Gather with an agenda

Get togethers with friends and family need intentions too

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that when you are gathering with friends or
extended family for an extended period of time, gather with

(00:25):
an agenda. Even if you know everyone well, you need
a loose plan. This will make the gathering better and
prevent a lot of awkward planning and logistical debate during
a time when you are supposed to be just enjoying
each other's company. If you've got family coming to spend

(00:49):
a week with you, you may assume that you will
just spend the time catching up, but you may not
have an infinite amount of stuff to catch up on.
People might need a break, and if you have kids,
you know that getting out of the house and having
some structure prevents a lot of meltdowns and bad feelings.

(01:13):
So just as you'd have some sort of agenda for
a company retreat, have some plan for your get together. Personally,
I'm a fan of planning one activity a day that
gives everyone a reason to get up and get going.
People make memories to gather, kids can get some energy out,

(01:36):
and then you can all relax and reflect afterwards. This
activity should be determined ahead of time. If people want
to beg off, they can, or if everyone decides not
to do it, fine, but with no plan you can
waste the whole day trying to come up with something

(01:57):
rather than just going doing and relaxing afterwards. If you
are somewhere with an obvious activity, like you're going to
the beach or an amusement park, that is fine, But
if not, think zoo, aquarium, the local children's museum, and
so forth. If you are all adults, that can be

(02:17):
something a little different, like a group bike ride, a
trip to a cheese tasting place, a matinee movie, bowling,
you name it. Choose something for each day. If you
need reservations, make them, because showing up with twelve people
at that cheese tasting place is probably not going to work.

(02:40):
You should also have a rough sense of your meals.
If you've got multiple families gathering, you can assign each
family a night. They can take you all out to
dinner if they want, but again, with twelve people you
need that reservation. Finally, you want at least one or
two to fallbacks for things you can do during downtime.

(03:04):
Many extended families like to start a puzzle. As the
family gathers, many hands make light work of a thousand pieces,
and as you all sit around you can chat in
a way that you won't with the TV on. You
can obviously play cards or board games too, though those
have the disadvantage that you can't really come in and out.

(03:29):
That is problematic if you've got, say, parents of young
kids who need to put them to bed or deal
with their needs. If you're not into puzzles, it might
be something like a giant mural that you are all
coloring together. You might decide for some post kid bedtime
activities like a bonfire in the yard or a dip

(03:51):
in the hot tub if there is one in your
vacation rental. But the point is to think this all
through no one and sustain a week long intense conversation.
And even people who love each other dearly will get
bored without some new inputs, or you may wind up

(04:12):
with rainy weather and really appreciate that someone has thought
through the activities. Boredom kills memories. Better to figure out
a plan. What are your good to activities? When you
get together with family and friends. You can let me
know at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime,

(04:36):
this is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
the most of our times. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

(04:57):
and Instagram at before fist pod that's b E the
number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia
dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much. Should I look forward to
staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.

(05:25):
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