Balancing work and family life is difficult enough, so adding more stresses and responsibilities on top of them can really take a toll. If you're working 50 hours a week chances are you want to spend your home time with the kids and your spouse, right? Yet there are certain things that every family needs to take care of. The most important: our homes. 

I finally took the opportunity to volunteer in my daughter’s first grade class. It just happened to be the last day of school. Is it horrible to admit that I had deliberately not used my vacation or comp days to serve in Lexi’s classroom? If it is, then at least I have another 11 years to remedy the situation. My husband is a regular volunteer in the class, and I was excited about having my turn…until he came home from volunteering and told me that the teacher planned on working me hard during my allotted time.

We all live our lives according to many rules.

Some of these rules we are aware of. Many of them we’re not.

Mama said there'd be days like these - or in my case a month.  Really, do I deserve a pity party any more than the next working  mom?  I mean is my crazy month all that special - two trips away from home (one business one for fun to be fair), end of school year scheduling adjustments, sick dog, unexpected health blip (nothing crazy that a little extra thyroid meds won't fix), and death of a friend all packed on top of the usual hectic work week and family and social commitments.  That's just life, right?

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE

Last week I connected with some powerful national presenters and we discussed the concept of self-care. Like many, they see self-care as something you "should do" for your physical health (exercise, eat well, get enough sleep), but that's where it ends. They were curious when I shared that I define self-care as the art of attuning and responding to your needs and desires, moment to moment.

It feels good to sleep, doesn’t it?  And being able to sleep in for a mom is like winning the lottery.  It's a rare achievement, and an almost impossible feat!

In a few weeks, my oldest child will leave for college.  I remember the tears I shed as he boarded the school bus for kindergarten!

This morning as I was browsing headlines, I came across one on FoxNews titled Sibling bullying is under-recognized, study finds. Of course I had to read it.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE