Family Moments is about the wonderful experience of connecting as a family.
In this series, we encourage parents to take a look at those truly special family moments. Memories that evoke a feeling of pure joy because they represent quality time with the people we love the most. The realities of modern day life can make these family moments feel out of our reach a lot of the time. Through this series, parents take a look at the obstacles that can get in the way of these happy family experiences with a view to making some changes so that life can involve more of them. Today we’re speaking to Ranae Von Meding.
A little bit about me and my family.
My name is Ranae and my wife is Audrey. We are same-sex parents to our daughters Ava (3) and Arya (7 months). We live in Dublin. Audrey is a theatre stage manager and while I originally trained as an actor and singer, I’m now full time at home with the girls as well as writing and blogging.
Our favourite way to spend time together is...
We have such a big family and spend a lot of time with them- but there is nothing better than when it’s just the 4 of us! Also, we both love cooking and baking and Ava loves to help.
As well as that, we have a zoo pass and spend a lot of time exploring over there too. Arya is the best addition to our family that we ever could have hoped for. She is the most easy-going and smiley baby ever. And she just adores coming along on our little adventures.
Our most cherished family moment is...
Genuinely our favourite moments together have been really simple times of just enjoying each other’s company. Two things that come to mind are going on Ava’s first horse and cart ride at the Guinness Factory and Sunday swimming lessons at swim cubs.
The thing that gets in the way of us spending time together is...
With both of us working on a freelance basis, it can be really hard to balance work and home life. It’s hard not to take work home, especially for me as I work from home! That can eat into our time together and it’s something we are actively trying to manage.
I also find it really hard to work when there are other things that need to be done, so sometimes I do a ton of other ‘jobs’ and then realise I still have to work- but by then, nap time is over (whoever invented naps is a genius BTW!)
Another thing that sometimes gets in the way of our time together, is all of the campaigning I’ve been doing for equality for LGBTQ parents. As it currently stands, I’m viewed as a single parent and Audrey has zero legal connection to our children.
It’s a heartbreaking situation and sometimes we need to take a step back from it when it all becomes too much. If we aren’t careful, it can start to overshadow all the happiness in our lives. (If you want to sign our petition we would really appreciate that! Link is HERE.)
Our pledge as a family:
We both pledge to make a conscious effort to put down our phones. As a lot of my work can be done online and from my phone, it can become like another limb to me.
However, it’s very easy to get sucked into trawling the internet instead of actually doing any work. I’m trying to be more mindful of how I use my time online so that it doesn’t eat into my time with Audrey and the girls.
To maximize your quality family time, take our Family Moments Challenge.
We would like to thank Ranae for sharing her special family moments with us. To read more stories just like Ranae's, click here.
