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EPnews -- from The Entrepreneurial Parent
a work-family resource for home-based entrepreneurs
@ http://www.en-parent.com
March 14, 2001
Lisa Roberts, Editor:
epideas@en-parent.com
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_______________CONTENTS_______________
- ... The Funny Things EP Kids
Say & Do
... EP of the Month -- Charlie
Burns, The Cane Guy
... EP Times -- "Why Do
You Have to Work ALL the Time?" by Lisa Roberts
_______________________________________
Editorial Note: EPnews is distributed
the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of every
month, except during the summer. The Entrepreneurial Parent web
site
(en-parent.com) is a
hub of community and career resources for
Entrepreneurial Parents -- come visit often. Welcome all new
subscribers!
___________________________________
THE FUNNY THINGS EP KIDS SAY & DO!
Submitted by EPnews Subscriber,
Paula Polman of Mossberry Hollow Natural Care
Products (www.mossberry.com, mailto:staff@mossberry.com):
I was at the local business registry
office the other day sorting out some
government paperwork for my home business, along with my busy
21-month old,
James. In order to distract him I gave him my photo ID that the
lady behind
the counter had just finished with. He loves looking at pictures
of family.
In the office was a glass door to a connecting office where another
mother
and her little boy about the same age were doing business. The
boys met
through the glass door and were 'chatting' as only toddlers can.
James does't really say much
yet and is only just starting to put words
together. Then James realized he was holding my photo ID and
started showing
it to the other boy. "My mom! My mom!" he kept saying
while pointing to the
picture, then to me. He kept showing the card to the little boy
exclaiming,
"My mom!" until the other boy finally looked up at
me. "See!" my son said,
"My mom" and then gave a big grin. All work in the
office had come to a brief
halt while everyone watched the exchange, and a lot of smiles
followed us out
of the office when we were done.
Sure made my day...
=================================
Why work at home? So you can hear the funny things your EP Kids
say
throughout the day. Share with the EP Community something your
child said or
did recently that made you smirk, giggle, or LOL. Send your submission
via
e-mail to:epideas@en-parent.com.
And if you need a stockpile of smiles to get
you through your EP day, check out Grace Housholder's heartwarming
"The Funny
Kids Project" at www.funnykids.com. On those stressed-out
EP days, you'll be
glad you did!
Grace's coffee table book is
also available at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963871536/theentrepreneuri
___________________________________
EP OF THE MONTH
Charlie Burns
http://en-parent.com/Profiles/Burns.htm
Every (other!) month we try to
highlight the achievements of one of our newly
registered members by selecting them as our "EP of the Month."
As we review
our new member forms, we take a look at business names, niche
markets,
special PR or advertising techniques, innovative products or
services, and
other types of unique business practices.
This month we chose Charlie Burns,
EP to 2 children, ages 14 and 16. His
business, "The Cane Guy" www.thecaneguy.com,
is an inspiring success story
about one parent who, while playing with his children at the
beach, had his
life literally turned upside down when a huge wave hit him, breaking
his neck
and back. This severe accident happened in 1992, after which
Charlie became a
quadriplegic who eventually rehabilitated to being able to walk
with a cane.
How did Charlie get back into the workforce after such a catastrophic
life
event? By starting a business selling stylish and fashionable
canes! As
Charlie put it in his EP Profile:
"Starting a home business
was my way of getting back into life again."
Please join with me in welcoming
Charlie Burns into the EP Community.
<begin round of applause>
Please welcome Charlie by viewing
his Profile Page at:
http://en-parent.com/Profiles/Burns.htm
and/or sending him a welcome
message at:
mailto:charlie@thecaneguy.com
</end round of applause>
To All -- Please Note: We now
hand out an "award" graphic to our EPs of the
Month, which can be prominently displayed on the winner's home
page or "press
room" page. We also continue to offer our selected EPs a
FREE Profile Page at
the EP Showcase and a photo link from our home page all month.
So please
spread the word among your friends, colleagues and email loops
-- invite the
EPs in your life to join en-parent.com as a registered member,
and let's
build the EP Community together!
_________________________________
EP TIMES -- AN EDITORIAL
"Why Do You Have to Work
ALL the Time?"
© 2001 by Lisa Roberts
Yesterday was a rough work day.
After what seems like a month-long stretch of
all-kids, all-the-time -- between winter recess and a steady
bombardment of
snow days -- everyone got shipped off to school but my youngest.
Finally, the
house would be fairly quiet and I could think straight and make
some progress
on The Entrepreneurial Parent book project. And so it was, the
first couple
of hours in the morning...
For some background, Thomas turned
five in January and is finishing up his
last year of pre-school, with classes MWF, and off TTH all together.
I
usually try to schedule a play date on Thursdays, but I figure
one day with
him at home while I work (Tuesdays), at his age especially, ain't
so
terrible. And indeed yesterday morning he seemed perfectly content
to have
the dining room jigsaw puzzle all to himself for a long while,
and then was
happy to watch for the gazillionth time the adventure movie "20,000
Leagues
Under the Sea." But by noon he came poking around looking
for company.
Meantime I was perched in the
bedroom with my laptop, reviewing the 700 pages
(yes, 700!!) that was generated by our "Extended Survey"
respondents for our
book research. My mission for the day was to continue contacting
up to 101
EPs we selected to profile in our book, based largely on the
diversity of
home businesses/careers. As I was reading through the text I
had originally
highlighted, I was taken by how often an EP mentioned their concern
that they
said "Not now!" or "Give me a minute!" or
otherwise put off their children to
squeeze in more work time. It seemed to me that if the No. 1
Guilt Source for
parents working outside the home was that they were physically
absent from
their children more than they'd like, then the No. 1 Guilt Source
for parents
working *inside* the home was that they were *emotionally* absent
from their
children more than they'd like.
Enter: Thomas. "Mommy, it's
all over now," he says, swinging into the
bedroom, right behind my chair. I greet him with a big smile
and a light
voice, freshly sweetened by my determination to be "emotionally
present" for
him, for now. "Yeah? What do you want to do now then? You
want to get a toy
from the playroom and play on the rug next to Mommy?" His
eyes light up and
we discuss which toy he wants to carry upstairs, and he agrees
to a box of
plastic waffle pieces that snap together into a winding road,
laced with
green plastic trees and stoplights and street guards, and punctuated
with a
waffle-built Firehouse, Police Station, Hospital and a residential
strip. A
good 45-minute to one-hour pre-occupation to be sure. I promise
if he brings
the box up, I'll help him build the road to get him started.
"But first," I
exclaim as he starts running out the door, "you have to
give me a big hug!!"
We hug, he runs, he carries,
we build. I'm enjoying the 30-minute break from
work but then I hear the clock ticking and say, "OK, the
rest is up to you.
I'm right here if you need me," and then I'm back at the
laptop. He lasts
maybe 5 minutes more before he says, "OK Mommy, I'm done,"
and starts tearing
EVERYTHING up. Ugh! But don't the survey responses suggest that
if you take a
half-hour break to play, your kids will give you a half-hour
to work? Well
OK, that formula doesn't work all the time, fine. We'll go downstairs
and
have lunch together, work on the family jigsaw puzzle together,
and then
surely he'll be ready to let me go. A plan? A plan.
Suffice it to say that one EP
was correct in her forecast when she wrote,
"Plan. Adjust. Plan again. Expect to get 40-50% of Plan
accomplished." The
rest of the afternoon Thomas clung to me -- for one hour, literally,
around
my neck -- until I laid down on the bed (with his arms still
around my neck)
and pretended to fall asleep until he did. How much did I get
done? Yes,
about 40%, that sounds accurate. And yet another "work"
day went by...
I, too, worry a whole lot about
being emotionally absent from my children,
and how that will affect their sense of self as they grow. Not
one of them
ever asked me directly, though, WHY I work at home the way Thomas
asks. Some
time during the waffle-scene demolition he whined, "Why
do you have to work
ALL the time?" Of course, like many EPs we heard from, none
of us really work
ALL the time, it's just that we're under the family microscope
because our
work is the centerpiece of our domestic life. So to them it *seems*
like we
do. But when Thomas asks I do appreciate the chance to explain
myself, and I
say, "I work at home so you can _see_ me work, Thomas. Other
parents work
outside the home and you can't see them all day. Would you rather
I try that
out?"
Thomas sighs (how else can he
really respond to that one, anyway?). Thomas
doesn't know, but I *did* try that out once, about a year and
a half before
he was born. It was the experience that led me to write my first
book, and
five years later it looks like I'm still on the same page --
still justifying
this work option through the medium of a book-length project.
But I do have
hope. Over and over, a thread throughout those 700 pages was
the message that
"it gets easier once they're in school full-time."
After 14 years at home, it looks like things'll finally "get
easier" for me next September.
(But that doesn't help me with
this deadline next month, does it?!)
===============
Care to comment? Share your "Give
me just one more minute" stories/solutions?
Email "office@en-parent.com"
-- thank you!
=================================================================
Lisa Roberts is the mother of
four, Site Producer of The Entrepreneurial
Parent and author of "How to Raise A Family & A Career
Under One Roof: A
Parent's Guide to Home Business" (Bookhaven Press, 1997).
"EP Times" is a
continuation of the "Home Business Diary" essays originally
created for her
book, which is available for purchase at:
http://en-parent.com/order.htm
and through Amazon, at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0943641179/theentrepreneuri
_____________________________
CONTACT/SUBSCRIPTION INFO
The Entrepreneurial Parent, LLC
is not engaged in rendering legal or
financial advice. If expert assistance is required, the services
of a
licensed professional should be sought.
This newsletter may be redistributed
freely via the Internet. Re-publishing
of separate articles for your print publication needs approval
first; write
to: Roberts@en-parent.com
for permission.
© 2000, The Entrepreneurial
Parent, LLC
Editor: Lisa M. Roberts
POB 320722, Fairfield, CT 06432; http://en-parent.com
Ph/Fax: (203) 371-6212, Email: office@en-parent.com
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