Hobbies and Hiding in the Bathroom: How Parents Spend Their Free Time

When the kids are away, how do parents play? Sure, we all have interests we can tick off and activities we like doing as grown-ups. But when that rare chunk of free time comes along, what’s going to serve you well in that moment? In this episode, Yasmeen explores how we can all figure out what we really want to do when we have time to ourselves – along with how we can find moments of personal freedom while parenting. We reach out to two “experts” on the matter: Yasmeen’s mom, who took up a long list of various activities over her years of raising kids, and Sara Shapouri, a mindfulness teacher who occasionally moonlights as an animal-costume-wearing musician. Try a meditation for parents from Sara Shapouri in the Ten Percent Happier app. In this meditation, Sara helps you settle your nervous system and then ask: what do I need right now?