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The Freedom of Not Giving a Flying Flip
Last week, I posted a simple picture on Instagram with some words of encouragement to all the parents out there trying to parent and potty-train and tackle the plethora of other responsibilities that are a part of being mom and dad to people we adore. Seemed simple enough. Within minutes, one woman started sharing what I assumed was “just being helpful” potty training tips. I was sincerely grateful. Quickly, though, it moved to fear mongering about the harm I was doing to my child by delaying potty-training and finally to accusations that I was, in essence, being a bad parent by waiting until I thought my little guy was “ready”.…
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Thinking Outside of the Box & Growing in Trust
Hello everybody! This post is going to be a short one because we are coming off a busy week and are preparing for a little Garden Tea Party Fundraiser! I figured I’d share something that we are slowly discovering as we try to provide the very best education for our kids — with limited funds to make it happen. What we have discovered, is that, for most parents of big families, you need to learn to think outside of the box when it comes to helping your kids get to college. Most of us don’t have endless funds at our disposal, am I right? But just because you can’t personally…
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Once Upon a Time in Melaka a.k.a. Making the Case for Pilgrimage
Technically, John and I made our first family pilgrimage to Rome when our oldest daughter was still in utero. Understandably, our life with littles quickly transitioned from world travels to beach travels — and somewhere along the way, we began to lose sight of the importance of pilgrimage. Maybe it was because I assumed deeming something a “pilgrimage” would bring with it extra sufferings and hardships, and I was barely keeping my head above water with so many littles in the mix, as it was. Whatever it was, we likely would have kept choosing family vacations over pilgrimages if it wasn’t for an opportunity that John and I had to…
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Why We Travel With Our Kids
Summer is here and the living is easy. It’s time to start thinking about your next family adventure. Yeehaw! Don’t get me wrong. There is most definitely a time and a place for couple getaways and weekends with friends — but what if you began to see your family as the best partners in any travel adventure? Please note that I didn’t say they are the best partners in a relaxing or spa-like getaway — no, no, no — anybody who has ever traveled with a bunch of kids knows you will likely come home exhausted and ready for another vacation. So get words like “relaxation” and “spa-like” out of…
