Why We Started This Site

"Yes" to a Great Family Life

Lorle is the voice for family that says: “YES we can do it.” YES, we can have a simple, joyful, meaningful family life - despite the challenges we face today. YES, we can be successful at work and be great parents too. YES, we can have it all - without driving ourselves crazy or neglecting our health. And, it’s easier than we think…because it’s not about doing more. It’s about doing less, and doing the right things.

As a working mother of five for close to 30 years, Lorle knows first hand how hard it is to find that comfortable balance between work, family and personal needs. We know what we want for our families: loving connections, strong family values, and happy holiday memories. For most of us, life has become too much: too fast, too busy and too stressful. Our world feels like it is spinning out of control - dizzybusy. There seems to be little time left to connect as a family and create the loving, safe haven we all need at home.

An Entrepreneur at Heart

A graduate from UC Berkeley with a major in pre-med and a minor in child psychology, Lorle then earned a design degree from FIDM. She started a successful children’s clothing company called cachcach with a good friend from college. They worked together for eighteen years creating very unique, very whimsical clothing for children based on little stuffed characters hiding in pockets.

Once Upon A Family - Redefining Family Life

Lorle’s talent for creating beautiful and meaningful products combined with her passion, experience and knowledge in family life resulted in a remarkable company she founded in 2002 called Once Upon a Family. Busy families need simple solutions and Once Upon a Family delivers just that: fun, practical tools that bring our good intentions to life. Lorle’s work has inspired a much-needed cultural revolution. Hundreds of thousands of families across America are thinking differently about family life.

Parents are teaching values at the dinner table with Conversation Starters, creating a sense of belonging with the Family Fun Box and writing Letters to My Dear Sweet Child to save for twenty-first birthday gifts. Grandparents are sharing The Stories of My Life with grandchildren while fathers are taking their daughters on Dates With Dad to show them how a woman should be treated when a man truly loves her. These families are saying NO to today’s pressures and expectations and getting back to the basics of building happyhomes for their loved ones.

Finding Balance in a Dizzybusy World

Lorle’s experience raising her own 5 children, plus ten years studying the literature and research on family life and seven years observing the impact that Once Upon a Family products have had on families nationwide, culminated in her latest book called happyhome: a family’s guide to finding balance in a dizzybusy world. Complete with interesting statistics, real life stories, five pull-out activities and a personality test to identify your style of connecting, this surprisingly simple, but remarkably powerful book will become a trusted reference for families everywhere who want to create a happyhome for their loved ones.

We Can’t Afford Not To…

The facts on stress and work/life balance are staggering. 90% of the population claims they feel overwhelmed by the lack of time today. More than 80% of our medical expenditures are now stress related. $300 billion, ($7,500 per employee) is spent annually in the U.S. on stress-related compensation claims, reduced productivity, absenteeism, health insurance, medical expenses and employee turnover. Alcohol, drug abuse, depression and suicide rates go up every year on college campuses.  Studies show that our children are feeling stressed, isolated and pessimistic about life. Given the overwhelmed, disconnected and unhealthy state families are in – and how it affects us at home and at work- we need to do everything we can to help families build happyhomes.  We can’t afford not to.