Motherhood post-pandemic thoughts

Oh, the irony! During the pandemic, we all moaned about being cooped up at home, away from friends and family. My kids were itching to hang with the neighborhood crew, but asking felt as awkward as a llama in a ballet class. Fast forward five years, and we're way past the pandemic, back in the land of "normal" social gatherings. We've turned staying home into an art form, reminiscing about the good old days when life was as simple as a PB&J sandwich. We've rediscovered the joys of being bored on the couch with an actual paper book or playing cards with the kids like it's 1999. Us millennials, myself included, are on a mission to gift our kids a childhood free from the clutches of screens, video games, and the social media vortex. Millennial moms are like, why should we feel guilty for not turning into 24/7 entertainment stations? Kids need to learn that boredom is the secret ingredient to creativity. Back in the late '90s, being a kid meant climbing trees, biking all over town, hopping on the beach bus, and riding trains to the next town for a Taco Bell run... all while mom was blissfully unaware of our whereabouts. Recreating that wild and free childhood for our kids is like trying to bottle lightning—it's crucial for raising well-rounded, savvy little humans. During those years, I mastered the art of stranger danger, traffic dodging, navigating, budgeting my allowance for Ralph's, honing social skills, and riding the emotional rollercoaster of teenagehood. If there's one thing I've picked up from the pandemic (besides a new bread-making hobby), it's how much we learned from it all. I hope we parents can join forces, like a superhero team but with more coffee, and remember what it was like when we were pre-teens and teens. Let's loosen our grip on those fears a bit. Trust your kiddo and their superpowers, and give them the freedom they need to explore, make memories, and be the little geniuses we know they are.