Just Winging It

73 // Monster Mash-up

After a week off, Patrick and John have a monstrous mash-up of catching up to do. The dads talk about how to level up family vacations, take advantage of nature hikes, do Halloween costumes, and more.

72 // The Decision To Have More Kids

How many children do we want to have? How will we know when we have the right number?

The decision on whether or not to have more children can be jam-packed with financial, logistical, emotional, and practical considerations. John and Patrick sort through it all while it's a fresh conversation they frequently have with their spouses: should they bring a third child into the world?

71 // Making A Call On Pets

There are some big decisions that come along with making the choice to get a pet, particularly when we've already got little ones running around. There's another set of tough decisions when it comes to treating a sick pet.

Patrick and John recall their experiences with pets, before and with kids, as John weighs the options around putting his cat down and (eventually) bringing a new one into the family.

70 // Just Winging it Live! WTF Am I Doing?

In their first ever live show, Patrick and John chat with an audience at the Somerville Armory Cafe to explore what the fudge they are doing.

As parents, we're faced with this sort of question constantly; am I making the right decisions with my parenting style? Where do I find meaning in life? And what the flip-phone am I doing recording a live show about parenting? 

69 // This Is Water

In 2005, the writer David Foster Wallace gave a commencement speech that would take on a life of its own, traveling far beyond the audience he delivered it to that day. It spread all across the world and would deeply influence countless people.

Patrick shares how he came to discover the speech and why it and Wallace's work left such a lasting mark on his life. He and John unpack the significance of this speech and how it informs their lives as parents.

Listen to the full speech or watch this short film with an abridged version of the speech.

68 // Back to the Future: FOMO

John is traveling back in time to bring episode four, FOMO For Parents, back to the future. Yeah okay, it's a fancy way of saying Patrick and John had a hectic week and couldn't record a new episode for you.

Sometimes, going back to the advice you gave yourself a year and a half ago is just what the doctor ordered. John begins the episode with an original, never-before-listened-to (and never-should-be-listened-to) reflection on what made episode four such a great one, and why time management for parents remains an important practice in insanity.

67 // From Planning Activities to Writing The Books

Wouldn't it be handy to have actual guides to planning activities for young children? Author and former educator Autumn McKay decided to turn the creative activities she planned with her own kids into a range of useful guides for other parents. Her engineer husband, Seth, decided to create coloring books to teach kids how things are made.

This enterprising duo talk to Patrick and John about what it's like to author their own books while managing three kids of their own. And because we all like you so much, they offer a special free resource for Just Winging It listeners: bestmomideas.com/justwingingit

66 // Always Trust Magic

There are some children's books that stand out and strike a particularly strong chord with only a few words. That succinct power became a trademark of the prolific author Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Many parents know her from reading one of her many children's books. Even more know her from an essay that quickly went viral after she wrote it for the New York Times only days before she died of cancer, "You May Want To Marry My Husband."

John shares excerpts from one of Rosenthal's memoirs, Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and contemplates with Patrick the unique perspective she shared with the world.

65 // Moving Our Family Out of Their Comfort Zone

Much of this podcast has focused on how to break out of auto-pilot mode in our everyday lives as a parent. What would it look like to take it up a notch and totally disrupt life to discover more as a family together?

Cully Lundgren made this choice with his family when they decided to pickup their life and move it all to a rural village in Nicaragua. Cully joins John and Patrick on the show to talk about what spurred them to live abroad for nearly a year and what it has meant to them now that their back.

You'll want to read the full story after listening: MOM, THERE'S A SCORPION IN MY PANTS: One Family's Year of Living Purposefully in Rural Nicaragua by Cully Lundgren.

64 // Back to School

Each year the end of summer seems to come more quickly. Back to school season hangs in the air. Anticipation, anxiety, excitement, worry; our kids go through the spectrum of emotions, and so do we.

Patrick and John chat about this latest back-to-school season, with a mix of kids just starting school and going back again, working through how they support their kids and get through it themselves.