Dear Readers, I'm still here
Working for my children, working with my children
Dear Readers - I am still here! Maybe you noticed it’s been a quiet month in your inbox, maybe you didn’t. Either way, I am still here and though April has passed by in a blink of an eye, I have been writing and writing and writing! There are seasons in the writer life where one has to just do the work before it is ready to share - and others where the work merely needs a quick edit before hitting send.
April was my month of doing the work and I look forward to sharing with you all that I have written over the rest of spring. Starting with this little lyrical wander around running a business as a single homeschooling parent.
You might say I’m in my boss babe era. You might say I’m crazy. Either way, my house is full of a certain energy these days. The scrape of pencils on paper, the rustle of seed packets being opened. Packaging rustling in a box and children gently arguing over who gets to use the heart paper cutter. The sound of creativity in motion spreading over the kitchen table.
When I started selling my artwork as greeting card prints (which you can see here) my kids got really excited. They became fascinated by this idea of creating something with your hands and selling it, and being able to make money. They wanted to be involved. I told them if they wanted to, they could come up with their own product - something that could accompany my cards maybe - and I would help them sell it. I’m a homeschooling mom - I figured what a great way to learn some academic skills while being creative.
A few months ago we attempted making our own paper - and my two oldest kids came up with the idea to make little seed paper hearts to tuck in with each of my greeting cards. My art is very much centered around our garden and the plants that grow in it - I draw chamomile and lavender and other wild flowers. My children thought that some seeds for each card would be perfect.
And so these are the sounds that fill our home on product preparation days - the sound of small fingers excitedly participating in their mothers work. Now each time anyone purchases a blank journal or greeting card, they will also receive a small seed paper heart with lavender or wildflower seeds. Something to help the bees, my kids say.
Someone said to me once, “how do you get it all done, you must be superwoman!” Well I’m not, I’m just a little stubborn and a lot flexible (an oxymoron I know, but the truth).
I let my kids become part of my work - as much or as little as they want. I stubbornly make things work even if I’m tired, because I’m determined to raise my kids as best as I can. I relax over things that are unnecessary to stress over (like getting everything done in one day, it’s not like the pile of laundry is going anywhere).
I didn’t expect my children to care about my work, and I didn’t invite them to participate but I did remain open to their curiosity, and I didn’t do all my work while they slept. Because I was open and because they watched me work, it happened organically, through curiosity, observation, and a desire to participate in something that matters to them.
Their involvement doesn’t really make things any easier. If anything, including my children in my business operations often means things take longer, require more cleanup, occasionally end in tears over perfectionism or failed experiments. Efficiency isn’t why I’m here! Learning and living and loving alongside my children is why I’m here, and why I’m stubbornly working from home as single homeschooling mom.
I love watching my children absorb life lessons and skills from their experiences. I love being able to guide them and support them on their own exploration (the two oldest have recently struck out to create their very own business making magic wands and diy fairy potion kits).
Could I have sent them off to play while I worked? Yes. Could I work through the night while they sleep? No, actually, I need my sleep. So instead I listened to their curiosity and get to support them in their own unfolding. I get to facilitate organic math lessons as we calculate costs for their new products. I get to help them practice writing as they develop recipe cards for their potion kits. I get to facilitate kitchen science experiments every time they decide to try out a new natural dye for their seed paper.
When their first fairy potion kit sold to a friend who visited our home, the pride on their faces was unmistakable. This wasn't simulated success; it was actual value creation, recognized and validated by someone outside our family system.
Through this process(and the others that support the flow of our home life), my children are absorbing lessons I believe will serve them regardless of their future paths:
I hope they are learning that work can arise from passion rather than obligation. That life happens not on the fringes of the rat race, but work and life can mingle in meaningful ways. I hope they are learning that creativity and practicality are not opposites but friends. That art can help people in practical ways. That they can be playful and curious through their entire lives. That their contribution to my work is as valuable as the time that I spend doing laundry or cooking dinner for them.
The seed paper hearts will eventually sprout into wildflowers in gardens far from our kitchen table. The fairy potion kits will fuel imaginative play we'll never witness. Someone somewhere will fill one of my blank journals with all of their biggest dreams. But here, in this home where business and family life intertwine, something equally important is growing—children who understand that work can be meaningful, that creativity has value, and that the ordinary moments together are what bring the most joy.
Joy comes to us in ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary. - Brene Brown