Parental Dedication

For a large block of my adult years, I have devoted myself to being the best mother I can possibly be. That means that I have spent great amounts of time with my daughters, more than most parents ever have the luxury to indulge in. At this point, that investment seems to be yielding great results. I have lovely, smart, thoughtful daughters who are usually pleasant to be around.

Now, ironically, I think the best thing I can do for my family is spend a bit LESS time on them. This autumn I'll be simultaneously building up four separate business endeavors. By treating each one as an engaging part time job, I can split my time up between these independent businesses. Usually I put about 50 hours a week into working, and now I'll need to put 70 hours over 5 days each week. But my challenge is actually to reduce the amount of work hours that I devote to family tasks. In general, I easily spend 35 hours each work week in direct care of the group and the home. I need to whittle that down to 25. I think I can. Especially if I keep handing more tasks over to each of them, and I focus my afternoons a bit more to include more computer work in addition to playdates and homework help. It's very true - women often work a full time job and then put in a "second shift" at home. That's my plan too. If I can work 45 hours each week, I'll still have 25 to give to the things that matter to me most.

Because I love being the one who drives my kids around, and who is there for them with appointments and performances. And homework and laundry. And I really do enjoy cooking delicious meals every day. I take pride in accomplishing the task of creating healthy, wholesome food to enjoy together. And I'm not giving any of that up. But I need to pay for it just a bit better. And so it is. It's the job I signed on for, and I plan to do it to full completion.

But I see that in addition to time now, the girls will benefit from having savings to go to college, and from having unusual job opportunities from my home-based businesses. So that's just caring for them in a different way, and caring for S and myself as well. Hey, as long as I can shop and eat out, I'm a happy camper. : )

But blah, blah, enough about me. How are you, dear reader? Is everything going okay in your life? How does today look compared to the future, and how is your energy compared to your goals?