Because including kids shouldn’t mean losing everyone else.

Last summer, a friend invited my husband, our two kids, and our nephew — ages 6, 8, and 9 at the time — to the opening of Upstate Art Weekend, a sprawling outdoor art festival. The air was buzzing: artists welcoming strangers into their studios, dancers warming up under trees, friends reuniting in pop‑up galleries. It was the kind of setting that usually screams “no kids”: unspoken adult rules, fragile pieces on pedestals, long conversations. And yet, there we were with three kids in tow.
We’ve been told that Americans don’t party anymore. And in the rare cases we do, it’s often siloed into micro-generations: parents with parents, singles with singles, kids with kids. Intergenerational gatherings feel increasingly rare and with good reason: parenting is more intensive, childcare networks are thinner and privatized, families live farther apart, and, post-COVID, home can feel safer than venturing out. Then comes the practical side: Will the kids eat what’s served? Will they vanish into screens? Will they be a royal pain in the butt? 😬
I’ve noticed that when the kids are present at our gatherings, we tend to oscillate between two extremes — designing the event entirely around them or ignoring them altogether.
We’ve been holding a question live in our own family: Can you meaningfully involve kids without centering them at an intergenerational gathering?
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