Caregivers aren’t supposed to be alone all day with young kids. We aren’t supposed to care for the children, clean the house, shop for and cook the food, and do the laundry alone. We aren’t supposed to survive postpartum life alone. We definitely aren’t meant to be navigating the parenting of teens alone! We aren’t meant to do all of these things as just a pair, either. If you feel like you’re doing it wrong because there are two functioning adults in your household and you’re still stressed to the max…you aren’t doing it wrong. It’s the expectation that is wrong.

Another unexpected and lovely consequence of all these hours outside is that we are all more in tune with the changing seasons. All five of us have internalized the tiny and intimate details of our own backyard, as it cycles through each season.

Last year, I sort of accidentally experienced the greatest child-led process art in which I’ve ever been lucky enough to participate. That’s what I want to share with you - it happened a whole year ago, but I wasn’t writing about all of this then, so I didn’t have a place to share it. And it’s totally share-worthy!

Halloween isn’t even here yet and already the candy craze has begun in our household. For us, it was the Homecoming parade that started the deluge. For others, it was the church trunk or treat or the school party. It seems that the onslaught of candy always begins prior to Halloween these days, and I KNOW we can’t be the only ones feeling the sugar rush…and not in a good way.

Jokes aside, what we really want for our children is for them to be happy, successful, thriving, independent individuals. We want to know that they will be able to take care of themselves and build beautiful lives of their own.

I can, however, give you a brief and simple overview of heavy work and why it’s important. I can also give you some suggestions for including it in your child’s routine.

If you’ve never heard the phrase “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”, it’s basically true.

We went with the flow and learned some things along the way, but most of all we really enjoyed the fellowship of our little crowd.

My kids (my personal kids, my school kids and other extra children I attract during the week) will spend long hours doing playdough.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH I KEEP THEM ENGAGED…