Guest Post: Not Perfect, Still Amazing

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment

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The last two years were very challenging and last winter, the difficulties started seriously wearing on my mental health. Thankfully, participating in Stratejoy’s Holiday Council workshop (along with an appointment with a therapist) helped a lot. I wanted to give back, so I wrote a blog post for their website.

The post, called Not Perfect, Still Amazing, is finally up! Part of their Two Truths and a Lie series, it talks through a lot of the issues I deal with but I hope it helps you too.

With their forays into mutant beings, aliens, and time travel, I don’t usually look to superhero television shows for practical advice. But in Supergirl, I’ve found a couple of heroines that have taught me a lot about what means – and doesn’t – to be enough.

Read the rest on Stratejoy’s website! (And isn’t that photo hilarious? That’s a fantastic summary of my life right now.)

Join the Outdoors Family Challenge!

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 6 Comments

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Do you want to get outside more with your family? Do you want to connect more with nature, your neighbors, and your kids? Then my Outdoors Family Challenge is for you!

Each morning from September 19-25, I’ll be posting one challenge action you can do with your kids. You can sign up for an email series, follow me on Facebook, or check the blog each morning to get prompts.

After you’ve done the activity, I encourage you to post about your experience on your social media using the hashtag #outdoorsfamilychallenge. At the end of the week, I’ll pick a random participant to recieve a copy of the book Vitamin N.

In the evening, I’ll share our family’s experience on the blog and Facebook. In addition, three more bloggers will be joining me in the fun: Jen Mendez at PERMIE KIDs,  Sandi Schwartz at Happy Science Mom, and Aditi Wardhan Singh at Silver Linings (who will be doing it later). This is also part of the Children and Nature Network’s Vitamin N Challenge to encourage kids to get outside more.

I hope  that you’ll join us for the Outdoors Family Challenge!

What I’ve Been Reading

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments
Photo of a Siproeta stelenes, a green and black butterfly sitting on some leaves

A Sipoeta stelenes butterfly at the Brookside Gardens’ Wings of Fancy exhibit.

I haven’t done one of these in ages because of potty training and children not staying in their beds and babies and life, really. But I’ve still been reading and keeping my links, so I figured now was a good of a time as any to share them with you. This time it includes riding transit with kids, the biology of breastfeeding, learning through play, poking fun at Trump supporters, and adventure playgrounds in the U.S.!

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Lily Pads and Marshes in Washington D.C.: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

Photo of large lily pads in a pond; text: "Lily Pads and Marshes: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens"

Dark pink blooms swayed over my son, their long, thin stems rising up from the muck. Lily pads the size of platters floated on the pond, their curved sides forming miniature walls. Blue dasher dragonflies flitted across the water, their wings nearly transparent. And a big, green tractor hauled dirt back and forth for a landscaping project. These were just a few of the wonders we saw at the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in Washington D.C. this past weekend, when we visited with the kids and my parents. The tractor was my son’s favorite.

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Why I’m Thankful for Labor Day as a Mom

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

Why I'm Thankful for Labor Day as a Mom2

I’m thankful for Labor Day and the people who made it possible – both as a worker and a mom. But we still have so much more to do.

I’m thankful I have weekends off so I can spend them with my husband and kids. I already feel like this time is so stretched; I can’t imagine having even less. But before 1937 and the work of labor unions, there was no standard 40 hour workweek. Even now, there are moms who have to work two jobs just to get by, meaning they don’t get those precious hours.

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How to Start Composting with Your Family

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 12 Comments

How to Start Composting with Your Family (Photo: Tumbling composter)

Sometimes, I question the decision to teach my four-year-old how to compost. Like when he spent 10 minutes today ripping up a tiny piece of newspaper to add to it. Or touched the composter after I turned it and it was dripping with decomposing goo. Thankfully, he didn’t put his hands in his mouth. At least not this time.

Despite the gross moments, composting with kids is worth it. As a way to reduce waste and save money, it’s a worthwhile skill in and of itself. It’s also a pathway into so many other lessons in ecology, food waste, and biological cycles.

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What We’ve Learned about Love in a Decade of Marriage

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

What We've Learned about Love in a Decade of Marriage (Photo: Young white man and woman in sepia-tone standing in front of a giant wine barrel)

Looking up the aisle, I swallowed and blinked to hold back tears. There stood my husband-to-be, my best friend, the person I had spent the last five years of my young life loving. He seemed to be shaking just a little in his tux, his hazel eyes looking back at me.

Walking down the hallway in work today, I hummed Billy Joel’s “You’re My Home” to myself. “Wherever we’re together, that’s my home.” I thought of my husband’s smile and smiled back to myself.

On the day you get married, people say you have your whole life ahead of you. What they don’t tell you is that life is made up of a series of years, months and days, each with their own rhythm. Even though ten years sounds like a long time on your wedding day, it doesn’t feel that way when it rolls around.

Instead, it feels like a collection of the ordinary and extraordinary, the good and the bad, the hard and the easy, with both of you together at the center. At least that’s how it felt to me, when my husband, Chris, and I celebrated our tenth anniversary.

In that decade, Chris and I learned a lot about each other and marriage. We’ve been through hospital stays, international travel, crummy work hours, living in multiple places, graduate school, and having two kids.

Here are a few things we’ve picked up along the way:

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Growing Through the Seasons

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Growing Through the Seasons

My years are measured in seasons now, not months or years. Each brings a flurry of activity and opportunity for growth.

Fall:

Roaming the local pumpkin patch, we find the most perfect bumpy, little pumpkin for our little boy. Around campfires and hay bales, we breathe in the cooling air.

The leaves shift colors and drift down. As much as my two-year-old loves jumping on the bed, he’s never jumped in leaves before. We start with a slow-motion fall, easing our way down with giggles and flailing. After a few jumps, he piles the leaves into the wheelbarrow by the armful.

The week before, we had stripped the garden, pulling out monstrous tomato plants and prickly squash. Now, we empty the composter, scraping the sides of the dark sludge and shreds of newspaper caught there. We break down the straw bale that held our Jack o’lantern, layering it in with the compost and leaves. The pile nearly comes up to my son’s head.

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Science Adventures: How Animals Create and Use Seashells

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

Text: "Science Adventures: How Animals Create and Use Seashells" Photo of half of a ribbed, white seashell on white sand in Cape Cod.

This post explores the biology and ecology of seashells at the beach, including the animals who use them and how they create them. It’s part of a series I’m doing on using everyday situations to help young kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth. 

The opportunity
As the summer wraps up, many families head out to the beach. While you’re there, use the opportunity to learn about seashells and the creatures that once lived in them.

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