Lauren Hartmann

We know it all, which is why sending your child off to school and into the care of someone else who is not you – their parent – for the very first time can feel incredibly overwhelming and emotional. Over time though, I’ve learned that it really is such a gift to be able to send my child to a place where she is surrounded by other adults who are able to help her learn and grow in ways that I never could. Even though this was my first time personally experiencing these feelings/worries/concerns about sending a child away to school for the first time, I was certainly no stranger to them. both to parents who can feel confident in leaving their children with quality educators and to children who are being taught confidence in themselves.

Back in December we were invited by Wyndham Vacation Rentals to stay at their Coast Backcomb Suites location in Whistler B. C. and it was perfect timing, because December marked our 10-year-anniversary. The biggest appeal is that it’s a ski-in, ski-out hotel and they have a complimentary ski valet service, so Craig was able to snowboard right out of the hotel down to the Wizard Express chairlift at the Blackcomb Base to start the day and when he was done he could board right back into the hotel and drop off his board and boots at the ski valet. They were pretty uncomfortable and I had planned to e-mail them about it after we left, but as we loaded up our luggage in our car we saw signs stating that they were getting new beds that week and saw this giant truck full of new mattresses as we pulled out of the hotel lot to head home. Aside from all the lounging we did at our hotel (which was quite a bit, because let’s be real, we have three kids and even just binge watching Netflix with a glass of wine feels like a vacation), we had a great time exploring the village and eating ALLLL the things.

This is OK in theory, but sometimes you can’t air your grievances, because for better or for worse you have to have an ongoing relationship with the person/people causing your frustration (think your boss, a teacher, a family member) and you know it’s unlikely that they’ll ever change so it would just make the working relationship miserable and strained. Because I realized recently that there just are’t enough hours in the day to waste stewing about how other people have wronged you… especially when those people are oblivious/don’t care. I’m done giving mental space to people who aren’t giving me theirs. In my 20’s I would’ve just kept stewing, but in my 30’s I’ve decided that I deserve better.

Maybe it will never be as it once was, but I would love to focus a little more energy into a space that feels like it is 100% mine, you know? Just writing and sharing my heart in more characters than will fit in an Instagram caption, because let’s be honest half of the time we don’t actually read to the bottom of a caption anyway. #1: Dedicate at least 20 minutes a day to truly playing with and enjoying my children Twenty minutes seems like such an insignificant amount of time that surely I must already be giving them that, right? #1: Have focused time with each of my kids every week I love the idea of having one-on-one dates with each of my kids on a frequent/regular basic, but it’s just not super realistic all the time.