I was chatting with a friend who said she had no idea how I manage a team of 20 at work and also take care of my teenagers at home. I gave her a flip response about neglecting the parenting part, which I'm sure she knew wasn't exactly true. We both have teens who aren't neurotypical, and that can be a lot of work.
When my kids were younger, if the business was doing well, I would outsource all kinds of things. I hired help with yard work, house cleaning, and grocery delivery. My time felt much more valuable than my money, and I was happy to pay to get my time back. Now that my kids are older and I have a true life partner, we're able to take care of the household work ourselves as a family.
I lean on school staff and various physical and mental health specialists to help my kids manage school around their ADHD and autism. I almost never get involved with school, or even look at my kids' grades. The kids get to school and back themselves, prepare most of their own meals, do their laundry, and we have a schedule for cleaning the house. We let their rooms be super messy until I have the urge to prod them into cleaning up.
What I've done to make motherhood manageable is to strip it down to the essentials. I offer unconditional love, encouragement of interests, sharing of values, and a healthy home (along with all the appointments needed for physical and mental health). Everything else, I don't have to make time for (but sometimes do).
I always, always, always feel torn between work, my husband, my kids, and my extended family and friends. Don't even mention hobbies! I never feel like I've got the balance right. The nice thing is that I know there isn't an ideal way to do this and it's not that I'm failing at anything. I'm just doing what I can do at any given time and shifting my attention to where it's needed.
Submit black and white or stencil artwork to UPPERCASE magazine through Janine's open call submission forms - deadline is June 30.
The Wolf Craft team was curious if PR is important in the age of AI, so they did a few interesting tests with ChatGPT to learn how best to position your brand.
The Profitable Artist's Summit, a free online event happening June 18th - 20th, features sessions from 20+ working artists on topics that will help you earn more with your art.
