Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
Speaker 1: and speaker.
Speaker 2: And I'm Sarah hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer,
Speaker 2: and course creator. We are two working parents who love
Speaker 2: our careers and our families.
Speaker 1: Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about
Speaker 1: how real women manage work, family, and time for fun.
Speaker 1: From figuring out childcare to mapping out long term career goals.
Speaker 1: We want you to get the most out of life.
Speaker 1: Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. This
Speaker 1: episode is airing in sort of early mid June of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. We're going to be talking about things
Speaker 1: that are fun for the whole family. Maybe not many
Speaker 1: things are fun for the whole family, but perhaps some
Speaker 1: things are fun for the whole family. So we decided
Speaker 1: we were going to give it a try. Sarah, when
Speaker 1: this airs, are you guys done with school yet? Are
Speaker 1: you into the summer?
Speaker 2: We are, officially, as this comes out into the summer,
Speaker 2: into what I would call quintyle three. The kids got
Speaker 2: out of school about five days before this episode airs,
Speaker 2: and we've already had our yearly celebratory tradition, which is
Speaker 2: that they like to go to the melting pot at
Speaker 2: the every end of the school year. We've tried to
Speaker 2: get them to branch out, but no, this is like, no,
Speaker 2: they want cheese, cheese and chocolate.
Speaker 1: Cheese and chocolate. Wow, I get it. Many people like
Speaker 1: cheese and chocolate.
Speaker 2: And at this point it really does feel like a marker.
Speaker 2: So I guess that's what we do at the end
Speaker 2: of the school year.
Speaker 1: What about you. Yeah, my kids actually go to the
Speaker 1: seventeenth the Tuesday. They have a half day on Tuesday
Speaker 1: the seventeenth, so that's and I know at least some
Speaker 1: of them still have events on the sixteenth, so he
Speaker 1: can't really bail out on that. That said, my senior
Speaker 1: Jasper has been done for weeks. They had their finals
Speaker 1: the last week of April. Beginning of May. He's been
Speaker 1: doing his senior project, which will also be done by
Speaker 1: this point, but he's been working in a first grade
Speaker 1: class and it's been kind of fun to have him
Speaker 1: sort of manage that on his own, because he gets
Speaker 1: up and goes to work and comes home from it
Speaker 1: and the students call him mister Conway. So I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a significant senior project, like he's
Speaker 2: really going on.
Speaker 1: I think he could have done something a lot easier,
Speaker 1: but he's doing this, and I'm glad because it's good
Speaker 1: experience and working with a manager like the teacher is.
Speaker 1: You know, he has to be there at time she
Speaker 1: tells him and sort of they communicate back and forth
Speaker 1: on what he needs to do. And yeah, I've been
Speaker 1: glad to see it happen. We will have also just
Speaker 1: had two graduations on the same day. Jasper's high school
Speaker 1: graduation and Henry's preschool graduation are in fact on the
Speaker 1: same day. Not at the same time, thankfully, but definitely
Speaker 1: on the same day. So that will be fun for
Speaker 1: feeling simultaneously old and young.
Speaker 2: I wonder if you're gonna cry more at one or
Speaker 2: the other.
Speaker 1: I oh, no, we'll see, We'll see, but I will
Speaker 1: report back. Wow. Yes.
Speaker 2: Side note, This whole thing of seniors ending weeks before
Speaker 2: the end of the year was not a thing when
Speaker 2: I was a senior, and I really would have loved that,
Speaker 2: So props to both public and private schools. It seems
Speaker 2: like embracing this tradition of just letting them finish because
Speaker 2: they're mentally done anyway.
Speaker 1: They're mentally done anyway for sure, and yeah, showing up
Speaker 1: would not really be all that fun at this point.
Speaker 1: But this episode so fun for the whole family. Was
Speaker 1: inspired by a listener who pointed out that this can
Speaker 1: obviously get challenging as there is a wider age spread
Speaker 1: of children, and we agree. We had some trouble making
Speaker 1: this list. We're like, ooh, fun episode, and then we're like, hm,
Speaker 1: we are always sensitive to what can be a full
Speaker 1: episode and what will not have enough material. So maybe
Speaker 1: this one was right on the line, right Sarah.
Speaker 2: Yes, but we're hoping, I mean, we're going to be
Speaker 2: real about this and actually acknowledge that this is really
Speaker 2: not easy. I think the thing that the wider the
Speaker 2: age spread, and probably the more kids and personalities you
Speaker 2: have in the mix, the harder it is. If you
Speaker 2: have a set of twins, this is like you're like,
Speaker 2: I don't need this episode at all, And if you
Speaker 2: have like Laura's family, you're like, I actually have very
Speaker 2: few solutions, but we're going to give you the best
Speaker 2: that we can come up with, but also acknowledge some
Speaker 2: of the challenges to maybe make you feel better when
Speaker 2: you are not easily able to put together an entire
Speaker 2: weekend of family fund on the regular.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Sarah, your age spread right now?
Speaker 2: Yes, so ours is seven to thirteen, about six years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and mine is eighteen to five, so a bit
Speaker 1: of a spread. I also don't deman and that the
Speaker 1: older kids usually do things. There are very few things
Speaker 1: that are required for the whole family. There are a
Speaker 1: few things, but not too many. But we'll start with
Speaker 1: the category of sort of lower key activities like TV
Speaker 1: and media. Sarah, are you guys well between seven and thirteen,
Speaker 1: it feels like you should be able to come up
Speaker 1: with a few things. Yes, and no.
Speaker 2: You know, the things that interest the older kids are
Speaker 2: not always appropriate for Genevieve. Now, our family is pretty
Speaker 2: darn permissive about what we consider appropriate for anyone. I
Speaker 2: might get in trouble for this, but like, we watched
Speaker 2: Dirty Dancing the other day and it was awesome and
Speaker 2: everyone kind of liked it. We did fast forward certain parts,
Speaker 2: but it was just like too awkward. I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: I cannot so, yeah, like you find these rare movies,
Speaker 2: but Cameron has his own he likes action, and Annabel
Speaker 2: is like completely turned off by anything in that realm,
Speaker 2: So it's actually fairly challenging, but we really work hard
Speaker 2: because it is fun when we can all sit there
Speaker 2: together and we will spend a solid fifteen twenty minutes
Speaker 2: trying to pick stuff out, watching previews in the hopes
Speaker 2: to get something to work, and usually we can find
Speaker 2: something recent hits. In addition to Dirty Dancing, which may
Speaker 2: or may not be appropriate for.
Speaker 1: Your values, Wicked Stick It.
Speaker 2: Which is like a gymnastics movie, so that kind of
Speaker 2: got all three kids because like the stunting kind of
Speaker 2: side of things, and then certain reality stuff with baking
Speaker 2: and cooking in particular, like Kids Baking Challenge or old
Speaker 2: episodes of Chopped Junior. I also feel like if a
Speaker 2: movie is somewhat new ish and they have like heard
Speaker 2: of it from the theaters somehow, it just has more appeel.
Speaker 2: I mean that probably is where Wicked came from. But
Speaker 2: like also Disney movies, anything that was fairly recent rerun
Speaker 2: and then dumped onto Disney Plus or Netflix, they're like, ooh, exciting,
Speaker 2: and so we usually try to embrace those things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so movies are not fun for me if we're
Speaker 1: trying to find things that are fun for the whole family.
Speaker 1: I'm not really a movie person, but my husband takes them,
Speaker 1: and I will say that four out of five children
Speaker 1: went to the Minecraft movie with him, and the other
Speaker 1: one went with friends. So in theory that could have
Speaker 1: been fun for the whole spread of family members. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess if I had gone, I would
Speaker 1: have been like on my phone with headphones in the
Speaker 1: back or something. I'm not really sure how that would
Speaker 1: have played out to fund for the whole family. Are
Speaker 1: adults included in that? Do your kids play video games together?
Speaker 2: Well, not super often, but they know that's a loophole
Speaker 2: when like, we're almost always going to say yes to
Speaker 2: like video game time, so they're smart and if they're
Speaker 2: like oh, parents are clearly like over us being on
Speaker 2: our devices. Sometimes someone will pipe up and be like
Speaker 2: can we all play like Mario Kart together? And we're
Speaker 2: like sure, So I would say yeah sometimes, And I
Speaker 2: think it's lovely when they all do it together, especially
Speaker 2: if it's like the kind of multiplayer game where they
Speaker 2: can all be fairly engaged. Obviously, Genevieve is not going
Speaker 2: to play at the same level as the two older kids,
Speaker 2: and honestly, Cameron probably can blow everyone else away with
Speaker 2: most games.
Speaker 1: Just because he plays more video games.
Speaker 2: But yeah, when they can do it, we embrace it,
Speaker 2: and we do look for opportunities to, like for a
Speaker 2: holiday gift, perhaps purchase a game that they might all
Speaker 2: enjoy doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes the kids have done Mario Kart together, are
Speaker 1: various Roadblocks games together, not frequently, some combination of them
Speaker 1: will sometimes play Fortnite together. But yeah, there's always the
Speaker 1: different levels of skill. So you know, maybe people closer
Speaker 1: in age could do that outdoor fun. How about outdoor fun, Sarah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like the more open ended the better
Speaker 2: for multiple age groups. Like when they were younger, of course,
Speaker 2: going to the butterfly garden or something very specific worked
Speaker 2: really well, But now it's more about finding an open
Speaker 2: space where people can do their own thing a little
Speaker 2: bit more. The beach is kind of timeless. I mean,
Speaker 2: I enjoy the beach. I don't enjoy so in the ocean.
Speaker 1: We all know that.
Speaker 2: But I still enjoy going to the beach. And one
Speaker 2: thing that can really change the vibe and make things
Speaker 2: more enticing for older kids is the offer of bringing
Speaker 2: a friend.
Speaker 1: So I think we're going to talk about that a
Speaker 1: little bit more later in the episode.
Speaker 2: Okay, fine, well that's its own half. But I do
Speaker 2: feel like just like open ended places playgrounds less so,
Speaker 2: but like beach or just a big natural area where
Speaker 2: everyone can kind of do their own thing.
Speaker 1: A hike if there's a lot of snacks at snacks,
Speaker 1: snacks are fun for the whole family. Family bike rides,
Speaker 1: I will throw it out there. I don't know, we
Speaker 1: may try doing this by the time this will have
Speaker 1: aired over one of the weekends before this. You know,
Speaker 1: especially if you have very young kids, they can go
Speaker 1: in a burly or the sort of five year old
Speaker 1: range can be in a tag along. It is kind
Speaker 1: of a pain to get organized in our family. It
Speaker 1: requires two cars. The bike rack like seven bikes. It's
Speaker 1: really kind of a whole production. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: it is something that everyone that can. You can also
Speaker 1: do a more interesting hike. We found this one at
Speaker 1: Hawk Mountain, which is about an hour north of us.
Speaker 1: That is called the River of Rocks, and it just
Speaker 1: tons and tons of rocks that you can climb over.
Speaker 1: I feel like a hike needs to have some interesting
Speaker 1: component to keep the kids into it, and like teenagers
Speaker 1: might be into I don't know if you have to
Speaker 1: like hold on to rails, crawling on a rock. But
Speaker 1: of course then if you have little kids, they probably
Speaker 1: have to be at a backpack for it. But it
Speaker 1: can work if there's something that keeps everyone engaged. And
Speaker 1: I would say say ice skating is again there's a
Speaker 1: stop on the youngest probably has to be about five
Speaker 1: for this to be doable, but a wide range of
Speaker 1: people can enjoy, say an outdoor ice skating rink in winter,
Speaker 1: so that's worth a shut. We're going to take a
Speaker 1: quick ad break and then we'll be back with more
Speaker 1: on fun for the whole family. Well, we are back
Speaker 1: talking fun for the whole family. Things that seem to
Speaker 1: make everyone at least mildly amused, if not having full
Speaker 1: on blissful fun. Sarah, what about food? Food categories that
Speaker 1: are fun for the whole family.
Speaker 2: I already mentioned snacks, but yeah, food's a big draw.
Speaker 2: I mean, we all enjoy food, and especially if it's
Speaker 2: something like fun food. So if we want to really
Speaker 2: not have any complaints about doing something together, we will
Speaker 2: suggest let's all go to get ice cream together, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden everyone wants to join in
Speaker 2: the family fun Starbucks for us also works in that way,
Speaker 2: and my kids actually kind of enjoy like restaurant meals,
Speaker 2: some of them mostly because they're like I can get
Speaker 2: a lemonade, and then others because they're interested in more
Speaker 2: different cuisines and stuff. So people can enjoy that at
Speaker 2: their own level. I will, of course note, if you're
Speaker 2: listening to this and you have like an eighteen month
Speaker 2: old and a three year old and to throw something
Speaker 2: at the audio device that you're listening to, I get it.
Speaker 2: There is definitely like a minimum age at which restaurant
Speaker 2: and eating based excursions. Although your toddlers can still enjoy
Speaker 2: ice cream, but that sit down restaurant experience is not
Speaker 2: fun until you reach some sort of minimum age. In
Speaker 2: my experience, that's around like five ish.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I will admit that we allow the younger
Speaker 1: kids to have devices for a restaurant meal because honestly,
Speaker 1: then it makes it more pleasant to linger over it
Speaker 1: for the others, and our older kids will talk with us.
Speaker 1: And so given that the younger two at home would
Speaker 1: have probably jumped up and gone somewhere else within a
Speaker 1: few minutes, that kind of recreates that option, making it
Speaker 1: more pleasant for a restaurant meal. So just throwing that
Speaker 1: out there as an idea we don't. We tend not
Speaker 1: to go out as like a regular thing just because
Speaker 1: there are so many of us, but when we do
Speaker 1: it on vacation, that's actually one of the things people
Speaker 1: like the most. I will say that any sort of
Speaker 1: active food at home can be fun for the whole family,
Speaker 1: like fun do s'mores, make your own, pizza, make your own,
Speaker 1: I don't know, tacos, make your own? What do you do?
Speaker 1: Do you do anything else other than those? We haven't
Speaker 1: done a lot of make your own, but I see, yes,
Speaker 1: that would be one. Yeah, oh yeah, sure, definitely in
Speaker 1: the community. Now, I will say that some institutions, even
Speaker 1: if you kind of think of them as being for
Speaker 1: younger kids, may in fact have elements that are fun
Speaker 1: for older people too. Like a good science museum, so
Speaker 1: we have gone to whatever the flagship exhibit will be at,
Speaker 1: Like the Franklin Institute, they have rotated, like every four
Speaker 1: months or so, they bring in something new, and so
Speaker 1: we might go to that and then it's new, so
Speaker 1: we can go see it and then go wander around.
Speaker 1: And sometimes the older kids are fun to you know,
Speaker 1: look at something that they haven't seen before, or you know,
Speaker 1: visit something that they have in the past. And of
Speaker 1: course little kids have lots of different entry points at
Speaker 1: things too. When we were on vacation two years ago
Speaker 1: and went to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry,
Speaker 1: I know for sure that everyone had something they enjoyed there.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you've got any resource like that
Speaker 1: a good aquarium, the little kids might enjoy seeing the fishies,
Speaker 1: but the big kids are kind of like ooh, sharks,
Speaker 1: you know, especially if it's the one where you can
Speaker 1: like walk over the shark tank or something that can
Speaker 1: be a bit more of a teen draw, especially if
Speaker 1: they get Starbucks afterwards, or even the zoo like longtime
Speaker 1: blog readers may recall that I was supposed to take
Speaker 1: my older two sons to Scotland over Labor Day weekend
Speaker 1: last year, and thanks to some United awfulness at Newark,
Speaker 1: did not make it over to Europe. But when we
Speaker 1: were trying to figure out what else we were going
Speaker 1: to do with the weekend, we wound up at the
Speaker 1: Bronx Zoo, which they had wanted to go to, like
Speaker 1: that was something they both agreed on and they had
Speaker 1: a really good time, Like you know, we're like looking
Speaker 1: at lions and giraffes and snakes whatever else. And I
Speaker 1: know for sure little kids would love a zoo, so
Speaker 1: if again, a very good zoo could also be fun,
Speaker 1: especially if you get them ice cream or.
Speaker 2: And let's point out that's not even boring for adults,
Speaker 2: you know, like adults are having their own good time.
Speaker 2: They're outside in nice weather, maybe taking a walk, seeing
Speaker 2: cool animals. That truly can be fun at every level.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some zoos even specifically have stuff that you know,
Speaker 1: like they might have a beer garden. You never know.
Speaker 1: I mean, there could be all sorts of things that
Speaker 1: are adult friendly at a zoo or an arcade. Maybe
Speaker 1: mom and dad don't love the idea of an arcade,
Speaker 1: although go karts can be kind of fun, but big
Speaker 1: kids can like stuff like that, and the little kids
Speaker 1: might enjoy doing ski ball or something else. And I
Speaker 1: would say something like Dave and Busters, like if your
Speaker 1: kids are old enough that you can let them wander around,
Speaker 1: they do have bars, so you can sit there and
Speaker 1: have a beer with your partner while your children wander
Speaker 1: around playing video games, and that could be fun for
Speaker 1: the whole family as well.
Speaker 2: We are as. This is airing in New Hampshire and
Speaker 2: one of the top destinations for every member of the
Speaker 2: family except maybe me, is this giant place that has
Speaker 2: all video games from like different eras. I can't tell
Speaker 2: you how excited my husband is to play the video games.
Speaker 2: So once again, this will be the whole family. And
Speaker 2: I might just bring a book because that will be
Speaker 2: really fun for me to kick back and relax while
Speaker 2: everybody else is so occupied with their video games.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you could do that. On the Jersey Shore in
Speaker 1: Asbury Park, there's a place called the silver Ball Museum,
Speaker 1: which is a basically a giant arcade of pinball machines,
Speaker 1: and that is another big hit for almost everyone. They
Speaker 1: have stools so little people can also play the pinball
Speaker 1: machines and you just pay a certain amount and they
Speaker 1: go there for two hours. And yeah, that is something
Speaker 1: that can be fun for the whole family as well. Shopping, Sarah,
Speaker 1: that's something your family enjoys.
Speaker 2: Shopping has been a fallback on those weekends where you
Speaker 2: really just don't have much and maybe like the weather's
Speaker 2: not that good, and then some kid will pipe up
Speaker 2: and be like, can we go to Target and I'll
Speaker 2: be like, you know, that doesn't sound too bad, and
Speaker 2: then we can all go to Target and a little
Speaker 2: kid could pick out a little toy. I can see
Speaker 2: what planners are on display, and like just browse the
Speaker 2: housewares and see if there's anything cool, and everyone's happy.
Speaker 2: My kids can like spend their allowance, and you know,
Speaker 2: I could see this working up to the eighteen age
Speaker 2: group and down to like a three year old who
Speaker 2: would just have fun picking out a lego set. Now,
Speaker 2: obviously retail therapy is not everybody's favorite, but I think
Speaker 2: you sparingly this can be a really nice way to
Speaker 2: get everyone in the family to go on an outing together.
Speaker 1: Well. And you can also look at sort of more
Speaker 1: interesting retail opportunities, like a farmer's market or something. Right like,
Speaker 1: there's often alongside the egg plant and corn or whatever
Speaker 1: else they're selling, there's going to be selling like brownies,
Speaker 1: and somebody else is going to be selling some weird
Speaker 1: jam that some kid's going to get into, or homemade
Speaker 1: root beer or whatever. So you know, if you just
Speaker 1: give people ten bucks and say go to town, they'd probably
Speaker 1: enjoy that. Or some sort of apple fest strawberry fest
Speaker 1: agrarian type place with live music and activities like so
Speaker 1: a teenager might be willing to listen to a reasonable
Speaker 1: band that is there, especially again if there's you know,
Speaker 1: ice cream, sodas whatever on offer, and then little kids
Speaker 1: can go play on the hay bails and live experiences
Speaker 1: in general. I would say a year and a half
Speaker 1: ago I did manage to get all of the kids
Speaker 1: to go to Disney on ice it. The tricks are cool.
Speaker 1: For the older kids, I don't know that they want
Speaker 1: to do it again and again. We've taken them to
Speaker 1: the Rockets as well. They've enjoyed that. Or you could
Speaker 1: like a g rated musical. I mean maybe Sarah doesn't
Speaker 1: need the g rated for rated musical, biji rated a
Speaker 1: musical something you know, like a Disney show on Broadway.
Speaker 1: If there's a touring a Latin or Lion King or
Speaker 1: Wicket or whatever that's come to your community, you could
Speaker 1: probably take a wide range of young people to that.
Speaker 1: A teenager would enjoy just the spectacle of it and
Speaker 1: the music, and a little kid is like it's the
Speaker 1: Lion King and.
Speaker 2: A sports game too. Speaking of live events, we were
Speaker 2: just talking about trying to get into Miami tickets, and
Speaker 2: I think, oh, yeah, everyone wants to go for their
Speaker 2: own reasons, but it'll be fun.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit the additional tips
Speaker 1: that now I want Sarah to talk about the bring
Speaker 1: a friend part.
Speaker 2: Bring a friend is we really didn't employ that when
Speaker 2: the kids were little, but currently, let's just say sometimes
Speaker 2: we have one holdover, and that holdover can be very
Speaker 2: much more agreeable if there is somebody their own age
Speaker 2: on set outing like all of a sudden, it's like, oh, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: well now that thing sounds fun because my friend has
Speaker 2: buy in, and now it's cool kind of a thing.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think that can be a great trip,
Speaker 2: especially if you have a car big enough to tote,
Speaker 2: you know, multiple things. And the beauty of that is
Speaker 2: that as you cultivate those relationships, if your kids stay friends,
Speaker 2: then now if you actually need somewhere to let's say
Speaker 2: the other kids want to do something and the kid
Speaker 2: really doesn't want that, then maybe that kid can hang
Speaker 2: out with her friends family for a day so I
Speaker 2: can kind of pay dividends. We have definitely kind of
Speaker 2: organically grown that kind of relationship with our neighbors, which
Speaker 2: is the best because it's logistics free to organize an
Speaker 2: impromptu sleepover or play date.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, that's always wonderful when that works out. Trying
Speaker 1: to get them to come up with ideas, now, this
Speaker 1: is hard because especially young kids, they don't like google stuff,
Speaker 1: and children may not have the sense of what is around.
Speaker 1: But if you can have them at least help you.
Speaker 1: Try to create a local list, right, so things that
Speaker 1: are within about ninety minutes two hours of your house,
Speaker 1: so you could reasonably do them on a weekend. My
Speaker 1: guess is that no matter where you are, there is
Speaker 1: something within two hours of you. It would be you'd
Speaker 1: have to be pretty rustic for that not to be
Speaker 1: the case. Then maybe you have beautiful things like nature
Speaker 1: that are within two hours of you. So sit down
Speaker 1: and make a list, because then that makes it a
Speaker 1: little easier as you are planning your weekends or you
Speaker 1: know what, we've got a staycation or something to say like, okay,
Speaker 1: we should choose from that instead of you know, what
Speaker 1: do you want to do? I don't want to do anything.
Speaker 1: I'm just sit here on my iPad And that's fine
Speaker 1: for a while, but eventually you want to get people
Speaker 1: out the door. One more quick thing before we take
Speaker 1: another ad break, Sarah, what about teaming up? What is
Speaker 1: this technique?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that strategy is that sometimes everyone may not
Speaker 2: want to do something like I don't know. One strategy
Speaker 2: is like to have people pair up. For example, a
Speaker 2: board game might be a little bit harder for the
Speaker 2: youngest kid to do, but if everybody does pairs, then
Speaker 2: that kid will feel included and will feel like they
Speaker 2: can be on a team. Like That's kind of how
Speaker 2: we've gotten certain games to work for our family. Chameleon
Speaker 2: is one that's actually really fun for both kids and adults,
Speaker 2: but Genevieve is like not totally able to like manage
Speaker 2: it herself, so it works really really well if we
Speaker 2: divide into teams. And another thing we've done in teams
Speaker 2: actually more like with my in laws, is like if
Speaker 2: we are doing some kind of make your own food
Speaker 2: or that kind of prep project, like Okay, Genevieve, you're
Speaker 2: helping me make this, Cameron, you're helping Dad make that,
Speaker 2: and like, you know, everyone's kind of got their own team.
Speaker 2: You're still doing something all together, but it's divided so
Speaker 2: it's more manageable.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll take one more quick ad break and
Speaker 1: then we'll talk about trips that are fun for the
Speaker 1: whole family. Well, we are back talking things that are
Speaker 1: fun for the whole family. First, we've been talking more
Speaker 1: about local activities, home based activities. Now, obviously you've probably
Speaker 1: in many cases all going to go on vacation together.
Speaker 1: So Sarah, what's been fun for you guys?
Speaker 2: So people probably know we're going to say skiing. That's
Speaker 2: been the kind of easiest crowd pleaser, and it can
Speaker 2: even work when kids are too young to ski because
Speaker 2: many ski resorts have nurseries. You just have to do
Speaker 2: your homework and choose one that has the amenities that
Speaker 2: you need. Is not the most budget friendly vacation, but man,
Speaker 2: it is the one that has kind of like it's
Speaker 2: been the most family fun enriched one that we've taken,
Speaker 2: and so we've done it a few times now and
Speaker 2: plan to continue. I also feel like a cruise can
Speaker 2: be really great in terms of just having something for
Speaker 2: many different age groups. We've done two Disney cruises, and
Speaker 2: the first one we did when Genevieve was only like
Speaker 2: a year and a half and the kids were like, yeah,
Speaker 2: one and a half, five and seven, and it worked great.
Speaker 2: And then we've also gone with the kids a little
Speaker 2: bit older, so I can see how that spans lots
Speaker 2: of age range. And the beauty of that is like
Speaker 2: you can do things apart and then come together, and
Speaker 2: then be apart and come together, et cetera. So yeah,
Speaker 2: we've really enjoyed cruises for that for that reason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll second the skiing, and I don't ski, just
Speaker 1: like I don't really watch movies. I guess I'm a
Speaker 1: ton of fun really, but I didn't have to. When
Speaker 1: all of us went in late March, we put Henry
Speaker 1: in ski school and so he was able to have
Speaker 1: instruction and he did really well with that. And then
Speaker 1: the older kids skied with my husband and I kind
Speaker 1: of hung out, went to the gym, took myself out
Speaker 1: for lunch, picked up Henry at three o'clock. You know,
Speaker 1: we went in the hot tub, we all went out
Speaker 1: for dinner. It was just it's a good trip, right,
Speaker 1: It's a good trip for all ages. And with that,
Speaker 1: you know, I've only been on one cruise. I'm not
Speaker 1: a huge cruise person, but a resort is like a
Speaker 1: land based version of the cruise, so you don't have
Speaker 1: to be on a boat to get the concept, especially
Speaker 1: ones that have a really good kids club. So we
Speaker 1: recently went to Olani and Hawaii. They obviously have a
Speaker 1: kid's club since it's a Disney property, but many others
Speaker 1: do as well. We went to a place called Windjammer
Speaker 1: in Saint Lucia, which I will throw out there. It
Speaker 1: turned out to have a really quite appealing kids club.
Speaker 1: At the time, Alex was four, so Jasper would have
Speaker 1: been twelve. I think sometimes Jasper stayed home by himself,
Speaker 1: but mostly the four of them would all go to
Speaker 1: the kids' club. They all really enjoyed their offerings there,
Speaker 1: and they had kind of cool things like horseback riding
Speaker 1: or so it was a little bit more intense, like
Speaker 1: that was a real draw versus like, no, we're just
Speaker 1: sticking and you adhere in color for three hours while
Speaker 1: mom and dad go do something. So yeah, that's you know,
Speaker 1: and just a resort. The big kids can go swim
Speaker 1: or go to the beach or hang out in the
Speaker 1: room and little kids do their things. Theme parks, again,
Speaker 1: the caveat the group doesn't have to stay together the
Speaker 1: whole time. But if you've got a big theme park
Speaker 1: that has like kiddie ride sections. Maybe it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be a ton of fun for mom and dad, although
Speaker 1: mom and dad can switch off, like you go to
Speaker 1: the roller coaster while someone take the little kids on
Speaker 1: something and then switch off again, and the big kids
Speaker 1: can go wander around on their own and go to
Speaker 1: whatever ridiculous roller coaster that your teenagers want to wait
Speaker 1: in line for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've had good luck at our last couple of
Speaker 2: theme park trips. But and when you have a big
Speaker 2: age spread, I think the splitting does make sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and with that, our counterpoint on things being fun
Speaker 1: for the whole family is even with trips, sometimes you
Speaker 1: don't actually have to bring the whole family.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's our punchline to this episode is like you
Speaker 2: can try, and there's lots of things you can do,
Speaker 2: and also sometimes you can just give up because it
Speaker 2: can also be fun to have fun with parts of
Speaker 2: the family.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, in these days, I really rarely require my
Speaker 1: older children to do stuff. They can stay home by themselves,
Speaker 1: you know. Obviously, I and my oldest child as an adult,
Speaker 1: I really can't make him do most of anything. I'm
Speaker 1: totally willing to try to bribe people to come along
Speaker 1: be like, oh, well, you know, we thought you might
Speaker 1: like this, or we'll make sure to stop him entice entice,
Speaker 1: But you know, so it may not be worth it
Speaker 1: for that, or if you do a big kid focused activity,
Speaker 1: might be worth getting child care for younger ones, because well,
Speaker 1: you will have to attend to the younger one for
Speaker 1: a lot of the time, and especially if they are
Speaker 1: not happy, that's going to detract from the experience for everyone.
Speaker 1: So we have also traveled that way, so longtime listeners
Speaker 1: know that when when we went to Norway in the
Speaker 1: summer of twenty eight twenty three, we only took the
Speaker 1: four older children and we left Henry with people caring
Speaker 1: for him back in Pennsylvania, and he had a perfectly
Speaker 1: good time. I don't think he missed out on the
Speaker 1: experience of being on a plane for eight hours and
Speaker 1: being horribly jet lagged, and then the rest of us
Speaker 1: could actually experience the fun of Europe without that. So
Speaker 1: throwing that out there as.
Speaker 2: I do, I was thinking about the fact that, like,
Speaker 2: when your older kids are totally out of the house
Speaker 2: and you just have let's say Alex and Henry, they're
Speaker 2: probably going to get to take trips with just you guys.
Speaker 2: With you with a focus, And the truth is, it's
Speaker 2: like it's kind of fair that you provided that for
Speaker 2: the older kids too in a way, because again, if
Speaker 2: Henry had been there, it would not have been the
Speaker 2: same because like you wouldn't have been very present. So
Speaker 2: it's kind of yeah, it's kind of like there is
Speaker 2: a little bit of a symmetry there to make sure
Speaker 2: that your older kids sometimes get experiences where they are
Speaker 2: the focus, which can't always be true if you're chasing
Speaker 2: around a taller Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm traveling with Jasper in some upcoming weeks
Speaker 1: on this and we're going to have a very different experience,
Speaker 1: I'm sure than if there were younger children. I'm planning
Speaker 1: a trip with Sam for next spring break, and again
Speaker 1: we can do totally different things than we would possibly
Speaker 1: do if there were a six year old with us.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's worth considering that as an option in it,
Speaker 1: you know, always our public service announcement with family trips,
Speaker 1: the goal is some enjoyable moments because bliss the whole
Speaker 1: time isn't possible, just as probably nothing is fun for
Speaker 1: the whole family for the entire time either.
Speaker 2: I don't think bliss the whole time is possible for life, yeah,
Speaker 2: human nature given day.
Speaker 1: Fallen nature of humanity. Yes, no it is not. But
Speaker 1: oh will that's a philosophical matter for a different time.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I might even say that's a good thing.
Speaker 2: We will appreciate the bliss more if it's not constant, all.
Speaker 1: Right, Q and A.
Speaker 2: So this one is for Laura because I don't have
Speaker 2: that much to offer, but she does. I am traveling
Speaker 2: across time zones with kids for the first time.
Speaker 1: What are your survival tips, Laura, Well, you've done three
Speaker 1: hour time difference. It's not that you've never taken your
Speaker 1: children out of your time zone. That's not like advanced though.
Speaker 1: That is all we've done.
Speaker 2: We've done three hours, and we have made the three
Speaker 2: hours like more than three hours, because what invariably happens
Speaker 2: is we go west, but not only to we go west,
Speaker 2: but then we end up sleeping till ten am on
Speaker 2: the west, so coming back is like a six hour adjustment.
Speaker 2: Because we're idiots. Yeah, yeah, but that's all we've done.
Speaker 2: We've never done Europe, we've never done Hawaii. So for us,
Speaker 2: it's not that hard. Honestly, when they're excited and they're
Speaker 2: like on vacation, they want to stay up anyway, so
Speaker 2: we naturally fall into that rhythm going west and then
Speaker 2: east you're forced.
Speaker 1: Because you're back at school.
Speaker 2: I think it would actually be harder if you didn't
Speaker 2: have like a routine to come back to pretty quickly,
Speaker 2: because then you might like drag out the kind of
Speaker 2: like adjustment phase. But then I guess you could naturally
Speaker 2: drag out the adjustment phase and it wouldn't matter. So
Speaker 2: I feel like we need more tips on like longer.
Speaker 2: And then also what happens when you go east, because
Speaker 2: that seems more troublesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I wish there was a good answer
Speaker 1: to this, which is, I mean, you just need to
Speaker 1: be prepared for some rough nights and you're going to
Speaker 1: have to manage your energy with that in mind. As
Speaker 1: Sarah was saying, going west is easier because you just
Speaker 1: go to bed early and wake up early. And for
Speaker 1: the most part, that's not a problem in life, is
Speaker 1: to go to bed early and wake up early. And
Speaker 1: especially when we went to Hawaii, I mean, the flight
Speaker 1: out there was long enough that you're just kind of tired,
Speaker 1: Like we had to wake up early in the morning
Speaker 1: to get to Newark. Airport, Like, Henry did nap on
Speaker 1: the plane, but that allowed him to then stay up
Speaker 1: through dinner on the first day there, and I kind
Speaker 1: of crashed before everyone so and then I woke up
Speaker 1: at four am. But again, you're up at four am.
Speaker 1: It's not the end of the world. Versus feeling like
Speaker 1: you need to sleep till two pm. That's an entirely
Speaker 1: different level of problem. So going east, I will just
Speaker 1: report in case anyone is thinking of taking their small
Speaker 1: children to Hawaii, that our first night home back from Hawaii,
Speaker 1: Henry fell asleep at about five thirty pm in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: I didn't discover him for a while. I was like, well,
Speaker 1: maybe he'll just stay asleep. He did not stay asleep.
Speaker 1: He woke up at midnight. He was awake until five am.
Speaker 1: And this was after I did not sleep at all
Speaker 1: on the plane on the way home, which was an
Speaker 1: overnight flight, because I was taking care of him. So
Speaker 1: in this case, we are thrilled that YouTube exists. We
Speaker 1: are thrilled that our child is old enough to watch
Speaker 1: YouTube without like trying to wander out of the house,
Speaker 1: which the alarm was on. So if he had, you know,
Speaker 1: I would have woken up and heard that, but I
Speaker 1: put him on the computer. I'm like, go to town, child,
Speaker 1: here is a yogurt. I am going up to sleep.
Speaker 1: If you need me, you can know where I am.
Speaker 1: I woke up I think twice in that midnight to
Speaker 1: five window and went and checked on him. But for
Speaker 1: the most part I did sleep during that. And then
Speaker 1: the next day, of course, was challenging because he'd been
Speaker 1: up from midnight to five. We had him sleep from
Speaker 1: about five to nine and then got them up for
Speaker 1: the day. There was some crabbiness, but I don't think
Speaker 1: there's a good way around this. There isn't Like the
Speaker 1: older children can take melotonin if they're having trouble falling asleep,
Speaker 1: and that's something I would recommend, Like if you are
Speaker 1: going east to Europe from the US, take melatonin with you.
Speaker 1: Take chewa bowles. If you have twelve year olds who
Speaker 1: aren't good at swallowing pills or something and they don't
Speaker 1: take much. I mean, maybe this is bad medical advice.
Speaker 1: I don't know. You can tell me, but the problem
Speaker 1: is the first night you'll sleep because you're tired. The
Speaker 1: second night you will be up at two am. And
Speaker 1: it's very frustrating. To not be able to fall asleep
Speaker 1: till about five am or six am or something like that.
Speaker 1: So taking half a melatonin in the middle of the
Speaker 1: night and you get back to sleep and then you're
Speaker 1: better for that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, melatonin, I mean it doesn't have big downsides. Some
Speaker 2: people find that it doesn't help them stay asleep and
Speaker 2: helps them fall asleep. Yeah, and then the other things.
Speaker 2: If you use it too much, there can be like
Speaker 2: a tachyphylaxis or resistance that developed.
Speaker 1: But I think travel is a perfect yeah use case, yes, exactly,
Speaker 1: So I will throw that out there as an idea.
Speaker 1: But I think there's probably a lower limit on when
Speaker 1: you're supposed to give it to children. So I have
Speaker 1: not given it to like toddlers or anything like that.
Speaker 1: And so I don't know that there is a good
Speaker 1: answer re fault your physician. Consult your physician, exactly. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: travel with kids. I think back to a very early
Speaker 1: guest of ours, Henley Vescez, who is a travel entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: and we had asked her for tips on traveling, you know,
Speaker 1: flying with small children to make it more pleasant. She's like,
Speaker 1: I wish there was a good answer to that. I
Speaker 1: was like, well, there you go, there isn't. But it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where you decide that it will
Speaker 1: be worth it for your remembering self. And I'm glad
Speaker 1: that we took a family vacation to Hawaii. Yes, I
Speaker 1: was a little traumatized by the twenty four hours of
Speaker 1: coming home, but that's in the past now and I
Speaker 1: will probably never take a five year old to Hawaii again.
Speaker 1: So there you go. Now I have done it. Maybe
Speaker 1: you'll take your grandchild someday. I'll might take my grandchildren,
Speaker 1: but then there will be multiple adults, and you probably
Speaker 1: won't be my mean good point. One of my children
Speaker 1: will be in charge of that five year old.
Speaker 2: All right, well, love of the.
Speaker 1: Week, I'm going to say bike riding. They're probably solo.
Speaker 1: We will see. I may report back on the attempt
Speaker 1: to bring seven people bike riding in a later episode.
Speaker 1: But I love that I have an SUV and I
Speaker 1: just full down the back seats and if I want
Speaker 1: to go bike riding solo, I can just shove my
Speaker 1: bike in the back, take it wherever, unload it. Very
Speaker 1: easy and nice quick workout. And that's something different to
Speaker 1: do during spring and summer and fall that I won't
Speaker 1: do in the winter and so it'll has a bit
Speaker 1: of a treat feel to it.
Speaker 2: It does have a treat feel to it. I will
Speaker 2: embrace bike riding as well, just because Genevieve now can
Speaker 2: like ride very nicely and quick and it's actually like
Speaker 2: pleasant to just ride around the neighborhood with her, Like
Speaker 2: we did a fun ride to the pool the other
Speaker 2: day and it's like downright pleasant.
Speaker 1: So yay bike riding.
Speaker 2: Ya shout out to Guardian because her bike came from
Speaker 2: our wonderful previous sponsor and it's.
Speaker 1: A great bike. Yeah, there we go. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: this has been best of both worlds. We've been talking
Speaker 1: about things that are fun for the whole family, or
Speaker 1: at least for most of the family most of the time.
Speaker 1: We will be back next week with more on making
Speaker 1: work and life fit together.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the
Speaker 2: shoebox dot com or at the Underscore shoe Box on Instagram,
Speaker 2: and you.
Speaker 1: Can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This
Speaker 1: has been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join
Speaker 1: us next time for more on making work and life
Speaker 1: work together.