Sometimes this is a bit of a tricky needle to thread for a mom, mostly because of her internal fears and what the culture is telling her about delegation and childhood, so I want to offer you a new perspective.
Look. I’m not asking you to ignore your kids; I’m asking you to empower them. So if working on your business when your kids are awake isn’t possible for you yet, that’s in your future.
You can keep doing the household chores and food prepping and laundry folding when they’re awake right now. That’s work, of a sort, for sure.
But one day, you’ll be able to ask one kid to chop all the veggies you set out and dump them in the crock pot, and another kid to give the toilets a quick swish, and your last one to do a toy hunt for out of place toys and put them away.
And while they’re doing that, you’ll be planning your next homeschool lesson or ordering the groceries for next week or emailing back and forth with clients or uploading something for your blog.
Yes – you’re allowed to do your own work while your kids are doing theirs!
It’s really simple – yet most moms aren’t doing it. They’re worried they’re not allowed to go off and do something else (useful, I might add) while their kids are in chore mode.
They’re worried they’re a bad mom if they don’t hover over their kids during homeschool lesson time and instead, wait to be called but go move the laundry or prep the crockpot or start a 15-minute workout.
But why?
This is what I want to transform for you. As soon as you have elementary school age kids, you don’t need to be constantly hovering over them every second of the day.
Use some of those hours – or half hours, depending on your kids – to get your *own* things done. Whether that be a workout, a raw-meat-chopping session, or something from your business to-do list.
Because this is what work at home, stay at home business looks like.
It’s about making sure your kids’ needs are met, and then knocking out those launch emails.
It’s called teaching your children how to make their own sandwiches every day at noon, and then releasing them to handle their own lunchtime.
It’s about empowering *them* to clean up their own messes, choose their own play activities, and function in their own kid life while you’re available to answer questions, give out cuddles, and wipe up the truly nasty spills – but all the while you’re working *alongside* them.
On your own things. On feeding the baby or moving your own body, if nothing else. (‘Cause your kids can’t feed newborns or work out for you!)
You’re not abandoning them; you’re empowering them.
You’re right there beside them.
Available for questions.
Available for “I forgot how to do this; can you show me again.”
Available for “good job! I’m telling Daddy tonight how amazing you are at this.”
And that’s all part of your job teaching, training, your kids. Because doing everything for them is NOT empowering them. It’s NOT releasing them. And it’s most certainly NOT training them to be responsible, self-sufficient adults.
So get the lie out of your head that you handing off some of the chores is somehow abandoning your kids to do all the housework.
Leaving your kids to fend for themselves only happens when you give them chores they haven’t been trained in, time pressure or expectations they can’t handle, and then walk away and leave them with no help.
That’s not what you’re doing. You would *never* do that.
You’re just asking them to step up, help a little, and you’re showing them how every step of the way.
Guess what – that builds confidence. That builds independence. That builds “I can do it myself.”
And that’s what you want for your kids and teenagers as you head towards that young adulthood goal.
So where do you need to change your attitude about kids and chore motivation today? Where do you think you’re holding back (from delegating) out of fear? What’s the truth about your family’s situation? (The ages and stages of what they’re capable of?)
Let’s live in truth, not fear. Release and freedom, not “I have to do everything myself.”
What are you going to train your kids in today?
