Now that summer vacation has arrived, call me “Ooh-Mommy Girl.” Say it loud enough and I might hear you over the rising chorus of little voices. A few observations on maintaining work-life balance from inside the noisy center of family life.
Tip
What no one tells you: the juggling and small survival skills you develop now make you a superhero when the more intense seasons of life eventually ease. These tiny adaptations become lifelong tools.
NOT consecutively
One of the wisest things I saw today was a friend’s Facebook update: “Tara was able to work out for nine minutes this morning. NOT consecutively.” Tara is a mom and an award-winning runner. That line sums up a lot of parenting life—success is measured in fragments and reclaimed minutes.
All bets are off
I read that update with the baby strapped to my chest, on my way to drop off the preschooler for the last official day of school sanity. I did manage to leave the baby in the gym daycare and claim an hour of self-focused time, but Tara’s point stuck: when the children outnumber you, schedules and plans go out the window.
Cuteness, but mostly chaos
It seems counterintuitive, but the amount of disruption relates to the number of children more than their individual size. The more small ones there are, the greater the ripple effect. In short: adorable, yes, but mostly chaos. Small bodies bring big commotion.
Bletch
To illustrate, in recent weeks the baby has started producing a new word aimed squarely at me: “bitch.” Or maybe “bletch.” Either way, hearing it is jarring—yet the baby seems unfazed and moves on, as babies do.
Joined at the hip for generations
Many of the preschooler’s friends, whose parents are organized and efficient, are off to full-day camps this summer. That’s not our style. The preschooler has made it clear several times: she won’t ride a bus without me. Not anywhere. Not ever. I can’t blame her—she’s four, the age when I obediently closed the bathroom door only because my own mother asked for privacy.
All about babies
So tomorrow launches the season that is all about the babies. For better and for worse, the coming weeks will be focused on their needs, their moods, and their endless demands.
During times like these, food matters more than fuel. It must sustain your strength and offer comfort in equal measure. You want nourishment that’s practical for the day-to-day demands of parenting and soothing when the chaos gets to you.
All about farro
It seems like Italians have been cultivating this kind of sensible comfort for centuries. Buried among their many cultural strengths is farro—a semi-pearled ancient wheat that feels like a quiet coping mechanism. Once hard to find outside Italian neighborhoods, farro is now widely available and easy to cook.
Farro in its semi-pearled form is forgiving and gentle: filling without being heavy. It’s the kind of food that fuels you for crawling on the floor to retrieve a rogue crumb or negotiating TV time with a four-year-old. It’s practical, satisfying, and a little restorative.
It won’t fix everything, but it helps. In the middle of summer chaos, with small voices and small hands everywhere, a bowl of simple, nourishing food goes a long way.
Talk soon.