We have had a few weeks full of life, y'all.

This photo was taken a few weeks ago in the waiting room at the hospital. My husband had major surgery — it was a long day, but he came home a few days later, and we were so relieved.

Once he was home, he needed a lot of help. That made it hard to flow with our regular homeschool routine, so we decided to slow down and just focus on getting through it. And honestly? Sometimes that's the most important thing we can do for our kids -- slow down. Shift gears. Roll with it.

It's been a bit of a bumpy road since then. He's still on a good path to healing, and the tissue they removed was completely cancer free — so we are definitely celebrating that.

But the screen time has ramped up big time.

My daughter discovered Dandy's World and (no surprise) she is totally hooked. She set a big goal for herself, and she wasn't entirely sure she could do it, which was overwhelming. It was definitely topic number one in our conversations.

But here's where it gets good.

I was listening one night as she explained how stressful this was, and my first inclination was this is causing more harm than good — the game has got to go.

But I kept listening. And as I listened, I realized this was a deeply personal, highly relevant opportunity to practice breaking a big goal into manageable chunks. This is a huge life skill!

So, that's what we did.

We figured out how much she needed to do within the time she had, then built a pacing guide together. (If you're familiar with Dandy's World — she only needed to get 5% research per day to hit her goal.) And yesterday? She hit 100% — ahead of schedule! Cue the celebratory dancing!

But I started celebrating way before that. Really, once we had that plan mapped out, a weight lifted. Sleep came easier. Something that had felt almost impossible suddenly felt doable.

She had the framework to recognize when she'd accomplished enough for the day and stop on her own — with a lot less micromanaging from me.

For us, these are big wins.

Wins like this show us that we can move through the hard stuff life throws at us. We can figure out how to accomplish big goals.

And these are exactly the kinds of moments I love to work through with families in coaching — when life feels messy and overwhelming, and you're not sure how to help your child move through it. Whether it's a big goal that feels impossible, a routine that's fallen apart, or a situation where your first instinct and your kid's needs aren't quite lining up, that's where we do some of our best work together.

If you're feeling stuck in moments like these, I'd love to help. You can book a consultation with me right here.

So — what have you been up to lately? Do you have any wins to share?

Your partner in parenting,

Julia McGarey