A year ago, I joined an improv class. You remember improv: the TV show with Drew Carey and the tall guy Ryan Stiles (who happens to live in my town) from ten years ago? Remember that? “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

Yeah, that. I did that. And it’s my kids’ new favorite thing, too.

Improv, short for improvisation, teaches us to think quickly, to react spontaneously, that mistakes are okay and that things are fun. These are the lessons that our kids seem to know instinctively. It’s only we grownups who have forgotten how to play and think that mistakes should be avoided. My kids love improv and are pretty good at it (most kids are). Yours will be too, though the beauty of this is that everyone is on an equal playing field — kids and adults alike. Here are some easy games that older kids (about age 7-8 and up) can play as a family:
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It’s not like my kids are picky. Well, maybe they are a little, although I’d call it explicit. They know what they want. And I know what I want. But the vacationing world, the one that caters to families? Ugh. It’s a different world entirely.

I thought I’d give my kids a taste of the Pacific Ocean so yesterday we drove from my home in northwest Washington State to the coast. And, as my older son Nathaniel observed, in that four hour drive we somehow entered a portal to the Jersey Shore. We have simple tastes: a clean hotel room, maybe overlooking the ocean, and some good-tasting and healthy food that hasn’t been through a deep-fryer and maybe includes something green. Is that a lot to ask?

Apparently, in the travel world (that caters to families), it is.
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Two of my kids are flying — alone — across the country today. Flying alone with a change of planes usually isn’t a big deal for kids flying unaccompanied, because airlines insist that (for a fee) an airline employee take most kids to their next gate and make sure they get on the plane. But my kids are flying standby (their dad’s a pilot), which doesn’t guarantee two seats together for my two (14 and 10) and doesn’t actually guarantee any seats at all.

I’m about 85% okay with this, for a lot of reasons: they are seasoned travelers; they’ll be equipped with a cell phone for emergencies; they’ve been prepped with what to do if they get stuck at DFW; they did this once before; and last but not least, it’s what they need to do for us to see one another this summer.

I’m 15% not okay because, well, I’m a mom. I worry about things. Things happen in the wacky world of air travel. Kids get sent to the wrong destination. Or they’re forgotten, stranded.
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What a relief. We can give up our working-mom guilt hats once and for all now and get on with our lives. How do I know this? A new study, of course. Not because I base all my parenting decisions on studies (what? don’t you?), but because, well, because. I’m the mom and I said so.

Apparently, working moms “don’t damage” their kids by working. Well then! Let’s break out the party hats! And! Working moms are less crazy! How do I know this? Because I’m the mom. And I said so.

But there is something to be examined here. The fact that a) mothers have been working outside the home for a LONG TIME NOW and that b) this is the first grudging acknowledgment that it might actually be a GOOD thing — for the whole family — is worth celebrating. Even if it’s sort of lame because this isn’t really news to people who have been living it. But honestly, do you turn down a Cake Occasion when one slaps you in the face like the side of a wet fish?
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