Rompr Blog
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To Google or not to Google
Kids are curious little things. Which is a good thing, most of the time, unless we really need to get going and instead of putting on their shoes and going out the door already, they’re pestering me with questions.
But even when we’re not in a hurry (which does happen, although admittedly not very often), their curiosity can sometimes be a problem. Because many (I’d rather not say “most”) times I just don’t have a clue.
Parents are supposed to know everything, have the answer to all questions, be their kids’ compass and leading light in a confusing universe. So I should have all the answers.
Or should I?A colleague once told me that when his daughter asks him a question, he excuses himself for a moment, Googles it on his iPhone and casually delivers the answer as if he’d known it all along. At the time, my son was too young to pose questions that were beyond my scope, so I filed it for future reference. Also, I had a Blackberry, and Googling wasn’t that easy.
Now I have an iPhone, and kids who are old enough to ask me questions about anything from antibodies to black holes. But I find myself often saying “that’s an interesting question. I don’t know. Let’s try to find out”. (Ahem. That’s in the cases where I don’t just say “put on your shoes already and let’s GO”). I always have an answer for questions of the “who do you love most in the whole world” variety. But I just don’t know that much about antibodies and black holes.
What do you think? Do you Google or do you admit ignorance? Inquiring minds want to know!
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So, it’s 2012. and we have things like Youtube and Facebook, and videos going viral.
Case in point: The Parent Rap. It’s a well produced, moderately funny song about the joys of parenthood - “we used to be cool”, “mom, mom, she’s da bomb”, “dad, dad, he’s the man”.
What does mom do? she stays home and cleans and clips coupons. And dad? he puts on a suit and goes out to work, to “support the clan.” Because “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
Yo.
Of course, there are all sorts of families, and every combination of working full time / part time / staying at home is perfectly fine.
But isn’t it weird that the stereotypical family is still one in which daddy brings home the bacon and mommy cooks and serves it?
It’s 2012, but we might as well be living in the fifties. Enough already. It’s time for a change
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Giving Thanks
Routine. It’s hard. We don’t get enough sleep, we’re always in a rush, we feel like we’re not doing anything really well, we don’t have time for ourselves, we don’t have time for our spouses, we feel guilty about not doing enough with the kids, we never go to the gym.
(Or is that just me?)
But then, in comes a disruption. It can be anything - illness, job loss, storm, war. And suddenly you want nothing more than to go back to that old routine.
How great it was to only worry about not going to the gym! Why didn’t we appreciate it more when we had it! Now everything is finally in perspective. We should have been so grateful for our sleepless, stressful lives.
So we are. Grateful, that is. But perspective can be dangerous. Just because it *can* be worse, doesn’t mean it’s great. Giving thanks is important, but it’s also important to remember that we deserve better than that sleepless, stressful routine.
And Rompr is here to help with that: take the rut out of your routine, and serve up a good helping of FUN. (Also, stuffing. It’s a well known fact that stuffing makes any routine better).
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There’s an ongoing debate - among people who have the luxury of time for debates - about the concept of “Quality Time”. Some experts will tell you that it’s more important to just spend Time, period, with your kids, instead of worrying about “fun”, “enriching” activities to do together. Just hang out in the living room, go about your usual routine, and your kids will benefit the most.
I personally would like to agree. It seems so logical. Surely, any time I spend with the kids is high-quality enough. Time is all we need. No?
Um, maybe it’s just me. But unfortunately, I myself tend to be a lower-quality person - and a lower-quality parent - when I’m deep in the same routine, watching the clutter in the lliving room get even more clutter-y, remembering the work emails I haven’t responded to and the dishes that are waiting in the sink. Planned Quality Time isn’t directly about the kids, it’s about me. ME ME ME.
Because I’m much more fun when we’re out having fun. And then I’m less stressed and more fun when I’m back in the routine of working and cleaning and cooking. And actually, lots of the parents I know are like that, too.
Which is why we’re focusing on the AWESOME with Rompr. We all deserve our time to be Quality Time, so let’s bring the fun back!
If you haven’t yet, join us today. It will be fun, I promise :-)
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Living in the moment isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Sometimes, it’s our kids who whine, “are we there yet?”
And sometimes, it’s us, so caught up in the horizon, so focused on the next, better, more interesting thing that’s still out there, that we miss the fun of Right Now.
I keep catching myself doing that. The other day, I took my daughter to a story hour at the local community center (yes, it was a date - just the two of us!). It was close to her preschool so we walked there, and on the way, there were lots of things she needed to do.
She had to climb on a wall, and she had to take a very close look at an ant, and she found a frisbee lying around, and there was a dog who was in urgent need of attention, and there was a cat - was it the mommy? or was it the daddy?
She was having fun, but instead of enjoying it with her, I kept thinking: we’re going to be late, we’re going to be late, we need to start moving FASTER.
Because, you see, otherwise we’d be late to the Story Hour. Which is a BIG DEAL.
No? that’s right. No. Not everything has to go according to a plan. Sometimes getting there is part of the fun. The Story Hour can be just an excuse for walking together and looking at ants.
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Sure, we all know that the journey is more important than the destination. But still the question keeps coming up: “Are we there yet?”.
Usually, it comes from the back seat, where the kids have perhaps had enough of the joys of watching the scenery and engaging in meaningful conversation with their parents (or playing Angry Birds. It has been proven that playing repetitive games on a small screen is highly beneficial to a child’s development. Or was it reading books?)
And sometimes, it comes from us. When do we reach the next milestone? Are we there yet? Because while the journey is actually a lot of fun, and we’re definitely doing and learning a lot, we’re also feeling a little like that kid in the back seat. We want meet all of you Romprs-to-be already!
But not to worry - we’re almost there. We’re preparing the scenery and engaging in meaningful bug fixing, and nobody’s playing games here at Rompr HQ. (Almost never. We do have to play a little. It’s part of our job description, after all)
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Those (other) Rompr Moments
So it’s not all fun and games here at Rompr HQ. Sometimes we think we’ve made a great plan for a lovely outing with the kids, only to find out that… no. They don’t approve.
They would like us to know that this picnic we thought would be great?
It SUCKS.
And the nice walk in the forest?
It SUCKS.
And the merry-go-round?
Oh, thank you very much for asking. It *totally* SUCKS.
And being the caring, nurturing parents that we are here at Rompr, we of course hasten to soothe our unhappy little ones. But first, we take a picture. Or several. Because being able to post those special Rompr moments is the least we deserve for being so freaking AWESOME.
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Milestones
With babies, there are milestones that are (relatively) easy to keep track of. They start to smile, roll, crawl, walk. They say their first word. After that it gets more difficult to keep track (and when it’s not your first baby, even these milestones can be a bit hazy. But it’s totally fine to make up arbitrary ages, if they end up asking you how old they were when they started doing X. Just sayin’).
With startups, it’s pretty much the same thing. We started Rompr - our baby! - here, and then took some baby steps, and now we’re super-excited to be hitting our first major milestone. One that has a Greek letter to describe it, so you know it must be a Big Deal:
Rompr is in Alpha!
Which, dear Romprs-to-be, means that very soon Rompr will be LIVE. So drop us a line (or a comment, or a tweet) if you would like to be our guinea pig and test Rompr with us, and get lots of perks (mainly our undying love and devotion because you’re AWESOME).
Also, CAKE.
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How Apple Changed My Life
Like many working parents, I used to have a Blackberry. It was ugly but took decent photos and continously blinked at me whenever I received a new email. It was very difficult to ignore that red, persistent blink. So even when I was with my kids and doing my best not to think about work, most of the time I just HAD to check my email. It was simply irresistible.
Then I was punished, because when you check your email at the playground, sometimes your Blackberry falls into the sand. And as it turns out, sand and phones don’t mix well. So it died, and I had to get a new one.
But this time I got an iPhone.
I like it. And my kids like it. So if I try to casually glance at my inbox while pretending to be completely focused on playing Connect 4 or pushing a swing, the kids know what I’m doing. Because they want my iPhone, too. They will ask for it and beg for it and play Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds or Doodle Buddy. No email for me, and the ongoing non-screen game is doomed.
So like a trained dog, I have learned my lesson and I don’t check my email nearly as often when I’m not actually supposed to be working.*
Technology in the service of family life. Reminds me of an awesome web app I know
* So about those emails I haven’t responded to? Please direct all complaints to the makers of the iPhone
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We knew it! Parents are (awesome) People
