Life happens. Families change. And regardless of the circumstances, we continue to do whatever it takes to care for our children in the best way we know how. But it’s rarely smooth sailing. 

When you’re trying to be everything to everybody—mom, dad, breadwinner, domestic goddess—you often have to let some things go. In our family (aside from a clean house), that thing was our yearly camping trip.

Until recently, I can’t say that I regretted it much. Sure, I missed that magical moment when the world seems to stand still in some spectacularly scenic location. But let’s be honest: camping with kids is a lot of work.

It’s hard enough for two parents to manage the weeks of preparation, activity planning, and care and feeding of children who don’t understand why we must brush our teeth at a spigot 100 yards from our tent. It’s impractical—bordering on unbearable—to do all of that solo.

Tent-building alone is solidly a two-person job. And while there are technically other persons in my family—Brontë, 17, and son Colden, 16—I won’t be the first person to admit that teenagers don’t always qualify as particularly helpful.

So when I consider taking a vacation these days, it’s usually a break from the single mom lifestyle that I crave most of all. Give me a day at the spa to unwind. Let me take the kids to the amusement park and we’ll call it a getaway. But camping? No thank you. It no longer seemed to offer the respite I needed.

Still, I knew in my heart that Six Flags didn’t offer the kind of quality time I wanted with my teenagers. I longed for the outdoor, sleep under the stars/reconnect with the kids/“get off the computer and back to basics” wilderness experience we had had every summer before our family of four became a family of three.

Brontë and Colden would be grown and out of the house soon and time for family vacations was beginning to run short.

So I started joking to my friends, “I will pay you to take us camping.” I was actually half-serious, but never had any takers.

Then, last summer, a friend who had just returned from an O.A.R.S. trip suggested that it might be just the thing I was looking for—an outdoor vacation in which all I had to do, essentially, was just show up.

After scrolling through the amazing photos and personal stories on the O.A.R.S. website, I found out that their camping/rafting trips were perfect for partner-less parents. Their professional guides would take care of everything from the tents and sleeping bags to the food and beverages and even games! They even provide a little luxury item called a Paco Pad, which makes sleeping in a tent a more pleasurable experience.

It seemed too good to be true. I booked a trip immediately.

A few months later, I packed up our clothes and toothbrushes and headed to Colorado for a five-day/four-night trip on the incredibly scenic Yampa and Green Rivers.

Pretty soon I found myself in the single parenthood boat again, but this time I had company.

Turns out there were three other single parents on our trip—all with teenagers. The community we created over the course of our trip was almost familial.

On the first night, another single mom offered to help me with the tent. On the second day, a single dad offered to hang out with my kids so I could enjoy a child-free day on the river. By that night, the four of us had started an impromptu single parent support group.

Not only was I well taken care of by the guides and well supported by my fellow travelers, but Brontë and Colden were too. The other teens and the O.A.R.S. guides—who are not only the best river guides around, but also play chef, teacher, Sherpa, housekeeper, activities director and stand-up comedian—provided constant entertainment for my easily bored brood.

On top of it all, I did not cook one meal, start one fire, clean one pan or set one table for five whole days.

Aside from the five minutes it took to put up and take down our family’s tents, all I had to do was be there—to watch my daughter geek out over all the local wildlife on her critter checklist and see how the sunlight looks on my “never comes out of his bedroom” son. Heck, I didn’t even have to paddle the boat if I didn’t feel like it. Most often, I did not.

After years of keeping our family afloat by myself, it was an amazing gift to just sit back and let someone else do the work.

Our O.A.R.S. trip ended up being both the outdoor family experience I had hoped for and it was exactly the respite I needed. Being a single mom is not always easy, but an O.A.R.S. river trip always is.

The post Staying Afloat In Single Parenthood appeared first on River Currents.

For most of us, our day begins by sorting through a ridiculous amount of emails (the average person receives 100 messages per day!).  Then, there is the phone ringing and buzzing everywhere we go because it’s now attached to us and “on” 24/7.  In between the non-stop emails, texts and calls we’re also compelled to check Facebook and Twitter (like every hour) just to pretend we have a social life. Then, the evening arrives and it’s time to unwind.  But what do we do?  We pick up our Kindle or Nook and stare at yet another screen.  That’s if we’ve actually managed to pull ourselves away from the laptop or iPad for an hour or two, right?  

All of that connectedness is wreaking havoc on our health.  We’re seconds away from a major meltdown and we don’t even know it!  

Ok, that might be a bit dramatic, but the truth is, our minds need a break from time to time.  We’re not programmed to be “on” all the time, and yet this is how most of us are operating.  And because we’re always “on,” we’re more stressed, less rested and often frazzled (a nicer way of saying CRAZY).

If you’re nodding your head because you can relate to everything above, then it’s time to stash all of your devices away and go on a technology-free adventure.  Yes, it sounds crazy, but we can disconnect for more than an hour, or even a day, without losing our jobs, our friends or our minds.  In fact, an unplugged vacation is the ultimate gift we can give ourselves.  Here’s why…

The benefits of an unplugged vacation

First of all, time away from the daily grind (and the Smartphones, iPads, laptops you’re leaving behind) works wonders on our overall health and well-being.  It gives our bodies a chance to recharge and our minds the opportunity to unwind and decompress like we didn’t even know was possible.   Good-bye stress, hello great mood.  

Not only that, you’ll have more energy than you know what do with.  Yes, you actually feel like hiking after a day of rafting. Where did that come from?  Could it be, sleep?

Let’s talk sleep.  When’s the last time you had a really good, perfect, deep rest kind of night?  Sleep is one of the biggest factors in maintaining our health, but it seems to be the easiest to neglect. We go through many of our days and weeks in zombie mode, exhausted from lack of sleep.  And guess what, often times there’s a direct correlation to all that technology we’re using.  Have you chucked that Smartphone across the room yet?  When you finally give in to the need for a tech detox vacation, a week of adventure, exploring and new experiences will bring you the best kind of sleep you can imagine, especially if it’s under the stars, on a beach, with the calming sound of the river in the background.  

And fair warning, it might take a few days to reach the point of total bliss I’m talking about, but you’ll see…a device-free getaway is the single best rejuvenation session there is.  Your mind, body and soul will thank you.

Is this you?  5 signs you might be in need of an unplugged vacation, and soon…

1.    The first thing you do when you wake up and the last thing you do before you go to bed is check your inbox, just in case.

2.    Your Smartphone goes everywhere with you (even the bathroom).  

3.    You interact with your kids more via Facebook than at the dinner table.

4.    You’ve fallen off a treadmill mid-text.

5.    You talk to Siri more than your spouse.

How do you know when it’s time to unplug?  Chime in below with a meltdown moment that inspired you to take a vacation.

The post Is it time for a tech detox? appeared first on River Currents.