Summer is here! I’m taking next week off to spend time with family in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware soaking up the sun on the beach, strolling the boardwalk, and settling into a slower pace for a week. I hope you are also able to take some time off this summer to relax and recharge.

This month, I thought I’d share three simple things we’ve embraced in our family that help the logistics of running a family go a little smoother. Because even simple things can be profound in their impact.

Family email address
My husband and I created a family email address for all things related to the kids and household: school communications, camp sign ups, dental appointment reminders, etc. This helps keep all the family business in one place (and not buried in our individual personal or work inbox). More importantly, this gives both of us equal access to the information about our kids, spreading the mental load out between us.
On-call days for sick kids
My husband and I each have specific days of the week that we know we are “on-call” if a kid is sick and needs to stay home from school. This helps prevent stressful morning conversations deciding who is the least impacted by having to cancel their day to take care of one of the kids.
Make friends with your neighbors
Being friends (or at least friendly) with your neighbors can have so many benefits, big and small. We’ve leaned on our neighbors over the years to bring in a package, check on our cats, bring over pedialyte, and one time even get our older kid to school when I needed to take my little one to the ER. Our kids love having spontaneous play dates, walking to school, and trick-or-treating together. We checked in on each other and shared supplies from waffle irons to paper towels during the pandemic.
While maybe making friends with your neighbors isn’t as easy as setting up an email address or an on-call system, it is simple in its concept. 🙃 And can be such a wonderful and important relationship to nurture.

Each one of these actions has had a profound positive impact on my family in big and small ways.

I invite you to spread out the mental load in your household, plan ahead for the inevitable sick day beforehand, and find ways to lean into the support of your local micro-community outside your home.

Keeping it simple can still have big impacts.

Warmly,

Dr. Lizzie