I loved this post Jen, it speaks to something I've 'felt' over the years but never had the words to stay it. Investing in relationships, moreso than your bank account will reap incredible rewards that keep giving and giving into our old age. Instead of worrying about our RRSP balance, let's turn our attention to our relationship network instead.
Yes! You should absolutely read The Serviceberry (it's very short), to have someone lay it out more eloquently than I ever could! You can also listen to Kimmerer read it on the Emergence magazine podcast.
With permission, I'm posting some amazing examples of community care emailed by Lyn:
A friend recently asked if my kids would like to have a play date with her kids. She added to the offer that I could drop them off so I could do holiday shopping or just have my own time. What an incredible offer. And when I identified that I was torn between gaining some personal time (so precious) and filling my cup with her company, she suggested I drop off for play date for a few hours, then join them for dinner. It was the best of both worlds.
When my spouse went away for 3 weeks of work in the pandemic, and I was home with a baby and a toddler, a friend offered to bring me dinner, and gave options for dates that suited her availability and let me identify where my need was.
When my friend's father-in-law died unexpectedly, I worked with some neighbours and friends to fill their fridge for their return so that they would have all access to groceries and a few pre-made meals.
Spaces in before/after school care are limited, so as we were home with our 2 kids for the school drop off at 9:00am, we invited a neighbour who also needed morning care to bring their child over a few days a week for a morning play date with school drop off. The bonus is, having a friend to play with actually gives us as parents more liberty to pick away at some paid work time and relieve some work-life balance stress.
I was feeling stress around an upcoming test while at a playground with my kids when a fellow parent offered to be responsible for my children so I could go home and study. She walked them back to my house when they were done at the park.
Also this great tip:
A lovely, low energy way to make others feel like they are important to you is to greet them with delight. You can do this by offering a big smile with your hello, or saying, "I'm so happy to see you!", or ending a short interaction with, "I always enjoy catching up with you". A really lovely experience I've had is walking into a room where my friends all looked up and shouted my name with joy. Simply magical.
I loved this post Jen, it speaks to something I've 'felt' over the years but never had the words to stay it. Investing in relationships, moreso than your bank account will reap incredible rewards that keep giving and giving into our old age. Instead of worrying about our RRSP balance, let's turn our attention to our relationship network instead.
Yes! You should absolutely read The Serviceberry (it's very short), to have someone lay it out more eloquently than I ever could! You can also listen to Kimmerer read it on the Emergence magazine podcast.
With permission, I'm posting some amazing examples of community care emailed by Lyn:
A friend recently asked if my kids would like to have a play date with her kids. She added to the offer that I could drop them off so I could do holiday shopping or just have my own time. What an incredible offer. And when I identified that I was torn between gaining some personal time (so precious) and filling my cup with her company, she suggested I drop off for play date for a few hours, then join them for dinner. It was the best of both worlds.
When my spouse went away for 3 weeks of work in the pandemic, and I was home with a baby and a toddler, a friend offered to bring me dinner, and gave options for dates that suited her availability and let me identify where my need was.
When my friend's father-in-law died unexpectedly, I worked with some neighbours and friends to fill their fridge for their return so that they would have all access to groceries and a few pre-made meals.
Spaces in before/after school care are limited, so as we were home with our 2 kids for the school drop off at 9:00am, we invited a neighbour who also needed morning care to bring their child over a few days a week for a morning play date with school drop off. The bonus is, having a friend to play with actually gives us as parents more liberty to pick away at some paid work time and relieve some work-life balance stress.
I was feeling stress around an upcoming test while at a playground with my kids when a fellow parent offered to be responsible for my children so I could go home and study. She walked them back to my house when they were done at the park.
Also this great tip:
A lovely, low energy way to make others feel like they are important to you is to greet them with delight. You can do this by offering a big smile with your hello, or saying, "I'm so happy to see you!", or ending a short interaction with, "I always enjoy catching up with you". A really lovely experience I've had is walking into a room where my friends all looked up and shouted my name with joy. Simply magical.