Parenting

Summer To-Do List

| Patti Webb

On Pinterest and Insta, I’ve seen a lot of posts on summer to-do lists. You know, make s’mores, go to the beach, have a barbecue, etc. This is a far cry from my typical summer growing up, which was mostly sitting around while my parents worked or just being parked in front of the tv and out of the way. While summer was great because you didn’t have to go to school, it also meant being lonely and bored most of the time.

In June and July for a working parent, you have to figure out some sort of childcare. For a SAHP, you have to be cruise director all day for two solid months. Not to mention, fending off Summer Slide. I can see why parents really hate extended summer break because the school year has so much more workable structure.

Just like holidays, it really is up to us parents to make summer fun. So with that in mind, here are Mary’s and my summer to-do lists.

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Child(ish) Reads: The Book of Mothers

| Patti Webb

The Book of Mothers by Carrie Mullins is pretty much the dissertation paper I’ve always wanted to write.

Millennial moms characteristically have done a lot of emotional work: reflecting back on their childhood trying to understand the context of how they were parented, and trying to figure out exactly what type of mom they want to be. A large percentage of our parenting is going to come from our own parents and experience, but TV, movies, books, and pop culture give us plenty of model moms to take note of.

So put on your AP Lit hat, and let’s get some close textual analysis.

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Prepping for Healthy Gaming

| Patti Webb

In my Healthy Gamer book review, I shared a bit about my brother’s and my relationship with video games growing up. I’ve also shared about my husband Troy being a serious gamer well into his adulthood. And now that we have two kids who are ready for beginner video games, we’ve had to create a workable plan for having them in our home.

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Our Balloon Museum Playdate Review

| Patti Webb

Balloons go hand-in-hand with celebrations. Kids are all over them. So, it felt like a no-brainer to do our next playdate at the Balloon Museum. The Balloon Museum opened Let’s Fly in Atlanta this spring and runs through June 9th. They have more locations in the US and internationally.

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Things I Learned on TikTok

| Patti Webb

Very apropos considering Tuesday’s Netflix post and that TikTok might be getting banned. Maybe not so apropos considering one of my Resolutions is cutting screen time…

There are so many parenting influencers (we do consider ourselves one), and all of those accounts, commentaries and opinions contribute to a lot of parenting noise. What may have started as a mindless scroll to turn your brain off, might end up with you questioning your parenting choices, feeling like you have to buy every product under the sun, or leave you genuinely scared for this generation.

And it doesn’t stop at parenting noise. Similar to spending hours on a video game or bingeing on the couch, once you stop, you’re like “Where did my life go?”. You end up dysregulated, feeling lazy, and asking yourself “Did I really need to watch 20 minutes of wild Karen encounters?”

In my infinite scrolling last fall, an ad showed up about turning your screen time into microlearning. Of course, I’m not going to pay for whatever app or course they are trying to promote, but it did make me reconsider the types of content I’ve been consuming.

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