What are your family plans for summer? (And will I see any of you at the Beloved Festival?)
May is when my family and I start really solidifying our summer plans, starting to block out chunks for camping and visiting out-of-state family. To get a little inspiration, I spent some time doodling through Offbeat Families archives looking for great ideas for things to do this summer. Join me in some schemes, and then tell me… what are YOUR family plans for this summer?
My son told me I’m his “second mom”
We had waited until our son Ben turned four to talk about adoption. We wanted him to be old enough to begin to “get it”, knowing we’d build on it more and more as he was able to understand everything it meant. And like the “Where do babies come from?” conversation with our oldest son, the “What does adoption mean?” conversation was brief and age-appropriate, with most of the grownup details left out.
Mission Accomplished: my home birth story
“You want to do what?!” “Will there be doctors there?” “Why would you want to do that?” “What about what happened to (insert an unknown to me name here)”? These are just some of the questions and reactions I got when I decided to do a home birth. Some people just could NOT grasp the fact that for me, there was no need to be lying up on a hospital bed, in an unflattering hospital gown, being poked and prodded. I know because I have had that type of experience with my first born.
20 minute dance party: how our family exercises together
A few weeks ago my husband and I were trying to figure out how to watusi, so we turned to this video on YouTube. It turns out Michael Ivy is a dedicated dance instructor who has a whole list of instructional dance videos. We eyed the list, deduced that playing it in its entirety would take about 20 minutes, and asked our four-year-old if he wanted to dance with us.
5 tips for dealing with feeling guilty after moving your kid far away from family and friends
We just packed up our entire life and moved 2000 miles away from any family and friends our family has ever known. There’s no better way to describe doing something like this than to use the word “bittersweeet” — we know we’re in the right place for our family, but we’re seriously struggling with feeling guilty for taking our kids away from their grandparents, cousins, aunts, and friends.
Dangerous Cooking for Boys: an 11-year-old’s online cooking show for kids with allergies
This is my awesome little cousin, Tully. He is unschooled and this year has begun his own online cooking show, Dangerous Cooking for Boys. Tully is 11 and suffers from a number of allergies and cannot eat dairy, gluten or sugar so has started making videos (specifically aimed at boys but my daughter loves them) that make cooking fun for kids.
A play kitchen built from a salvaged cabinet
I made this play kitchen for my boyfriend’s nephew Henry, who is pictured above investigating his new present. I got the idea from this kitchen I saw on Young House Love.
I deleted the photos, and put the phone down: letting go of nostalgia for the future
I recently tried to sync my phone and couldn’t because it was too full. I couldn’t even update my podcasts because of all the pictures and videos taking up space — so I had to pare down. Deciding which photos and videos to save and which to delete was a challenge: what if I had a few minutes on the subway and wanted to look at pictures from a few years ago? I wasn’t ready.