My daughter plays hard at day camp and spends long hours in the heat. She comes home filthy and exhausted. She was also coming home absolutely starving until I figured out what to pack in her lunchbox to keep her fueled all day. The standard lunch I’d been sending to school just wasn’t cutting it for camp.
One of the easiest places to build a connection between you and your family is the dinner table. You've heard us say it before, and you'll likely hear it said again, the dinner table is such an important place of connection. Many families really do understand that.
Yet we hear from parents that dinner time is the ultimate stress time for the family: getting food on the table and then into bodies who won't sit still and who are so busy poking their siblings with a fork that there is no possibility of connection.
Today’s lifestyle can be very hectic, full of duties and interruptions for many children. Still, parents are worried that they are not creating enough activities or experiences for their children. Based on my experience, there is an increasing amount of child-related issues around restlessness and finding it more difficult to calm down and concentrate. They are often bombarded by schedules, activities, hobbies, noises and overstimulation. I often recommend to do less and ‘just be’ more.
A few decades ago, parents eagerly waited for drop-off day at summer camp. For a few glorious weeks, they could happily ditch their roles of chauffeur, chef and chaperone. They’d read a few more books, have an extra glass of wine with dinner and simply enjoy a respite from the non-stop pace kids require.
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