Great post. I think you really hit it on the head here, why not ask your family what they want to do and shocker, do it. It is so funny to find and read this post on Leo’s new site right now. These are some of the very same questions and thoughts I have been energized by lately.

I had always thought of a ‘meeting’ with our family where we talk about and plan fun stuff in our lives. What if your children are in on deciding where the family vacation is next summer. Lets talk about it as a family and have a fun time coming up with crazy ideas.

You did a great job of verbalizing these ideas into a wonderful post. Great job! I had resisted before because of thinking about having an off-site planning session with my family I envision my wife nicely calling me a nerd.

My husband and I are embarking on a “slow month” of living this month – limited spending (groceries), riding our bikes, etc. Part of this is to reconnect with the goals we once had – and lost when life got busy. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up and I appreciate having a chance to stop, reevaluate and change course.

The most important part in my opinion is being open to change, and realizing that sometimes you need to mourn what you thought might be, and isn’t.

I see so many parents who don’t know how to change their way of thinking or interacting and insist on pushing ahead with ideals/ideas that are clearly NOT working. Of course we all do that from time to time, but the best parents I know really know how to flow with their children’s moods/needs, they are flexible.