summer vacation | PulseonParenting

Hate to Pack? Try This “Hack.”

Jul 01 2016

When it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, I just have to share. Getting all three of my kids to agree to anything at the same time and in the same place is practically a miracle. As my mother-in-law has observed, not just with her own grandkids but in other families as well: one child is always unhappy. Not this time. And the task involved actual work. A request. And since the reward wasn’t a lego set (note: it never is)…well, I still can’t believe this project went 3-for-3.

May 24 2016

It’s almost here! For some of us, it already is. Summer break. Honestly, my head is spinning the school year went by so fast. And I feel totally unprepared for having my brood around for three months. So I dug up this post from a year ago to help refresh my brain on how to (and not to!) navigate summer with kids. And I hope it helps you, too: A year ago, as the school year drew to an end, I wrote a post that received some flak. In Hooray for Summer? (In retrospect, Horrors, It’s Summer! would have been…

Apr 05 2016

A couple years ago I was walking through town with one of my boys when a complete stranger exclaimed, “Oh, my, you’re sunburned!” The concerned individual was referring to my son, whose face looked rather like a strawberry, red with his brown freckles like berry seeds punctuating his nose and cheeks. My guilt resurfaced, a day after my son’s sun-soaked adventure. Even though I had done my best to slather my son with sunscreen, he, like every time before, wiped his face immediately to remove the offensive gooey cream he hates so much, and keeping a hat on him is…

Hooray for Summer (Exclamation Point): Steps to a Successful Break (Question Mark)

Jun 02 2015

A year ago, as the school year drew to an end, I wrote a post that received some flak. In Hooray for Summer? (In retrospect, Horrors, It’s Summer! would have been a fun title…) I described the difficult transition for parents, myself wholeheartedly included, to having the kiddos home for three months. I outlined my plan to keep us all from going crazy, which, it ends up, was a near-total flop. Disappointing, to say the least…I needed a solid strategy because I was really not looking forward to the loss of (forgive me) my freedom. But this year? I am…

Hooray for Summer?

May 29 2014

Recently we installed a wireless pet containment system for our sweet but “born-to-run” dog. As we train Lucy to her boundaries, she is becoming rather “hang-doggy” as she realizes the restriction to her freedom. No loping off to see her dog friends. No unleashed running through our neighborhood for the wild amount of exercise she desperately needs as a border collie mix. She is relegated to a leash for her daily walks now, under the watchful eye of one of her “people.” Does this sound familiar? If not for your own furry friend but for you yourself? Because it is…

“Family” Vacations

May 06 2014

I need some feedback. And a serious dose of reality. Because I think when it comes to planning a trip that includes our kids, my husband and I are misguided. I would love to hear from you, my readers, your opinions on traveling with kids and how to work the tough yet inevitable situations where one of the children is super-unhappy. Or if all of them are double super-unhappy. Because we just returned from a weekend away in Moab, Utah. Hearing about the spectacular beauty of Arches National Park and the less-heard-of Dead Horse Canyon and that kids love the…

Tag - summer vacation

Hate to Pack? Try This “Hack.”

Hooray for Summer (Exclamation Point): Steps to a Successful Break (Question Mark)

Don’t Get Burned by Your Sunscreen: Tips for Sun Protection

Hooray for Summer (Exclamation Point): Steps to a Successful Break (Question Mark)

Hooray for Summer?

“Family” Vacations