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 you are not the only one who
Speaker 1: can show love and support to your kids, friends, and
Speaker 1: extended family. Other people can show up for them too.
Speaker 1: It doesn't always have to be you, and there may
Speaker 1: be upsides to showing people the breadth of people who
Speaker 1: support them. So my husband and I have five kids
Speaker 1: and two busy careers, so it is simply not possible
Speaker 1: to be out everything for every kid. It is not
Speaker 1: even a matter of work and life clashing. You know
Speaker 1: that trope of someone being devastated because a late flight
Speaker 1: means she misses the softball game. In my case, it
Speaker 1: is often life and life clashing. If one kid has
Speaker 1: a game at the same time as another kid's game,
Speaker 1: there is no way to be at both simultaneously. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter if you are super mom or super dad.
Speaker 1: It is still not physically possible. When people say things
Speaker 1: like I've never missed a game, I think, well, they
Speaker 1: just must not have that many kids. But anyway, I digress.
Speaker 1: We go to a lot and miss other things when
Speaker 1: we can't do something we can often enlist someone else
Speaker 1: to go instead. For instance, my five year old had
Speaker 1: a special person's tea last spring at school, right around
Speaker 1: Mother's Day. I am very glad they called it special persons.
Speaker 1: I was speaking overseas and my husband was also gone.
Speaker 1: So who went our fifteen year old son, who happened
Speaker 1: to have the morning off school because the high school
Speaker 1: was doing some testing that he wasn't scheduled to need
Speaker 1: to do. My older son was a good sport about it.
Speaker 1: And how cool for a preschooler to have your teenage
Speaker 1: big brother come to your class. Frankly, I think that's
Speaker 1: a lot more special than having mommy come. Mommy does
Speaker 1: a lot of preschool stuff, teenage brother not so much.
Speaker 1: Especially as we head into December with all the extra
Speaker 1: performances and holiday parties and the like. It can be
Speaker 1: great to spread the love. Maybe grandparents can come to
Speaker 1: a band concert and take the kid out for ice
Speaker 1: cream while you are traveling or are at another kid's
Speaker 1: dance recital which happens to be at the exact same time.
Speaker 1: Maybe a neighbor can bake cookies with a kid. If
Speaker 1: you are tied up with swim meats on multiple weekends
Speaker 1: with another child. This is also true for visiting elderly
Speaker 1: relatives or driving them to appointments or errands. It doesn't
Speaker 1: always have to be you. If you can mobilize friends
Speaker 1: or a broader network to visit and help out from
Speaker 1: time to time, there's less pressure on everyone. Your mother
Speaker 1: might enjoy a half hour visit from your childhood best friend,
Speaker 1: and your childhood best friend, who also has elderly parents,
Speaker 1: will be perfectly comfortable interacting with a little invitation or nudge.
Speaker 1: Your mom's former neighbor might be willing to visit too,
Speaker 1: Or maybe a friend just had a new baby or
Speaker 1: is recovering from surgery and you know her family could
Speaker 1: use help with meals. You don't have to cook for
Speaker 1: her family and yours every night. Create a meal train
Speaker 1: and rally others to help out, or send lots of
Speaker 1: door dash gift certificates those work as well. As people
Speaker 1: say it takes a village to raise a child, it
Speaker 1: also takes a village to care for other relatives and
Speaker 1: keep them connected. It takes a village to get through
Speaker 1: hard times. Don't assume that you have to be everything
Speaker 1: to the people you love. One of the best gifts
Speaker 1: you can offer is to invite other people to extend
Speaker 1: their love and support too. This takes pressure off you
Speaker 1: and lets your loved ones see the broader family and
Speaker 1: community that will support them. There's a lot to be
Speaker 1: said for all of that. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at
Speaker 1: Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.