I read the Slate piece, and though some of it annoyed me I thought this line was brilliant: “As a general rule of thumb, the more Online you get about something, the more miserable that thing will make you.” Agree one thousand percent that this is true about parenting and about everything else too. There’s good commiseration and helpful ideas and all the things available to us, which is cool, but it’s very easy to get obsessed w a certain type of content, and then it starts to not serve. It’s very hard to be a mindful consumer of information on the Internet.
One of the best things about having kids for me has been how it has totally up leveled me as a person. I like to joke that parenting is the best personal growth hack there is. Do you feel that way?
Parenting is extremely rewarding. And very hard, sometimes. But nothing worth having comes easy. That doesn’t make for an alarm-inducing headline, though. So, thanks for countering these scare pieces with your grounded post here. :)
Love all of these comments. :) Jim, it's awesome that you shared a story about international travel because it gives me hope that an international trip is still possible with kids haha. But also, just last summer, we took our kids (ages 3 and 2 as well) on a trip to Florida. No theme parks, no relatives to see, just our little family exploring the Orlando area. I think it'll go down as one of the best trips I've been on. Our kids loved the Gaylord resort, for goodness sake! And we stayed in an Airbnb that was walking distance from the beach. It was relaxed and easy, with no obligations to stress out over, and yet an entirely new environment for the kids to be in. Safe to say we all enjoyed ourselves and made lasting memories, even with kids so young!
Loved this post so much! Thanks for writing it!
I read the Slate piece, and though some of it annoyed me I thought this line was brilliant: “As a general rule of thumb, the more Online you get about something, the more miserable that thing will make you.” Agree one thousand percent that this is true about parenting and about everything else too. There’s good commiseration and helpful ideas and all the things available to us, which is cool, but it’s very easy to get obsessed w a certain type of content, and then it starts to not serve. It’s very hard to be a mindful consumer of information on the Internet.
One of the best things about having kids for me has been how it has totally up leveled me as a person. I like to joke that parenting is the best personal growth hack there is. Do you feel that way?
Parenting is extremely rewarding. And very hard, sometimes. But nothing worth having comes easy. That doesn’t make for an alarm-inducing headline, though. So, thanks for countering these scare pieces with your grounded post here. :)
Love all of these comments. :) Jim, it's awesome that you shared a story about international travel because it gives me hope that an international trip is still possible with kids haha. But also, just last summer, we took our kids (ages 3 and 2 as well) on a trip to Florida. No theme parks, no relatives to see, just our little family exploring the Orlando area. I think it'll go down as one of the best trips I've been on. Our kids loved the Gaylord resort, for goodness sake! And we stayed in an Airbnb that was walking distance from the beach. It was relaxed and easy, with no obligations to stress out over, and yet an entirely new environment for the kids to be in. Safe to say we all enjoyed ourselves and made lasting memories, even with kids so young!
Yesterday I taught my youngest to roar. Is there anything better than that?