Raising A Family

Words by Sarah Copeland
Photography by Amy Hanen



I grew up in a very traditional home: my dad worked, my mom was mostly home with us. Weekdays were for working, and weekends were 100% round-the-clock family time. I loved it.

Having my mother home didn't dampen my desire to have an exciting career for myself one day. On the contrary, having a parent at home who was so loving and so available to us filled me with total confidence. They both told me I could achieve anything I worked for. They were right.

We've chosen a different path for raising our own kids. Andràs and I both work--unpredictable schedules and unpredictable paths. Some seasons we are both slammed and we rely on a lot of help, other times we're available to the babes for days on end. I don't wonder if this way is right, or okay, or what it means for them--mostly we just take it one day at a time and feel so grateful. We're together, a LOT, even if it's chaotic, and messy, and imperfect, and I think that time is the greatest gift we can give our kids.

...I thought how lucky we are to live in a time and a world where there are so many ways of doing family life. So many right ways.

This weekend as we sat in a tent talking to friends and strangers about Andras' work, watching our kids dance and play on the lawn in the near distance, I thought how lucky we are to live in a time and a world where there are so many ways of doing family life. So many right ways. Yes, the kids spent a lot of this gorgeous fall weekend with (amazing) babysitters, but we came home tonight and ate dinner together, stripped off the day and ate popsicles in the hammock in our undies, our little half-insane private world. Feeling so grateful for all of it.
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