Double Dutch Rules

 (photo credit: hhhhound via ffffound. Salvador Dail jumping rope!) 

 I liken my life of running a business and "home-growing" my kids to a game of double dutch. People often ask me how I do this. Here are my rules.

If you want to play the game, at some point you've got to get in there and start. You can't be afraid of what you're going to look like or what other people will think. If you want to be an entrepreneur AND raise kids your way, you'll have to get used to people thinking that you are crazy. Let me give it you straight: starting a business is not ordinary and home-growing your kids is an adventure everyday. Put the two together, and you're in for one wild ride. You life will not look like anyone else's, but that's the best part.

This is my biggest issue. When I get an idea or see a new opportunity, I tend to want to do right now. I have a proverbial satchel full of goals, and I would love to start on all of them today. But, in the case of running a business and raising kids, slow and steady wins the race. Trust me. From experience.

 Now that you are determined to home-grow your kids and you've decided on a career path, planning is key. I could write volumes about how a (loose) day schedule is a matter of survival for everyone. It's the only way my clients are happy, my kids get an education, and my family gets a decent meal on the table.

This is supposed to be fun! Here are some mini-tips for staying merry:

1) Pick a career that you absolutely love. When you are passionate about what you do, you'll love  getting up in the morning, you'll look forward to being busy, and you'll be a nicer person all around. If you know what you'd love to do, but you need more skills under your belt, then I say invest in those skills. It will be worth it in the long run.

2) Make sure you really like your kids. Yeah, I said it. Everybody loves their kids, but not everyone likes them. Some people think that every parent was destined to homeschool their own children. I'm not one of those gals. There are many ways to raise kids, and home-growing is my absolute favorite, but home-growing means that there going to be around a lot. I'm just letting you know.

 By this I mean delegation. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you cannot physically be in more than one place at a time. That means you get share your children (and laundry-folding) with someone else part of the time. Sharing is caring! Soon I will share with you how exactly I do this.

And have a belly laugh. And sleep at night. This is probably the most important rule of all. There will be days when the lessons didn't quite go as planned and you didn't meet your business deadlines. So what. You must recognize when it's time to shut every down and go play with your kids.

And will that, I'm off to watch Inspector Gadget with the fam.

Have a great night!

-Ash