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• I’ve always made a point to travel with my kids so they could experience and enjoy new places.
• When they were younger, it was draining and not as enjoyable for me.
• Once they turned 10, things changed, and family vacations became something we could all appreciate.

It was one of those days that only parents of younger kids can truly relate to. We were on our annual family beach vacation in Mexico, where the beaches are beautiful, meals are included, and the goal is to relax.

No one really knew what set the kids off (do we ever?), but I remember saying to myself, “This was supposed to be a vacation.”

If I’m being honest, I didn’t really enjoy family vacations as much when my kids were younger. I was so focused on packing and planning for them that I didn’t really stop to think about what the vacation meant for all of us. I had an idea of what trips would be like: connecting with each other, having new experiences, and making those core memories that get stored in an orb like in the movie “Inside Out.”

Unfortunately, trips became more about what to pack, what we forgot, how to make it until the next nap, and planning evenings so kids can go to bed at a reasonable hour. It was a lot — until one day, things finally changed.

Travel was so much work

The logistical stress of packing, schedules, snacks, and gear is enough to deter a parent from going on vacation in the first place. Then there is the emotional burden of constantly having to watch your kids to keep them safe.

The lack of downtime as parents, as we are always “on,” means there is no time to enjoy that drink or sleep in the morning after a busy day.

But the most daunting task of a family vacation is the pressure to make it magical. Young kids are filled with wonder and amazement, and I wanted to expose my own to as much as possible. After all, we are the gatekeepers of what the world has to offer, and are usually the first in line to get to see that discovery. I didn’t want to miss those opportunities.

Age 10 was a turning point

There was an interesting shift that happened around the age of 10 that I remember vividly on one of our family trips. My daughter asked if she could go explore a bit by herself, and I let her.

At first, I was hesitant, but I trusted that she would come back or find an adult if there was a problem. She came, happy to tell me everything she saw, beaming with a new sense of independence.

As my kids enter their tween years, the desire to do things on their own grows exponentially. They gain a sense of independence by figuring things out, and I get a bit of a break. The longer attention span has helped us engage in activities for longer, so we can connect and learn together instead of rushing.

While vacations used to be planned around naps, meal times, and early bedtimes, now our days are filled with activities we’re all invested in. This is where those core memories are made, and vacations become easier and more enjoyable.

Now we’re all enjoying ourselves

While those trips when my kids were younger had their own kind of magic, looking back, I can say they weren’t as enjoyable for me. I loved having the opportunity to introduce them to the world, but it really did feel like parenting in a different location.

It’s OK if parents don’t love every stage of travel. For me, travel finally feels like a vacation now that every member of the family gets a say on what to do. In the end, getting to relax and recharge together is the best kind of trip you can hope for.

• DoorDash’s corporate communications team is hiring an executive social strategy and operations lead.
• The company described the role as a “fight promoter meets growth hacker meets clip merchant.”
• Compensation ranges between $136,000 and $200,000.

DoorDash is hiring an “executive communications professional” who’s maybe not your typical PR person.

Specifically, the delivery service is looking for someone who embodies a “fight promoter meets growth hacker meets clip merchant.”

In a May job posting, DoorDash said it’s trying to build the “next generation of local commerce,” which includes autonomous robots, agentic commerce, and in-store software.

“These efforts require a nimble ‘build in public’ mentality to reach and engage with technical talent, the terminally online, policymakers, market observers, and prospective partners,” the company said.

DoorDash is looking for an experienced candidate who can help its social media accounts participate in real time conversations on X.

“This is not a traditional executive communications role. It is not press-office PR. It is not brand social,” DoorDash said. “It’s a judgment-heavy, social-first role at the intersection of corporate strategy and internet culture focused on influence, credibility, and distribution.”

Compensation for the new position ranges from $136,000 and $200,000 in addition to a benefits package.

For many companies, social media is an invaluable marketing tool that connects them with customers and gives them opportunities to shape the public’s opinion about their products.

Brands are increasingly becoming bolder with their social presence, using snark and sarcasm to capitalize on online conversations, especially on X.

Wendy’s was one of the first to embrace this strategy when, in the late 2010s, its X account regularly roasted other users and got into lighthearted spats with other companies.

Duolingo took a similar approach, replying to users with cheeky responses, participating in viral trends, and leaning into what some industry professionals describe as “unhinged marketing.”

Recently, the internet had a lot of opinions about fast-food chain cheeseburgers, for example, after McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski took a devastatingly small bite of the Big Arch burger during a taste test in February.

Although social media users mocked Kempczinski — and a wave of rival CEOs jumped at the chance to join the conversation — the taste test sent McDonald’s online engagement skyrocketing. The footage has gained 16.5 million views on Kempczinski’s Instagram, not counting views from accounts that reshared the video.

DoorDash now appears to want a piece of that action. In its job posting, it notes that “traditional comms or PR experience is not required.”

• My sister is married, recently bought a house, and is pregnant with her second child.
• I’m two years older, single, child-free, and renting in a shared community house.
• I’m happy for my sister, but sometimes feel jealous. I’m learning to embrace my own path.

I’m a single 30-something renting in a community house in central Vancouver, where I can enjoy everything the city offers. I work a flexible freelance schedule, and fill my time with friends, new hobbies, and traveling.

In so many ways, I truly love my life. I know I’m lucky.

But I’m also ready to find a partner and start building a life together.

This dream sometimes feels far away, especially when I start comparing myself to other people, like my sister, who is married, has recently bought a house, and is pregnant with her second child.

She’s one of my best friends, and I am genuinely thrilled for her. But I still feel jealous at times.

I struggle with comparison sometimes

My sister and I have always been close and see each other weekly. Having her, my brother-in-law, and nephew is a privilege, and I’m genuinely so happy for them.

Sometimes, when I compare our lives, jealousy creeps in. I look at her beautiful family and think, “Why can’t I have that?” It’s hard to admit this; I sometimes feel guilty that I can’t just “be happy for her.”

I think it’s common to fall into this comparison trap. When looking at other people’s lives, it’s easy to see where I’m “behind” in terms of career, family status, income, house, or other areas. It’s particularly hard when cultural or societal standards dictate where I “should” be in my thirties, even if it’s an outdated expectation.

But there’s really something behind the truism, “comparison is the thief of joy.” Getting caught up in it can cause unnecessary pain, which is something I never want to impact my relationship with my sister.

Both things can be true at once

While comparison is human nature to some degree, I don’t want to get stuck there. A helpful mindset shift for me is recognizing how two things can be true at once.

I can be excited for my sister’s life, and I can feel disappointed that I don’t have the same. I can even feel both grateful and sad over things in my own life.

One emotion doesn’t negate the other — both things are true at the same time. And by acknowledging all emotions, I can stop dwelling so much on the negative ones and embrace the good.

I’m learning to live my life as it is now

I’m not perfect at it, but this mindset has helped me embrace where I am today, instead of wasting energy comparing myself to my sister or anyone else. I can embrace my unique story and appreciate all the good things in my own life, and in my sister’s life, too.

While I still want a partner, a house, and a family one day, I’m also grateful for what my life without them affords, like time freedom and opportunities to travel or have new experiences.

Ultimately, learning to accept the mixed emotions we all experience in life is helping me embrace my own path and make the most of life today.

• It’s the start of hurricane season, and with it comes the risk of home damage.
• Cotality ranked states with the biggest risk of hurricane damage, and some of the results were surprising.
• Gulf states have more homes susceptible to hurricane wind damage, but the Northeast’s damage can hit harder.

For a lot of homeowners, summer means more than vacations — it also means staying vigilant during hurricane season.

A problem most associated with Southern states hugging the Gulf Coast, like Florida and Texas, hurricanes also pose a serious threat to the Northeast.

Property data and analytics firm Cotality found that while Florida and Texas have the highest amount of homes with moderate or greater risk of hurricane wind damage, the damage in the Northeast can be more devastating.

“While hurricanes hit the Northeast less frequently than the Gulf Coast, the region’s immense population density and property value mean the stakes are incredibly high,” Cotality vice president of insurance market insights Maiclaire Bolton-Smith said in a release.

“It’s critical that homeowners in the Northeast understand that while landfalling hurricanes may not be as frequent as other states, the risk is still real.”

As for metropolitan areas, New York City ranks ahead of any Florida city, with a reconstruction cost value of more than $1.9 billion. The metro also has the most homes with a moderate or greater risk of hurricane wind damage.

In total, more than 32.2 million homes across the United States are at moderate or greater risk from hurricane winds alone, accounting for over $12.26 trillion in reconstruction cost value, according to Cotality.

Below, see the states where homeowners are at the highest risk of hurricane damage.

Median home price data is from Redfin.

15. Maryland

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 479,881

Reconstruction cost value: $179.6 billion

Median home price: $446,900

14. Alabama

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 768,390

Reconstruction cost value: $232.7 billion

Median home price: $299,000

13. Pennsylvania

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 781,797

Reconstruction cost value: $360 billion

Median home price: $308,500

12. Connecticut

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 813,066

Reconstruction cost value: $426 billion

Median home price: $445,100

11. Georgia

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 836,172

Reconstruction cost value: $243.1 billion

Median home price: $373,700

10. Mississippi

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 837,860

Reconstruction cost value: $241.8 billion

Median home price: $265,200

9. Virginia

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 1,146,781

Reconstruction cost value: $426.4 billion

Median home price: $462,400

8. South Carolina

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 1,482,345

Reconstruction cost value: $476.9 billion

Median home price: $397,600

7. Louisiana

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 1,657,255

Reconstruction cost value: $515.7 billion

Median home price: $260,300

6. Massachusetts

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 1,785,383

Reconstruction cost value: $1 trillion

Median home price: $645,400

5. New Jersey

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 2,208,651

Reconstruction cost value: $1.2 trillion

Median home price: $545,300

4. New York

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 2,213,104

Reconstruction cost value: $1.2 trillion

Median home price: $595,900

3. North Carolina

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 3,165,030

Reconstruction cost value: $1.1 trillion

Median home price: $381,700

2. Texas

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 4,763,476

Reconstruction cost value: $1.5 trillion

Median home price: $341,800

1. Florida

Number of homes with moderate or greater risk: 8,249,592

Reconstruction cost value: $2.3 trillion

Median home price: $416,800

• Packing my 11-year-old’s lunch box with healthy food she’ll actually eat isn’t easy.
• As a dietitian and mom, I rely on budget-friendly, nutritious staples from Aldi.
• Some of my go-to purchases for school lunches are peanut butter and whole-grain bread.

Mornings in my house feel like a race against the clock. Getting out the door on time requires a tight schedule, one that doesn’t allow for an entire morning preparing a healthy meal.

As a dietitian and a mom, I aim to feed my 11-year-old daughter foods that keep her energized throughout the day without blowing our grocery budget or requiring too much time in the kitchen.

Whether I’m making a school lunch for my kid or sending her off to summer camp, I rely on easy, packable foods from Aldi to stay on track.

The Reggano classic pasta salad kit requires minimal effort.

The Reggano classic pasta-salad kit is one of my favorite time-savers. It comes with semolina pasta along with seasonings like garlic and parsley and vegetables like onion and red bell pepper.

All I have to do is boil the noodles and mix everything together. After that, lunch is ready.

Sometimes, I toss in extra vegetables, mozzarella pearls, or leftover chicken for an extra protein boost. It makes enough for several lunches, and everyone in my family loves it, including my daughter.

Goldhen eggs are a simple protein source.

Eggs are a staple in my refrigerator.

I cook a batch of them at the beginning of each week and peel them right away. They’re a low-effort protein source (each one has 6 grams of protein) that requires zero preparation on busy mornings.

Sometimes, I mash them up with a little mayonnaise to make a quick egg salad that my daughter loves as a sandwich filling. If I put it in her freezable lunch box, the egg salad stays chilled until midday.

Slices of the Dave’s Killer Bread with 21 whole grains and seeds are perfect for sandwiches.

When I make sandwiches, I look for whole-grain bread that isn’t too dense. This thin-sliced bread from Dave’s Killer Bread fits the bill perfectly.

Each slice has 3 grams of fiber, which supports digestion and satiety, and 14 grams of carbohydrates, which help support energy.

My daughter enjoys the bread’s soft texture, and I appreciate the nutrient-dense ingredient list, which includes organic flax seeds, organic sunflower seeds, and organic pumpkin seeds.

Simply Nature organic creamy peanut butter is a versatile plant-based protein packed with healthy fats.

Peanut butter is a reliable addition to my daughter’s lunch box.

The Simply Nature organic creamy peanut butter is a plant-based protein with healthy fats that keep my daughter full until she gets home. Each 32-gram serving has 16 grams of fat and 8 grams of protein.

I use it for peanut butter sandwiches or as a dip for apples and celery.

My daughter loves how crisp and sweet Pink Lady apples are.

Whenever possible, I try to include produce in my daughter’s lunch, and Pink Lady apples are one of my most frequent purchases. Each one has about 3 grams of fiber along with micronutrients like vitamin C and potassium.

My daughter loves the apples’ crispiness and sweet flavor, and I love that they’re reasonably priced at Aldi.

When I’m preparing her lunch, I usually pack a sliced apple and pair it with a small container of nut butter for a boost in protein and healthy fats.

Simply Nature freeze-dried strawberries snack packs deliver the nutrition of fresh fruit.

Fresh berries are great, but they often end up squished by the time the lunch bell rings. These Simply Nature freeze-dried strawberries solve that problem completely.

The freeze-drying process removes water while leaving nutrients like iron and potassium intact. These snacks stay perfectly crisp in my daughter’s lunch box and never turn mushy.

The BelGioioso fresh mozzarella snacking cheese is a delicious source of calcium.

I try to include a source of calcium in my daughter’s lunches to support bone health, and these individual mozzarella packs make that easy.

I just grab one from the fridge and toss it into her freezable lunch box. She loves the mild flavor, which pairs nicely with crackers, raw vegetables, or pasta salad.

Baby carrots add a satisfying crunch to my daughter’s meals.

Peeling and chopping vegetables can be time-consuming, but these baby carrots are a breeze to pack.

They deliver a satisfying crunch and healthy dose of vitamin A, which supports vision and immune health.

They also maintain their texture well throughout the day and taste fresh when my daughter reaches for them hours after I pack them. It’s an added bonus that Aldi sells them at a great price point.

Curious what other shoppers are loving? Keep reading our Aldi Diaries!

• YouTube is the world’s biggest video site.
• So it makes sense that young directors would distribute their movies there, and find big audiences.
• Now Hollywood has realized those same directors could make “real” movies, and get big audiences, too.

Hollywood has been struggling to compete with YouTube for years.

Now it’s trying a new strategy: hiring YouTubers. The early results look promising.

This weekend, “Backrooms,” a moody horror movie based on an internet meme, looks like it could bring in astonishing $60 million at the box office — which means it will likely beat out Disney’s new “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.” Director Kane Parsons has made stuff on YouTube for years, but this is his first film for theaters, which makes sense: He is 20 years old.

That follows the success of “Obsession,” which has grossed $74 million in the last two weeks. It’s made by 26-year-old Curry Barker, another YouTube veteran making his theatrical debut.

And those films came after Mark Fischbach, better known to his 38 million YouTube fans as Markiplier, brought out his “Iron Lung” movie, which he made for a reported $3 million and has now grossed $50 million.

Journalism Rules require me to point out that three things make up a bona fide trend. But I think we’re actually talking about two different ideas here.

• When Fischbach made his movie, he self-financed and produced the whole thing, and asked his fans for help with distribution as well. Going to see “Iron Lung” was something you did because you liked Markiplier and wanted to support him.
• Parsons and Barker also benefit from YouTube fandom. But their followings there are smaller than Fischbach’s. More important: They are actively working within the Hollywood system, by making movies with established studios — A24 for “Backrooms,” Blumhouse for “Obsession.” That looks a lot more like Hollywood using YouTube as a farm team, where it can pluck promising online prospects and give them a shot at the big leagues.

Which isn’t a new idea. Mainstream media has been using the internet broadly and YouTube specifically as an incubator for years, which is why you know who Justin Bieber and Issa Rae are. It’s true for directors, too: Dan Trachtenberg, who made last year’s “Predator: Badlands,” announced himself to Hollywood back in 2011, with a 7-minute short based on the video game Portal.

It seems quite likely we will see a lot more of the “Backrooms” and “Obsession” model, simply because “making movies and putting them on YouTube” is such an obvious route for any young filmmaker. Martin Scorsese would have done the same thing, if he started out with an iPhone and a broadband connection.

To me, the more intriguing question is whether we will see more Markipliers: people who develop real followings on YouTube (or any other digital platform) who can convince their followers to look up from their phones and buy tickets to something.

That remains rare, but less than it used to be, which is why it’s no longer shocking when podcasters (podcasters!) fill up theaters. Let’s see if more directors go the “Iron Lung” route.