Question 1

What is Tender Years?

Accepted Answer

Tender Years holds the mental load of the early years (0–5). You capture whatever's circling the second it hits, and it stays held instead of looping in your head. When you get a few minutes, it hands one thing back — shaped into the next step and sized to the time and energy you actually have — so nothing slips while you're not looking.

Question 2

What is the mental load in parenting?

Accepted Answer

The mental load is the invisible work of remembering, deciding, and keeping track of family life — knowing the shoes are getting too small, that an RSVP is still open, that a form is due. Tender Years is where you put it down: capture it, and it hands back one thing that fits the moment you're in, so it's not all yours to hold at once.

Question 3

How is Tender Years different from a notes app or to-do list?

Accepted Answer

A list just grows — still yours to sort, still yours to remember, still yours to decide. Tender Years catches the same thought and hands it back as the next step, sized to the energy you've got, one thing at a time. The list was never the load; the deciding is.

Question 4

What are the tender years?

Accepted Answer

The tender years are the ages 0–5 — when children are young and family life is intense, constantly shifting, and too granular for a calendar. It's the season when the invisible work of parenting is heaviest, and when the smallest things (too-small shoes, an unanswered RSVP) are too small for a calendar but too important to forget.

Even when you're sitting still, your brain is running the whole house.

Every time life shifts, the whole plan redraws in your head.

A thought coming back, already smaller.

Say who does what once. Then it's written down for both of you.

Tend to what matters.