Just Winging It

What does a healthy work-life balance look like nowadays? With school out, and kids likely home more often with less structured time, the transition between work and home life can feel a lot more jarring. John and Patrick check in about how they weave together work and home life without the physical boundaries of commuting into their workplace.

As summer approaches and life has opened up again, the number of schedulable kids activities has shot back up. So how do we navigate which and how many activities to sign them up for now? Patrick and John chat about how to avoid overscheduling their kids lives and why it's worth giving more thought to how we structure their time in the first place.

Yeah... we're tired of talking about COVID, too. But here it is. Despite the fact that we've pretty much all settled on it being a part of our normal life now, the balancing act of school, daycare, work, and keeping some sanity with COVID in the house is still a big deal. John shares with Patrick the experience of catching COVID from his son and managing it in the household.

It seems we're all entering a new chapter, where COVID has become integrated into society, and no longer overshadowing it. So looking back at the last two years, how have we grown as young(ish!) parents? Patrick and John consider what they have lost and what they have found during this stretch, particularly when it comes to their ever-evolving identities.

The role that anger plays in parenting is very real. And it's often laced with guilt when we know we're supposed to model calmness for our kids. John and Patrick delve into how anger crops up for them and how they might have a healthier outlook on the emotion that deserves space and acceptance just like any other.

So much of parenting focuses on raising future adults. And so much of our own energy is focused on producing a more desirable future rather than fully experiencing this moment. It's no wonder then, that time flies by. Patrick and John pickup where they left off, digging further into "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals," by Oliver Burkeman to see if they can learn a thing or two about how to slow down, do less, and accept that this is it.

Much of our adult lives are focused on how best to manage time. But what if it's our perspective on time that's the real issue? Patrick and John begin a multi-episode discussion on the notion that we've got it all wrong when it comes to managing our brief time on earth, as put forward by author Oliver Burkeman in his book, "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals."

January 2022 marked another turn in this rollercoaster pandemic, disorienting families across the US as school returned from the holiday break. Now in February, John and Patrick return for their fifth season to take stock of the whirlwind start to the new year with childcare and school up in the air and COVID entering the home. Welcome back!

The second year of the pandemic—and fourth season of Just Winging It—is coming to a close. As always, there's a lot to reflect back on. Patrick and John unpack the various themes that emerged throughout the season and in their lives; from staying fit, mental health, cultivating independent thinking kids, and the various ways our lives have adapted to meet the moment.

Most kids won't grow up to be professional musicians, but shouldn't every child get the chance to explore their ability to make music? As a follow-up to their last episode on teaching music, John and Patrick welcome elementary school music teacher, Adam Shumate, to the show to share his journey into making and then teaching music. The dads dig deeper into how they might play some part in shaping their own kids' musical journey.

When and how does a parent go about teaching kids how to make music? How can you tell whether your child has a knack for it? Patrick and John discuss their very different backgrounds when it comes to making music and how that has informed their approach with their kids, including how they treat music around the house and the start of formal music lessons.

A new school year often comes with making and breaking routines, from morning to nighttime and everything in-between. John and Patrick catch up on life during the first few weeks of the new school year; the start of sick days, disrupted sleep habits, getting out of the house in the morning, and the list goes on.

How are you feeling? How honestly can you answer that question? All parents have been in the position of helping their kids manage emotions, but maybe we've still got some emotional intelligence to develop ourselves. Patrick and John talk about research by Dr. Marc Brackett from Yale's Center for Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Brackett advocates for a less judgmental and more inquisitive approach to probing into our feelings and learning to regulate them. Sure sounds like a useful parenting skill.

We're once again entering the new school year. And to some extent, it seems we've come to terms with the reality of managing COVID through it. John and Patrick orient themselves to the school year with some summer debriefing and looking ahead to the next year of their kids' development.

Planning a vacation was tough enough in the before times. Now the choices we make about where to stay, how to get there, and what kinds of activities to do are infused with the uncertainty of the pandemic. Patrick and John chat about their recent family vacations, how they managed the logistics, how great it felt to get away again, and how to plan the next one.

It's summer, when fun and emotions run high. What are the right outlets to focus all that free time into? John and Patrick bring on Jake Robertson, father-of-two—including a newborn—to chat about summer, handling emotional outbursts, and whales.

What does a healthy relationship with fear look like? How do we equip ourselves and our kids to work through fear and anxiety? After the extended simmering anxiety through the pandemic, John and Patrick dig into how they might look at fear differently and some strategies for helping kids do the same.

Remember what it was like to be an adult without kids around? It's easy to forget after a year and a half of relative social isolation. As a parent of young kids, time to be an adult with other adults was already rare. Patrick and John bring Jeff Deutsch back onto the show to reflect on his transition from the carefree pre-kid years with his wife, to the shock of a newborn, to the emerging stability as a family unit. The dads examine how their identities as adults has transformed in the process.

The pandemic continues to abate in the US, now to the point where some degree of normalcy is sliding back in. What will the transition look like? John and Patrick process the momentous re-entry stage they are now in as they are able to operate in the world again without masks and with a lot more people and plans, all the while still navigating life with kids who can't yet get vaccinated.

Leaving the hospital with a new baby is already a surreal experience. Taking those steps out into a world where a pandemic was just declared brings a new level of intensity. Patrick and John bring Ash Kosiewicz onto the show to share his experience over the last year as he and his wife brought their daughter into this new pandemic world. The dads reflect on the future of parental leave and childcare in a post-pandemic world.