By Breelyn Vanleeuwen, PA-C | Founder & CEO of Daily Shade
Last week I stood at the kitchen sink washing dinner dishes while my kids played in the backyard (pro tip: my husband and I take turns after dinner, one finishes cleanup while the other plays with the kids). The back door was propped open. A warm breeze came through. My husband was running around with them kicking a ball and watching them do tramp tricks. And for about four minutes, everything felt genuinely magical. And I ran out and joined them.
It wasn't "Instagram worthy" (as you can see in this picture and in fact none of these pictures are instagram worthy, they are real beautiful life). My counter had crumbs on it. I was still wearing the shirt I slept in, my window had sticky finger prints all over it. But something about that ordinary Tuesday afternoon hit differently, and I've been thinking about why ever since.
We talk a lot about "romanticizing your life" online, and most of what I see involves expensive linen and a kitchen that doesn't look like anyone actually lives in it. But if you're a parent in the middle of real life, that version doesn't really translate. What does translate is this: noticing what's already beautiful and building small rituals around it. You don't have to manufacture beauty when you have kids in the spring. You just have to slow down long enough to see it.
Here are five ways to do exactly that this spring...
1. Make outdoor time feel like an event, not a chore
There's a difference between "go play outside" and turning the backyard into somewhere worth going. You don't need a landscaped yard. You need a few small things that signal to your kids that outside time is special.
A picnic blanket that lives by the back door, a bin of different balls all in one place, a portable speaker for music, a little basket with chalk, a dinner bell. These are tiny details, but they shift the energy from "go outside so I can have five minutes of quiet" to "we're doing something."
One thing I do every single time we go outside in spring: of course our Daily Shade Sunscreen goes on first, before we step out. I treat it like the ritual it is rather than something to rush through. Daily Shade goes on fast, doesn't leave that white cast that makes kids wipe it off immediately, and because it's water-based it isn't greasy or heavy. which means there's less drama. We put it on, we go out, and that sequence becomes part of the magic rather than the thing that interrupts it.
This matters more than it seems. Skin cancer rates are climbing in younger populations, and the habits kids form before age ten tend to stick. Making sun protection feel like a normal, non-negotiable part of being outside is one of the most quietly powerful things you can do as a parent.
2. Slow down your morning by ten minutes
This one is embarrassingly simple and works every time. Before the day gets loud, give yourself ten minutes that belong to you and nobody else.
Your favorite morning drink, sitting on the porch or your favorite inside spot. Reading three pages of a book, watching the light change, meditating, praying.
Parents are usually startled and forced awake (terrible way to start the day) and the last ones to sit down, so morning or late at night is often the one window where romanticizing your life is even possible. The house is quiet. The light is soft. Spring mornings in particular are so good, the kind of air that actually smells like something. Use that if you can.
You don't have to have it figured out. You don't have to be a "morning person." You just have to decide that ten minutes of stillness before the day takes over is non-negotiable, and then defend it like you mean it.
3. Bring the outside in
There is something about fresh flowers and an open window that changes the entire mood of a home. I know it sounds basic, but I mean it.
A $6 bundle of tulips from the grocery store on your kitchen counter does more for your mental state than most things you could spend money on. Branches from the yard in a mason jar. A bowl of citrus. A candle that smells like something living.
Spring is the one season where nature is doing the most, and most of us are inside looking at our phones. Cut a branch. Put it in water. Open the window when the temperature hits 60 degrees. Let the season come into the house instead of waiting to get outside.
4. Give your evenings a landing ritual
The hardest part of parenting in the spring is that the days are long and you're already tired by 4pm. By the time dinner is done and kids are in bed, most of us collapse rather than actually end the day with intention.
A landing ritual is just a small sequence that signals: this part is over, this new part has begun. It doesn't need to be elaborate. For me it's turning off the overhead lighting signaling LAMP O'CLOCK, all set to timers which are incredible and the best thing you could do to your house for a few dollars.
The wonderful thing is this helps signal for the whole home it's nearing the end of the day and time to wind down.
I also recently came across the 20 minute candle. Basically you light it and it starts the 20 minute timer whether that's to "put the house to bed" or "cleanup dinner" have kids finish homework, this timer is romantical and helps you get things done in a gentle way. The candles I buy HERE.
5. Say yes to the slow thing
Spring is the season people make the most plans, and often the sweetest moments happen when you cancel them.
Say yes to the slow afternoon where nobody has anywhere to be. Yes to blowing bubbles in the driveway even though that wasn't the plan. Yes to staying outside twenty minutes longer because the kids are happy and the light is good.
Romanticizing your life is less about adding things and more about not rushing past what's already there. The ordinary Tuesday with the dish soap and the open door, that's the thing. You don't have to manufacture beauty when you have kids in the spring. You just have to slow down long enough to see it.
And put sunscreen on before you go outside. Every time. That part's non-negotiable, obviously.
I hope your week is beautiful!
Bree
