Show Notes
This episode was a fun one to record!
I posted a request for questions via Instagram and many of you delivered! And thus, this episode is a relatively rapid fire series of answers to everything that came in. I hope I didn’t miss anyone’s question, but if you still have more please send them my way! This is the last new episode of the season; some favorite reruns will air in July and then new episodes will be back in August (in time for that back to school energy!).
Is there a planner that you’re dying to hear reviewed this fall, or a guest you’d love to hear? Let me know! I’m also seeking sponsors for episodes August + beyond. If you’d like a copy of rates/info, feel free to contact me!
Solo Weekend
This weekend was a mostly solo one but went MUCH better than this one. (No crying on the floor = a win).
What helped:
Incorporating an outing with adult interaction each day. Saturday: ice skating for all 3 in the AM, then an ice cream/playground meetup with friends. Sunday: Butterfly World with a friend. Thankfully, the weather cooperated with our plans.
Limiting chores (other than making muffins, I didn’t really cook. We ate leftovers + had takeout on Saturday night). Things I did: some organizing projects, planned meals + upcoming week, ordered groceries. Things I didn’t do: laundry and cooking, as mentioned.
Having the kids clean up all toys/their messes prior to beginning screen time in the afternoons. They are fully capable and when motivated actually do an efficient job.
Planning out the days and showing them to the kids (well, the big kids. That’s a little advanced for G . . .)
Going outside each day, including a 45 min run on Sunday — this I did at ~7 am while Josh was still home.
Off to run. Happy Monday . . .
10 Comments
I love joint outings but a lot of people here are either swamped from continuing to have their kids home 24/7 or still isolating a lot. It’s so interesting to me to hear how your life sounds so normal. We have started traveling a little bit which apparently some people think is irresponsible. It’s so hard how people are still all over the place with their comfort level- obviously I understand but it adds more complexity to something I already found hard. I guess I’m just really awkward.
Are your kids all major extroverts too? After a week of camp my son would be fine to be home all weekend by my daughter is SUPER extroverted and needs lots of interaction which is frankly hard for me as an introvert to facilitate. I think we’re it not for the pandemic we would be doing at least some drop off play dates but she is not ready aside from one family we know super well who are still being super restrictive with what they are willing to do. When did your kids start to do drop off play dates?
I have at least one introvert and probably one extrovert! G is too young to tell but seems pretty outgoing.
Most of the activities we do are outdoors which really (from what I understand and have read) minimizes risk. Generally I’m happy to have a reason to spend more time outside anyway (our weather does NOT always cooperate this time of year, but this weekend it did!).
Drop off play dates – for us it was around 8 for Annabel with her BFF. And also not sure if Cameron would have started bc pandemic.
Oh I’m with you on the outside risk! It’s just that others don’t seem to agree which is interesting. We invited another family to the pool because the heat is tough here and they we not comfortable with that. I am not sure what they would be comfortable with.
We do dropoff playdates at nearly 4, but only with a nursery pal. It began when I needed a few hours of childcare cover, and now we take turns dropping off (but also, we really like the parents so we also hang out as families outdoors). The boys are super comfortable with each other and since they are together all day at nursery, we don’t have concerns about indoor time and exposure. Parents are all half vaxxed (they are doing it by age in the UK, with a longer gap, and uptake is in 90% + so it’s taken quite a long time to get through everyone). I was pretty nervous the first time I did it, and tried to rush home, but the parents reassured me that the kids were entertaining themselves so nicely that they had caught up with work and I should take my time getting back.
Sounds like a lovely weekend! My youngest is just a bit older than G and he got himself totally dressed for the first time because he was motivated to go outside and play. Do the same on a school morning? No, of course not.
Just curious, are you still planning to post your thoughts on your Insta break? I’m on one as well so I keep checking back to see how you felt about it. 🙂
This was a fun episode! I laughed out loud at your comment, “What, am I training for the Olympics??” regarding being okay skipping workouts sometimes. I totally relate to that…I feel like even just a couple years ago, I used to be so hardcore with my workouts, I would try to “make them up” if I missed one (so it wouldn’t throw off the rest of my week’s schedule), etc. Now I’m much more like, Eh, oh well…. Not like I’m training for the Olympics……pretty sure I’m just an average, almost 38 year old mom of two…. 😉
I’m heading back to work in Aug after maternity leave and I’m looking for a new planner. I like the layout of the Moleskine planner (section for each day on left page with notes page on the right) but I hate how thin the paper is! Any suggestions?
I’d check these out because Laura had a similar desire for layout!
https://theshubox.com/2021/06/best-laid-plans-episode-45-planner-matchmaking-with-laura-vanderkam.html
I have a suggestion for the person who asked about helping teach a tween to plan. One of my kiddos has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum, and his therapist recommended the book Smart But Scattered: The Revolutionary Executive Skills Approach to Helping Kids Reach Their Potential, by Richard Guare and Peg Dawson. The book is ostensibly about helping kids who lack executive functioning skills to develop those skills, BUT I’ve also found it’s super useful for everyone regardless of how well developed your executive functioning skills are! The book contains case studies of particular scenarios (kid has a large project and doesn’t know where to start, kid has problems remembering to bring sports equipment to school, kid melts down when they make mistakes, etc) highlighting different skills like planning, emotional regulation, metacognition, and so on, and walks through strategies on how to help kids develop and hone the relevant skills. There’s also age-appropriate quizzes (for kids and adults) to help you figure out where your own executive functioning strengths and weaknesses lie, which was really eye-opening for the entire family. The book is aimed at kids preschool through middle school ages, but some of the advice would also work for the older set.
I am going to get this book too!!!! Thank you so much – I’ll share on a future ep after my ‘hiatus’!