Try a DIY day

Even on weekends, everyone can make their own fun

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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 to try a DIY day. If you are
feeling like you need some downtime or independent fun, Identify

(00:26):
a day when everyone in your household will do their
own thing, and you can officially relinquish all cruise director
duties and talking with people about their time. I have
gathered that a lot of people feel like they need
to spend the whole weekend with their kids or their partner,
and I get it. I like spending time with my

(00:47):
family too, but I also love having time to do
my own thing, and you might enjoy that as well,
So don't assume that you and your family have to
spend the weekend and lockstep. You might officially designate one
weekend day as a DIY day. That is a do

(01:07):
it yourself day everyone does their own thing. DIY days
may not be on the menu if you have young
kids who can't supervise or entertain themselves, but with older
kids or no kids, DIY days can be a doable
way of giving everyone time for what they want. You

(01:30):
just choose a DIY day. Perhaps this coming Saturday if
it's lighter, and give everyone notice that they are responsible
for their own fun. If there are activities to be
dealt with, you can at least designate certain hours as
DIY hours. It is the same thing, if a bit
smaller in scoop. DIY days are great for families where

(01:54):
people have different interests from each other. Mom can go
see the holiday lights and Dad can spend all day
out in the garage if that is what he likes.
One kid can read and another can find some friends
to play a game all day. I recognize that in
many families what the kids are going to want to
do is be on screens all day, but if you want,

(02:17):
you can keep general limits on that. Maybe nothing before
two pm if that's your usual rule, or you could
just let it go. If your kids are doing a
lot of sports and activities during the week. A veg
out weekend day isn't going to be the end of
the world if it buys you time to do whatever

(02:37):
you want, so it is probably okay. Now, it might
be helpful to give everyone some advance warning, particularly if
you are not going to be available to drive, or
if there is a screen free time expected and it
might also be nice to have some moments of togetherness

(02:58):
on DIY days. For instance, you and your partner or
kids might plan to convene at noon for lunch and
then to convene again at seven for pizza and a
movie night. But from one until seven, everybody does their
own thing. The key thing here is that I know
many people and particularly women, don't feel they have time

(03:20):
for themselves. But I think that is often because there
is this assumption that weekends need to be spent with
family and organizing everything for everybody. Sometimes that is great,
but it doesn't have to be every day. Planning a
DIY day is a way to create space to do

(03:41):
what you want and allow others time for what they want.
You aren't the cruise director, and you don't have to
coordinate activities all week and long. Everybody just does their
own thing in the meantime. This is long, Urah, Thanks

(04:01):
for listening, and here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas,
or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura
vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

(04:30):
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