflix film Always Be My Maybe. Starring alongside Randall Park, the new film follows childhood friends Sasha and Marcus who reconnect and kindle a romance after a 15 year falling out. Check out the trailer below.

Always Be My Maybe, which also stars Daniel Dae Kim (Hellboy), James Saito (While We’re Young) and Keanu Reeves in a hilarious role, will debut on Netflix and in select theaters May 31.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: Courtesy of Netflix

 

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