Yes. The answer is yes. He should.
…And no we have not done all those homeschool projects yet, either.
We started strong.
But it all culminated this one morning when the Type-A Mom in me took the driver’s seat for a while. She started to really feel how little control she has. I try to hide this fact from her normally. She stayed up late Sunday devising a theme, an educational monkey theme, for my two little boys to wake up to.
Monkey Monday, you guys. There were Curious George worksheets downloaded from PBSKids and a monkey scavenger hunt.
Best. Mom. Ever.
Except, you see, a few days before Money Monday, we broke down and got Disney+. The boys found a new show on there, a pirate show.
Monday morning came. They saw the monkeys. They saw the print-outs. They smiled sweetly. They looked up and said, “We want pirates.”
And this is when Type-A Mom decided to take a step back, and really focus on the dog (The dog has learned THREE new tricks since Monkey Monday).
This is also when something started stewing in my brain.
I remembered something. If you’ve worked with me, you have heard this before. I need to hear it again, so maybe you do too: Let small bad things happen.
At home, with work, with yourself, with your family. Because we are too stretched right now. We are strained. We need to drop a few balls in order to keep moving forward.
You let the small bad things happen so you can get the big things done.
This whole concept is something I learned from reading Tim Ferriss.
So if you are needed and working out in the world right now, bless you. Home is where those balls shall drop. Drop them so you have time for showers, and sleep and solid meals.
If you are working from home right now, whether you are alone or surrounded by family, this is no time to be polite at work. Kind, yes. Polite, no.
Find the small bad things and slash mercilessly.
Decline unnecessary and after-hours meetings. Block an hour on your calendar to feed your kids. Block another one to read to them. Block another to hide from them. Go outside and breathe. ASK FOR HELP. Ask your spouse to take your phone away before bed. Don’t apologize.
Why are we doing this? So we can get the big things done. So we can keep our minds whirring. So we can keep working. So we can sleep. So we can watch The Tiger King.
Set up those boundaries of time and attention and protect them.
This is no time to worry about being liked. And besides that, no one is even thinking about you, because they are also getting 800 worksheets from their kids’ school, or missing Facetimes from family because of conference calls, or maybe they have been unable to locate their Kindle for three days even though they haven’t left the house in 14.
Watch Bob’s Burgers with your 2-year-old if it means he’ll go to bed without a fight.
Image by simon_ramone from Pixabay
