Three weeks into summer, you start to notice things. The kid who has eight school friends suddenly does not have anyone to text. The one who is great at recess looks lost at the neighborhood pool. The bubbly one comes home from a playdate quiet, and you can tell something happened but you cannot get it out of them. This is the part of summer no one warns you about. School ends, and so does a lot of the structure that holds your kid’s friendships together. Recess. Lunch tables

Family travel is hard. I am not going to pretend otherwise. You are hauling humans through airports, parking lots, hotel hallways, and rest stop bathrooms. Everyone is tired. Someone is always hungry. Someone always has to pee at the worst possible moment. So before we even get into travel manners for kids, let me say this. I am not here to tell you your kid needs to be perfect. They are not going to be. They are going to whine. They are going to drop crackers on the plane. T

A few years ago, I had a fifth grader join my class mid-year. Let’s call her Maya. Her family had just moved from another state, and she walked in on a Tuesday morning in February, which is possibly the worst time to join a new class. Friendships were already set. Lunch tables were already claimed. She sat at her desk that first week and barely spoke to anyone. Her mom emailed me by Friday. She was worried Maya was depressed. She had stopped eating breakfast. She said her sto