“Village Up, People!” It’s our rallying cry of what it means to have each other’s back and this manifesto proclaims more of what we have learned together.
We are better together.
Rituals matter. We can create the rituals that give meaning to our lives and make them work.
We all eat, food binds us together.
Give yourself the freedom to not impress anyone, it can make everything better - even dinner.
Share your gratitude - tell each other how the food and connection has made life more delicious.
Share your struggles - be real and you’ll be surprised how people show up.
When in doubt, simple food is best. Fry an egg to make anything more tasty - all leftovers can be improved this way.
Connect with each other - even for a snack every few months, over carrot sticks - to talk about life beyond cooking for each other.
Take a risk on each other, assume that others have the best intentions and are doing the best they can.
It’s easier than you think - when you get worried about the effort needed to make dinner, remember that once you get started it’s never that difficult.
Embrace the chaos - even as I write type up this version of our manifesto, my daughter Zoe is actually jumping rope beside my feet, my son Elliott is writhing on the couch whining about when he can learn how to jump rope, and Andy is doing stretches while listening to NPR - getting things done in the midst of this is part of the magic of it all.
Normalize the challenges of parenting - tell each other the real deal situations you’re dealing with and remind each other that we are not alone.
Keep tweaking - check in about how things are working, ask open-ended questions about favourite foods, the amount of food, things that might be missing so together you can keep making it work.