Last summer,against our better judgement,我丈夫和我决定挤进我们家的小面包车，从马里兰州开车去马萨诸塞州。Overnight.We climbed into the front seats at 6 p.m.,愚蠢地乐观地认为临睡前离开会带来平静，为三个小男孩沉睡的航行，gleeful vacationers buckled in behind us.
But there were so,so many things wrong with this plan.
下午10点，everyone was still wide-eyed.Oursnack供应几乎耗尽，we'd cycled through every CD multiple times,and we were staring at a sudden wall of construction-induced traffic.
我的眼睛因沮丧而闪烁，我丈夫一时恼火，and my 4-going-on-14-year-old rolled hers with annoyance.I couldn't even see the baby's eyes — they were tightly clenched as he cried bloody murder.
我2岁的眼睛，however,reflected magic and wonder.His gaze skimmed the overabundance of impatient drivers and fixated on something infinitely mesmerizing,much higher up.
“妈咪，我们能停下来下车吗？”他恳求道。"I want to catch the moon and bring it in the car with us."
Just like that,the beauty of innocent awe temporarily replaced the chaos and stress of our ill-conceived road trip.
Nearly a year later,that moment still sticks with me.抛开孩子气的好奇心，我儿子可能真的有什么事。As summer approaches again — with our forgotten New Year'sresolutionssquarely in the rearview mirror — so,同样，does the opportunity for a much-needed refresh.而我的小弟弟的无限魅力的主题，月亮，作为一个每月的提醒，我们可以一年不止一次地重新开始。
Enter the minor Jewish holiday ofRosh Chodesh,which meanshead of the month.Rosh Chodesh is a day or two of celebration that marks the start of a new lunar month and a new moon in the sky.传统上我们会祈祷，表达我们对未来一个月的希望。历史上——可能是因为月亮的相位和月经周期之间的联系——这也是妇女聚集在一起，不工作的一天。(Um,where has this holiday been all my life?).
During the coming months,月亮会隐约出现在天空的较低位置，这意味着孩子们可以更容易地看到它。所以，along with chasing the ice cream truck and catching fireflies,我希望我的家人在今年夏天庆祝Rosh Chodesh。Here's how:
决议案.Instead of waiting for a new year,it can be pretty energizing to hit the reset button at more regular intervals.Last month,when the number of daily desserts in my house reached new heights,I squashed my littlesugar恶魔的梦想，有必要强化一条被遗忘的规则：每天一次治疗。My decree came seemingly out of the blue and brought many tantrums with it.如果我把这种规定与新的一个月联系起来，这可能对我的事业有帮助。Moving forward,新月将意味着一个新的决心——也是一个让我的孩子们帮助决定它应该是什么的机会。
Exploration.I may have neglected to properly cultivate my son's lunar fascination last summer,but this year I'm ready.回头看，we could have read books about the moon,晚上散步看月亮有多大，and even made our own moon pies (while only eating one per day,obviously).This summer,when we're missing school and the routine that accompanies it,我会让我的孩子们选择一个我们可以一起探讨的每月主题。
女孩的力量。When my third child arrived last year,他使我家的天平偏向睾丸激素。I rarely get time alone with my now 5-year-old daughter — but Rosh Chodesh may be our perfect monthly opportunity.It hardly matters what we do: My daughter has been known to skip around the grocery store and has a mysterious,uncanny appreciation forHome Depot.当然，我们的目标是比普通人更高的东西，但这都是市场营销。We'd both jump at the chance for a girls-only outing (even if it's running errands).
Ladies' night. 众所周知，我和我的女朋友会发送在线投票，以确定那些难以捉摸的晚上，我们都是自由的。What if we just knew that a new moon meant a girls' night out?Rosh Chodesh means we — and by "we" I mean "we ladies" — are practically commanded to get together at the beginning of every month.So see ya,complicated doodle polls.我们的新日历是由月亮定的。
Letting go. My little ones,像很多人一样,often refuse to go to sleep when it's still light out.如果他们的房间很亮，而且他们还听到（年长的）邻居的孩子在外面嬉戏，那就不可能是睡觉时间了。正确的？I'm a fairly laid-back mom,butsleep是我父母的焦虑触发-可能是因为我一直在努力最大化自己。So maybe celebrating Rosh Chodesh is all a way for me to feel OK about having everyone stay up later this summer.或者这将是一个美丽的全年传统的开始。
This summer,新月将在6月13-14日出现。7月13日，and August 11-12.Happy celebrating!
