This is a sponsored post by KidVuz for Amazon Studios. All opinions are my own.
As parents, we try to have a work/life balance. I think some of us (raise hand) might try harder than others. But I’ve never really thought about the balance that kids start learning at a young age. My girls are in various after school activities that take up a lot of our time and doesn’t leave time for other things. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and also learn that you have to do the hard stuff before getting to the fun stuff. A new American Girl story from Amazon Studios talks about this dilemma.
On Friday, March 24, Amazon Original Special An American Girl Story – Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance, is set to launch on Prime Video. We got a chance to watch the show before it starts streaming and it reminded me about my oldest, who coincidentally is also in gymnastics just like one of the main characters, Ivy is. Ivy is faced with colliding schedules that impact her family and her hobby. She has to learn how to make sacrifices to her needs to think of her families needs as well. 
Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance follows Ivy, a gymnast, and her family as they plan for the Chinese New Year. Ivy realizes that her competition is the same day as her families big celebration. The story takes a look at her struggle as a Chinese American girl and finding a balance for both. She tries to be more like her all-American best friend Julie, who is going through her own family struggles of divorce and separate households. I love that Ivy makes most of the changes and realizations on her own. It makes the relationship with her family that more meaningful. 
My oldest has struggled with finding her balance with household life and her hobbies. Because gymnastics is her favorite thing to do we make sure that it is a priority, but at the same time, she needs to know that it is a privilege to attend gymnastics. She surprised me the other day when she spent most of the day complaining about folding laundry but went into her sister’s room and helped her pick up and put away everything in the room. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t even ask her to either. 
The bond she has with her sister is strong and I think it really showed that day. She enjoyed watching the episode because of the gymnastics. I think she picked up on the fact that she has to help out around the house also. There is a way to make everyone happy if you look at everything from a different angle.
Make sure to check out the new show, An American Girl Story – Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance on Amazon
on March 24th.
