When guilt shows up in our home, it usually arrives the same way:
quietly, suddenly, and wrapped in the feeling that we should have handled something differently.

We’ve learned that guilt can pull us away from the people we love most—especially when we get stuck replaying moments in our heads instead of returning to connection.

And that’s exactly where Squish Games steps in for us.

We created Squish Games as one of our pillars because play is the simplest, most human way to come back together. Not forced connection. Not “perfect parent” moments.
Just us… slowing down, laughing again, and choosing togetherness even when the day has been heavy.

It’s our way of rebuilding a little piece of the modern village right in our living room.

We used to think that travel “overwhelm” was just something parents whispered about at playgrounds or joked about online. But when we really looked at how we were moving through life, we realized something bigger was happening, something we never slowed down long enough to name.

It wasn’t one moment. It was a series of tiny ones.

The rushed packing that turned into snapping at each other.
The car rides that felt tense instead of fun.
The moments when our son, our one sweet boy, was happily chatting in the backseat, and we were just… too overstimulated to enjoy it.
The guilt that crept in afterward because we knew these years are precious.
The sinking feeling that maybe we were messing up the very memories we were trying to create.

And then came the light-bulb moment.

We were halfway through a long drive when we realized we were holding our breath, literally. We turned to each other and said, “This can’t be what family travel is supposed to feel like. Not for us. Not for him.”

We didn’t want survival mode.
We wanted connection.
We wanted to remember the inside jokes, the silly moments, the joy, not how exhausted and overstimulated we felt.

And that’s when we decided something had to change.

Not someday. Not when life felt easier.
But now.

Because if travel was going to be a big part of our son’s childhood, then we had to find a way to make it feel better, for all of us.

That change didn’t come from something big.
It came from something small.
Something simple.
Something we used to overlook:

Play.

And that realization became the heartbeat of Squish Games.

There was a night not too long ago when we stood in the hallway, staring at the same pile of laundry we had walked by for three days. Our son was asking us to come play, but all we could think about was dishes in the sink, school papers on the counter, and toys that somehow migrated to every corner of the house.

We weren’t fighting. We weren’t upset.
We were simply… tired.

Tired of the clutter.
Tired of the nonstop chores.
Tired of feeling like our whole home had slowly turned into one big to-do list.

And as we looked at each other, it hit us, a light-bulb moment that felt both uncomfortable and honest:

We were spending more time managing our home than actually living in it with our boy.

That realization stung. But it also woke us up.

Something had to change. Not by becoming “perfect,” not by “finally getting organized,” but by shifting the energy inside our home.
We needed more connection… and a whole lot more fun.

We did not notice how far apart we had drifted until the quiet moments started to feel heavy. Conversations became about schedules, work, and what needed to be done next. The laughter that used to fill our home had faded into background noise of routine. We loved each other deeply, but we were living side by side instead of together.

It was one night after Squish went to bed that it hit us. We sat across from each other, both on our phones, both exhausted, and realized that we had not really talked in days. We were functioning as a team but not connecting as partners. That was our light bulb moment. It was not that something big had broken us apart; it was the small things we had stopped doing together. We had stopped playing.

There was a night not too long ago when we sat on the couch, each of us in our own little world. My wife was scrolling on her phone, I was checking emails, and our son, our sweet Squish, was sitting quietly with his tablet, completely absorbed in his game. The house was quiet… too quiet.

I remember glancing up and realizing that we hadn’t laughed together in days. We’d talked, sure, about chores, school, and dinner plans. But those deep belly laughs, the kind that come from real connection and play? They’d disappeared somewhere between work stress, laundry piles, and the endless “to-do” lists that keep modern families spinning.

That moment broke me a little. I missed him. I missed us.

And then it hit me, the problem wasn’t just about “time.” We were spending hours near each other, but not with each other. We weren’t disconnected by space… we were disconnected by focus.

That realization was our lightbulb moment.

It hit me one night after another long day. Dinner was rushed, the dishes piled up, and our son—our sweet, curious boy—asked if we could play a game before bed.
I sighed. The kind of sigh that carries the weight of deadlines, bills, and too little sleep. “Not tonight, buddy. Maybe tomorrow.”

He nodded quietly and went to grab his book instead. That’s when it hit me—the lightbulb moment I didn’t see coming.
I wasn’t saying no to a game. I was saying no to connection.

We had fallen into survival mode. Every day felt like a loop of work, chores, and exhaustion. We were together, but we weren’t really together. And if we didn’t make a change soon, I worried that this was what “family time” would look like—tired people sharing a house instead of a bond.

There was a night — one I still remember vividly — when we sat down for dinner and the room felt... heavy.

Our son, Squish, pushed his plate away before I even had a chance to sit down.
He didn’t like what we’d made — again.
My partner and I exchanged tired glances, both silently calculating the time, the effort, and the arguments it might take just to get a few bites eaten.

And then came the timer in my head — the one ticking off all the other things waiting for us that night: the dishes, the laundry, the emails.

That’s when it hit me — we weren’t really together at the table anymore.
We were surviving dinner.

And somewhere between meal planning, rushing to cook, and trying to convince a toddler that broccoli isn’t the enemy, we had lost the joy that used to fill this space.

There was a stretch of time in our home when mornings felt like a sprint, evenings were a juggling act, and bedtime was anything but calm. We found ourselves caught in a cycle of rushing, reminding, and reacting. One morning, as I was trying to pour coffee, pack a bag, and get shoes on tiny feet all at once, I realized the chaos wasn’t just exhausting for us—it was overwhelming for our child too.

That moment was a turning point. We saw that the routines themselves weren’t the only issue—it was the lack of patience and independence in the flow of our days. Everything depended on us stepping in, and that was draining for everyone. We knew something had to change.

There was a season when I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. Every moment of my day was spent tending to someone else’s needs—snacks, games, schoolwork, attention—and by bedtime, I was so drained that I had nothing left for myself. I loved being present for my kids, but I realized I was running on empty.