Holy moly! So you got through the initial outbreak of the Pandemic. Now you’re working your way through the unstructured summer months. And it’s looking like the fall won’t be offering much relief, with most schools reopening on a part-time/flex basis, if at all. One way to make the job of full-time parenting/entertaining/educating more manageable is to add a little structure to your days.
In the journey from chaos to order, people often find it easier to organize space than time, because space is something you can actually see. Stacks of papers, piles of clothing, and shelves full of knick knacks are visible. You can pick things up and move them around in your space to see how they fit. You can easily see when your plate (or your closet) is too full. Time on the other hand, is completely invisible. It’s something you feel and it feels … utterly amorphous. But, not anymore! It's time to make time tangible.
As much as we all crave quality time with the kids in our lives, relating to children can be surprisingly tough. What do they like? What are they thinking, feeling, experiencing? Striking up a conversation about these things can be challenging. That’s where books come in. Books can provide a powerful point of entry for relating to kids. They are written and edited by professionals who understand the issues and interests children face at various ages and stages. Therefore, they can be used as a way to spur conversation, explore emotions, discover hobbies and interests, learn new information, or purely for entertainment. Oh, the places you’ll go!
What is perfectionism? Perfectionism is the pressure we often put on ourselves to do things extremely well. When applied to every single everyday task, perfectionism can sap the joy from your life, lead you to work yourself to the bone, and crush your ability to be present as you obsess about whether you did or will do a good enough job in each of your endeavors. Freeing yourself from the logistical burden and psychological paralysis of perfectionism liberates you to manage the wide scope and scale of everything you need to do and helps you stay grounded over the long haul.
Talking is one of the most valuable ways we can relate to another human being. If the eyes are the gateway to the soul, conversation is the gateway to the inner thoughts, insights and experiences of another person. Unfortunately, conversing with children doesn’t always come naturally to us adults. Every age and stage, from pre-verbal through puberty and beyond, comes with its own unique challenges. Yet, it may be comforting to know that, when it comes to talking with children, your goal is really to have them do most of the work. Your job is simply to create a safe space for your child to express whatever they are thinking and feeling. Our helpful age-by-age guide can help you get started.
Picture this. You are lying in bed, desperate for a good night’s rest; but each time you approach the precipice of sleep, yet another intrusive thought jolts you awake: Don’t forget to refill your prescription before Friday. Remember to email Kathy back first thing in the morning; Make sure to call the bank about that $12 maintenance fee. You toss and turn, trying to remember not to forget these to-dos, all the while losing out on the precious sleep needed to execute these tasks with efficiency. This sleepless night could have been prevented with this one easy habit.
Once you have kids, finding any uninterrupted time in the day that’s just yours — to just be quiet, to just think, or to just get one small thing off your own to-do list — is really hard to come by. But, believe it or not, it is possible to buy yourself back some me-time after you have kids. You just have to be super organized and intentional about it. You don’t want to find yourself hiding in a closet just to steal a moment to yourself. You want to build it into your family’s day.
For many people, breaking away from the gravitational pull of work is extremely difficult. In fact, for the high-achievers among us, it may seem down right counterintuitive. In pursuit of work-place success, our personal lives are usually the first thing we sacrifice. But this puts us in a precarious position — when our work/life balance is off, our performance suffers, along with our happiness and motivation. We end up feeling overworked, exhausted, and depleted. And overtime, we begin to lose sight of the very reason we became so invested in our work in the first place. In order to truly “make it,” mastering your work/life balance is not just a nice-to-have, but a necessity.
Parents are constantly juggling responsibilities: work, household logistics, personal and professional relationships, loving and raising the kids, all while trying to find time for self-care, exercise, hobbies, and a little shut eye. On a good day, managing this juggling act is a delicate balance. What happens when life throws you a massive curveball?
Open up your current to-do list and take a look at it. How many of your tasks have a time estimate next to them? If you are like the majority of people, probably none. When writing out to-do lists, most of us only ask ourselves one question — what do I need to do? — and not how long will I need to do it? Yet, the difference between good and bad time managers pivots on the asking of this critical question…
