Three Parenting Lessons I Learned On Vacation With My Kids
Take advantage of life's rare idle moments.
Hello, everyone! I’m finally back from our spring break trip, which happened in a different place than it was supposed to, and lasted longer than it was supposed to. A true adventure.
The short story: We had plans to visit my parents in Florida, but the day before we were meant to leave, my Dad tested positive for Covid. (He’s fully recovered now and just fine, thank goodness.) We were then faced with a dilemma: Should we stay home all week, or should we pivot and travel somewhere else? I’d had a particularly gnarly week that involved unsavory happenings on social media, so I was all for finding a new destination far away from my desk. And find one we did: We changed our flights to Turks and Caicos and left the next morning.
Also! While that was happening, I got to share some exciting news over social media, which is that I’m now writing the Well newsletter for The New York Times. I’m thrilled. (If you want to subscribe and get weekly health advice from me in your inbox, click here.)
We had a grand time on vacation. The beaches in Turks and Caicos are exquisite — soft pink sand and the most turquoise water I’ve ever seen. We had planned to fly home on Wednesday afternoon so that I could teach on Thursday, but — surprise! — our flight got cancelled. JetBlue put us up in a beautiful 5-star hotel, so we got to stay a little longer, and we certainly did not complain abut being stranded in the Caribbean (though I was sorry to have to miss class).
Today I want to share three key tips I learned from our trip (other than OMG, you have to reapply sunscreen a LOT in the Caribbean) that stemmed from memorable moments we shared while dining out together.