Building a business from scratch isn’t easy. Neither is homeschooling one’s kids. Or traveling across the country with them in a small SUV and two suitcases. Which brings me to fireplaces. Our basement has had a gas fireplace, but it’s in a really weird spot in the lower level and we spend most of our family time upstairs, so we’ve only used it maybe twice in the 8 years that we’ve owned the home. After this summer’s basement renovation, Kim and I created a little sitting area in front of the fireplace in the hopes of making it more usable. We also decided to convert it to wood …
Family
Mom Gives Adult Children Unusual Christmas Gifts
I met a fifty-something-year-old guy after my presentation at a conference in Minnesota earlier this year. He told me, "My mom believed that her kids should always get a toy from her for Christmas, no matter how..." I expected him to finish the sentence with, “...no matter how poor we were.” But he surprised me instead with, “...no matter how old we are.” To this day, along with other gifts, she still gets each of her adult children a toy for Christmas. I wish she would have been there, for I would have liked to give her a hug. It takes a wise woman to know that no matter how old …
[Read more...] about Mom Gives Adult Children Unusual Christmas Gifts
Why We Went to Chicago to Party with 5 Million Friends
It was Kim’s fault. Thank God for Kim. The Cubs, after 108 years, had finally won the World Series, and they won it in spectacular fashion. (I can't believe I just wrote that!) THE CUBS HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES. For reals. I am still filled with joy and brimming with happiness. But the thought of driving to Chicago for the victory parade never crossed my mind. Kim floated the idea after reminding me that I had a speaking engagement in Chicago a few days later. "Why not go down earlier and make it a long weekend?” she teased. Thoughts of snarling traffic and being trampled to death …
[Read more...] about Why We Went to Chicago to Party with 5 Million Friends
Make Your Own Rules: a Lesson from the Best Vacation Responder Ever
"We'd like Jason to give the same 90-minute presentation three times in a row with a 29-second break between each. Oh, and can he do it wearing a chicken costume?" A veteran speaker friend taught Kim and I a great line to use whenever a client begins demanding things we are not able to or interested in accommodating. In these situations, he'd politely redirect the conversation by saying, "This is how I work..." and then outline the personal policies he'd established. It was his business, after all, and he had the right to run it as he saw fit. Of course, the client had the right to look …
[Read more...] about Make Your Own Rules: a Lesson from the Best Vacation Responder Ever
A Little Bit Crazy
Our family just completed a 17-day road trip that spanned 11 states and 3,800 miles. We traveled with three kids, aged 7, 5, and 2. And we did it in a Ford Edge that was packed with just two suitcases, one cooler, a diaper bag, two computer backpacks, two strollers, one tote filled with food and another filled with swimming paraphernalia and sunscreen. We did this because we are insane. Actually, that’s just a lie I repeated multiple times so people wouldn’t feel bad. It makes it easier for folks to justify why they could never do such a thing, especially if a deep-down part of them …
Do You Care What Your Batting Average Is?
Whether it’s batting average, marathon time, or annual income, we humans love using numbers to measure our success. But what if we're focused on the wrong numbers? Here’s a list I made recently, charting my progress so far in 2016: • Meals shared with family: 280 • Lego pieces sorted: 1,376 • Daddy Daughter business trips taken: 2 • Strawberries picked: 173 • Tinker Crates assembled: 3 (with 3 boxes unopened) • Piggyback rides given: 37 • Bedtime tuck-ins: 134 • Bedtime stories read: 9 (Needs work!) • Holes of mini golf played: 18 • Little House on the Prairie episodes …
[Read more...] about Do You Care What Your Batting Average Is?
Leftover Scraps Aren’t Good Enough
I recently read an article about a celebrity chef. In it, he talked about his nightly ritual with his wife: “At around 11:30 or 12:00, we talk. Not just, 'How are you?’ I like to have a soulful conversation with her, a meaningful conversation. And then after that, I fall asleep within two seconds. I am just beat. I am beat." I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Are you freaking kidding me? A soulful conversation? At midnight?! In which you are so "alert" that you fall asleep within two seconds of having it? Granted, I am not in the room with them, but I'd love to ask the wife just how …
Nothing Else You Do for a Child Can Ever Top This
If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose? Seriously. Think about it. Chances are, you’d select someone famous, like a celebrity or an important historical figure who changed the world. A bunch of parents were asked that question, and responses included the likes of Justin Bieber, Marilyn Monroe, and Nelson Mandela. Then they were shown videos of their children answering the very same question. Their responses surprised everyone. The video reminds me that there is nothing more important you can do for the health and happiness of your family than …
[Read more...] about Nothing Else You Do for a Child Can Ever Top This
15 Ways to Make Mealtime More Fun
Throughout human history, sharing a meal has been one of the most important ways to bond with one another. In fact, instituting regularly scheduled dinners is one of the most important things a family can do for the health and happiness of their children. Seriously, it's a big deal to kids. But routines do have a nasty habit of becoming...routine. We put together a free Escape Adulthood Guide with some heaping portions of simple, inexpensive ideas for making mealtime more fun and keeping Adultitis out of the kitchen. You can download it here. Enjoy! …
That Time I Slimed Adultitis
Yesterday morning, despite the fact that I had a full to-do list after having been out of the office for the first three days of the week, I decided to make slime with the kids. Yep, slime. They had been watching episodes of DIY Dad on YouTube, and the one on slime seemed especially fun, and not particularly hard. Out of the blue, I alerted my pajama-clad son that we were going on a secret mission: to get the supplies we needed to make slime! He jumped off the couch and scurried into his car seat — still in his pajamas — and off we went to the grocery store. We picked up two bottles …