I just made a brand new coloring sheet to help bring light into this dark time! Feel free to share your finished creations, on your Facebook wall, on your fridge, in your window for passersby to see...I can't wait to see your version! :) 👉 Download it here. Get even more free coloring sheets here. …
Living a More Adventurous Life is as Easy as ABC
My friend Dave (a recent Adultitis Fighter of the Month) has Mondays off. They started becoming a little stale, so he decided to shake things up. Although he's an avid traveler, Dave realized that he actually explored very little of his home state of Wisconsin. One day, he pulled out a map, landed on a city named Amherst and set out to make a day of exploring this unfamiliar town. Next week, he went to a city that started with the letter "B" (Babcock), followed by Columbus, and has continued his quest through the alphabet. (He's currently on "H".) Most of the towns are quite small, but they …
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The Escape Adulthood Adventure Club is Here!
I am so excited to announce our newest initiative to take down Adultitis! We call it the Escape Adulthood Adventure Club. How does it work? Every month, we'll give you some fun ideas for fighting Adultitis (we call them Small Rebellions). If you do any of them -- by yourself, or with friends, family, or co-workers -- you can officially consider yourself in the Club! And if you are one of the first 100 people to share your exploits online, we'll send you a rad sticker (sort of like a modern-day merit badge) for free! The only question is, "Can you collect them all?" Join a community …
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Undercover Alias: Why You Might Want a New Name
Whenever I get a coffee at Starbucks, and they ask me for my name, I always tell them "Jason." While this is completely honest, it's also completely devoid of fun. The next time you buy a coffee or put your name in at a restaurant, use a fake name as your alias. It could be a normal sounding name, the name of a fictional character, or something completely unusual like Cantaloupe or Melmac. Just make sure it’s fake! Of course, you can do this with friends, too. At a conference I was speaking at recently (howdy OAEYC peeps!), two female attendees decided to make the random names that …
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How to Make Spring Cleaning Way More Fun
Last week we hosted a live party over on Facebook to celebrate the end of winter. (Winter exacted her revenge by dumping several inches of snow on us a few days later, which obviously proves that Winter has Adultitis.) Anyway, it was a fun and frantic online hangout filled with laughter and lively discussion. One of the topics that came up was spring cleaning. Namely, how to make it more FUN. (Is it even possible?) You could try what my two-year-old son Ben did last year, which was to just throw everything out the window. Or you could try some of these gems, shared by some fellow Escape …
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Meet Marty, Mini Adultitis Fighter
One of the best ways to defeat Adultitis is to set booby traps for it. An Adultitis Booby Trap is a simple item or routine you incorporate into your life for the purpose of serindipitously reminding yourself to smile, laugh, or take yourself lightly, particularly when Adultitis levels are at their highest. Our favorite Adultitis Booby Trap involves a tiny penguin eraser called Marty. For many years, we used Gumby's friend Pokey until we stumbled upon Marty, who reminded us of the hero on the cover of my book), and has since become a champion of dreaming big, ignoring common knowledge, and not …
The Penny Date
When you have a map to anywhere and GPS in your pocket, it’s really hard to get lost. I think that’s too bad, because sometimes getting lost can lead to great adventures. Someone shared the idea of a “Penny Date” with me, and I wanted to pass it along. The first rule is to get dressed to out and grab a penny. Get in the car and let your partner choose a number between 10 and 20. This will be the number of times you flip the penny. Pull out of the driveway and begin your adventure. Heads is right, Tails is left. Every time you come to an intersection, flip the penny and turn the …
4 Fun Ways to Fight Adultitis and Make Memories this Christmas
This time of year is tailor-made for creating some amazing scenes with loved ones. Unfortunately, it’s also the most common time to let busyness drive us into “doing-what-we’ve-always-done” mode. Hello, Rutville. Here are four fun but simple tips to make sure Adultitis gets nothing but coal in its stocking this year. Minivan Express It’s kind of like Pajama Run meets The Polar Express, and you don’t even need a minivan to play. First, print up some golden tickets (templates here) and hide them under your kids’ pillows. While the normal bedtime routine is underway, prep some popcorn …
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Dinnertime Shenanigans: Ye Olde Timey Dinner
When you’re a kid, dressing up all fancy for dinner is exciting. Although it can be fun for grown-ups too, it doesn’t take long for Adultitis to creep in when one begins to worry about which fork to use or whether or not you have spinach in your teeth. The premise of an Olde Timey Dinner -- one of the highlights from the 2014 Escape Adulthood Summit -- is to keep the fun and ditch the pretense. You don’t need to attend an Escape Adulthood Summit to experience the fun of Ye Olde Timey Dinner. Here are some tips for hosting your own: WHAT to EAT You can serve whatever you want, but the …
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5 Ways to Turn Messes into Memories
Our society is over-sanitized. We emphasize order and cleanliness and anti-bacterial EVERYTHING. But when kids do what comes naturally — get messy — good things result. Not only does Adultitis throw a hissy fit, but according to a 2012 report by The National Wildlife Federation, playing in the mud provides benefits to immune systems, hearts and skin, as well as kids’ emotional wellbeing and learning skills. According to Dr. Joel Weinstock, director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, “Children raised in an ultraclean environment are not being exposed to …