Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is that when you are gathering with friends or
Speaker 1: extended family for an extended period of time, gather with
Speaker 1: an agenda. Even if you know everyone well, you need
Speaker 1: a loose plan. This will make the gathering better and
Speaker 1: prevent a lot of awkward planning and logistical debate during
Speaker 1: a time when you are supposed to be just enjoying
Speaker 1: each other's company. If you've got family coming to spend
Speaker 1: a week with you, you may assume that you will
Speaker 1: just spend the time catching up, but you may not
Speaker 1: have an infinite amount of stuff to catch up on.
Speaker 1: People might need a break, and if you have kids,
Speaker 1: you know that getting out of the house and having
Speaker 1: some structure prevents a lot of meltdowns and bad feelings.
Speaker 1: So just as you'd have some sort of agenda for
Speaker 1: a company retreat, have some plan for your get together. Personally,
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of planning one activity a day that
Speaker 1: gives everyone a reason to get up and get going.
Speaker 1: People make memories to gather, kids can get some energy out,
Speaker 1: and then you can all relax and reflect afterwards. This
Speaker 1: activity should be determined ahead of time. If people want
Speaker 1: to beg off, they can, or if everyone decides not
Speaker 1: to do it, fine, but with no plan you can
Speaker 1: waste the whole day trying to come up with something
Speaker 1: rather than just going doing and relaxing afterwards. If you
Speaker 1: are somewhere with an obvious activity, like you're going to
Speaker 1: the beach or an amusement park, that is fine, But
Speaker 1: if not, think zoo, aquarium, the local children's museum, and
Speaker 1: so forth. If you are all adults, that can be
Speaker 1: something a little different, like a group bike ride, a
Speaker 1: trip to a cheese tasting place, a matinee movie, bowling,
Speaker 1: you name it. Choose something for each day. If you
Speaker 1: need reservations, make them, because showing up with twelve people
Speaker 1: at that cheese tasting place is probably not going to work.
Speaker 1: You should also have a rough sense of your meals.
Speaker 1: If you've got multiple families gathering, you can assign each
Speaker 1: family a night. They can take you all out to
Speaker 1: dinner if they want, but again, with twelve people you
Speaker 1: need that reservation. Finally, you want at least one or
Speaker 1: two to fallbacks for things you can do during downtime.
Speaker 1: Many extended families like to start a puzzle. As the
Speaker 1: family gathers, many hands make light work of a thousand pieces,
Speaker 1: and as you all sit around you can chat in
Speaker 1: a way that you won't with the TV on. You
Speaker 1: can obviously play cards or board games too, though those
Speaker 1: have the disadvantage that you can't really come in and out.
Speaker 1: That is problematic if you've got, say, parents of young
Speaker 1: kids who need to put them to bed or deal
Speaker 1: with their needs. If you're not into puzzles, it might
Speaker 1: be something like a giant mural that you are all
Speaker 1: coloring together. You might decide for some post kid bedtime
Speaker 1: activities like a bonfire in the yard or a dip
Speaker 1: in the hot tub if there is one in your
Speaker 1: vacation rental. But the point is to think this all
Speaker 1: through no one and sustain a week long intense conversation.
Speaker 1: And even people who love each other dearly will get
Speaker 1: bored without some new inputs, or you may wind up
Speaker 1: with rainy weather and really appreciate that someone has thought
Speaker 1: through the activities. Boredom kills memories. Better to figure out
Speaker 1: a plan. What are your good to activities? When you
Speaker 1: get together with family and friends. You can let me
Speaker 1: know at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our times. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at before fist pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia
Speaker 1: dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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