“Where is my family!?!” This was the angry and explosive text a working mom received in the middle of a 4-5 pm meeting from her 11-year-old son. 📱

Oops!

It was back-to-school time and the family was in transition…and chaos. The end of summer meant the family was transitioning from someone being home all the time to mom and dad being back to work. Sports and activities were starting back up for the boy and his older sister. Add in homework, general anxiety, stress over the pandemic and it’s easy to see why this text was sent.

At 11 years old, he could effectively manage being home alone for an hour or so, but Mom suddenly realized it was stressful for him to come home to no one with no explanation.

BUT THIS MOM had experienced parent coaching! Pulling together a few lessons she learned brought order to the chaos.

  • She took a deep breath, calmed down and remembered that no parent is perfect.  
  • She and her husband had set a couple intentions that align to their family values: (1) skill building kids at all ages to be independent is important (2) smartphone is not an option until junior high.
  • Her Parent Coach had said to be present and empathetic in moments of frustration with her son.  BUT he needed to understand how his angry and explosive emotions impact to the rest of the family. 
  • She knew that she did NOT have time to keep a beautifully organized Pottery Barn whiteboard calendar, so she used her strength of creativity. She uses PowerPoint all the time at work. She could use it at home as well!
  • They needed to find a creative new approach that would make sense to James and encourage working together.  Maybe ‘family’ wasn’t quite the right word for her athletically inclined son… but “team” works well with him.  So, a little reminder that we are all in this together was added.

So… the “team” brainstormed together to create a system that works for everyone.  Each Friday, mom copies and pastes the coming week’s calendar into PowerPoint, prints it out, and hangs it up on the refrigerator. This reminds him of what’s going on, and of his part of the team’s game plan. He knows if mom’s in a 4-5 pm meeting, but also knows she will sneak a peek to her email to be sure he’s home safe. 🗓

Ready to bring order to your chaos? Schedule a parent coaching session today!