Business woman and Mamazon of two, Amy Abrams, is here to convince you to go on a vacation… without your kids;
While my last post espoused the importance of ignoring most advice, I have decided to continue to dole out advice. That being said – my “advice” will not be in the form of “you should” but rather I will use this opportunity to share some of my thoughts and experiences as a mom / partner-wife / business owner. Take it for what it’s worth and remember, we are all a work in progress.
Today’s theme is about how important it is to take vacations without your children. I will offer a few child care options in a minute but let me first weigh in about my experience taking vacations without my kids.
I have found that an annual vacation (ranging from a night to a weekend to 10 days) with my husband is a lot of fun! Yeah, yeah we missed our kids but that was part of the fun. Every anniversary we visit a new destination, anniversary breaks are something my husband and I really enjoy. Especially having a break from the kids! At first, they were the central topic of conversation but we quickly remembered all the other fun things we liked to talk about together. For my husband and me, getting out of the routine of our child care duties made it easy to chill out, indulge in more than one glass of wine, enjoy being on a long date with the thrill of anticipating fooling around as often as we wanted to and for as long as we wanted to, and of course being able to sleep late and lay around in bed reading and hanging out. It also meant we could enjoy some of the things we are less likely to do when at home, such as sourcing CBD products from a website like https://organiccbdnugs.com and enjoying some cannabis-based goodies. It’s things like this that are only enjoyable when we are alone and stress-free. While I love my husband year round, there is something about getting away together that helps us really enjoy each others company in ways we did before we had kids.
It’s really fun when we aren’t fighting over who scooped the cat litter.I found I had time and space to see things in my husband that on a daily basis I may overlook. I remember how lucky I am and how we are deeply connected outside of our common connection with our kids. And did I mention how much fun we have together? The last getaway was a night and day in NYC – and we found that 24 hours can do the trick. But we have also spent a week in Buenos Aires and weekends in Vieques, Barbados and Copenhagen since having our kids four years ago. And I truly believe it is as beneficial for my kids as it was for us. They love when their grandparents come to visit, they love seeing us on skype, they love seeing our pictures and opening the presents we bring home for them. And they love when we come home. And we do, too. We have found, a little distance has helped keep us all on track.
And now to address the “who will watch my kids if my Partner and I go away” or for the single moms out there who want some time to themselves. There are many people who cannot afford or do not have access to child care. This is certainly more challenging but I would propose swapping with a friend – you watch each others kid(s) so each of you can enjoy a kid free vacation. For some, Grandparents are a totally under utilized resource. In our experience, we have found that our kids have developed really strong relationships with their grandparents when they get so much quality and concentrated time together. For us, what’s the worst thing that has happened? Grandma let’s them stay up too late and eat too much ice cream. In our family, that seems to work out perfectly for all members involved and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Amy Abrams is the co-founder of In Good Company Workplaces, a collaborative workspace and community for women business owners in NYC. Amy is also the co-founder of Artists & Fleas, a marketplace for emerging artists, designers and vintage collectors in Brooklyn. Over the past 10 years, Amy has worked with thousands of individuals to help them launch and grow their own businesses. Amy lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two girls.