When my kids were small, I thought that every single thing I did would impact them for life.

Carrots had to be organic, sleep training was vital, breastfeeding was the only way they wouldn’t sprout 3 heads. 

I remember being up half the night and (like a zombie) sterilising my baby’s bottles at the crack of dawn. As the machine finished its cycle, I battled with tongs to put 27 freshly-steamed plastic parts together. 

Then, I turned around to find my 9-month-old had crawled over to his buggy. He was licking the wheel with his tongue. 

And now that my two boys are a tween and a teenager, I have a different theory. 

At each stage of being a parent, you are just borrowing your kid the way you borrow a library book.

Just when the story is getting really good, when the heroes have made amazing discoveries and the problems have been overcome, the book will end and you’ll return it to borrow the next one in the series.

In other words, you never get to keep them! Yes, your kid is essentially the same person, but the story your family is living through becomes entirely different at each stage of their (and your) development.

You will have to keep learning to keep up.  

Because they grow. Boy, do they grow! 

They grow in mystical ways. Finally mastering sleeping, eating and pulling up their own pants, you pack your beloved off to school with confidence. And quickly discover all the things they still don’t know. (Perhaps it would be nice if they didn’t learn all the swear words the other kids do.) 

This school-aged child has its own mind. Its interests may or may not be anything like your own interests. You will be woken at 5 am to discuss the intricacies of Minecraft, and you will own enough Lego bricks to build an actual city.

Turn to the next chapter

You think your 11-year old is a marvel, then it goes to high school and doesn’t care what you think. It has new things called ‘friends.’

Remember the child that told you every single detail of classroom life? (‘And then so-and-so farted and Miss said it is not OK to break wind in class!’). Now the child says next to nothing about his day and ‘can’t remember’ anything that happened. 

But at each stage, your child grows more fascinating.

Though I have shed many tears at the loss of their younger days, it is never with regret that I celebrate the thrill of my child’s ever-growing abilities. Not least when they learned to make me a cup of tea. 

I started Peachleaf Street in the 2020 pandemic. 

Peachleaf was the street I grew up on in California. I wrote the blog to remind me why the lightness of being a child is important. And to help me hold on to my kids’ innocence to escape what was happening outside.

The blog gave me a place to talk about the shameless pursuit of fun: movie night snack boards, board game Olympics, video games we played together on the couch and ping pong tournaments in the park.

And as we’ve left lockdown, the blog expanded to share our family travel adventures.

Being American and raising our family in London, our holidays are split between the UK and the States. So not only will you find my accent is a strange hybrid, the blog divides its time between planning Disney trips and sharing our favourite UK caravan parks.

In fact, we have become such experts at packing our suitcases, that I’ve published the Peachleaf Street packing guides on Etsy. 

And if you join my subscriber club (see below), I have loads of free stuff I want to share with you! From printable planners to party planning guides, it’s a treasure trove of family resources.

The ultimate goal of Peachleaf Street

Of course I want you to try this wicked hot chocolate bar, and help you plan to save money and skip the queues in Disneyland Paris. But most of all:

I hope Peachleaf Street will inspire youto make memories with your kids that will last a lifetime. 

Keep shining, you crazy diamond. Be the person your 4-year-old thinks you are.

With love,

Carrie-Anne Hall x

By the way, if you want to work with me, please contact me here.

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