Hey, teacher friends! Happy reminder for you as you head back to work from break:
Your students are not your kids. You already have your own kids, nieces, nephews, friend’s kids, pets, even and possibly future kids (cute baby pic to encourage you to make one). I hope you spent a lot of time with your kids over break! Your students have their own families, too. (Stop. Don’t “but” me. I taught foster youth at a residential school. I’ll win.) Remember, you are a teacher when you are at work, so teach, teach, teach. Then, go home to mom, mom, mom or whatever else fills your heart up with love. Love, Natalie PS I am writing this because I wish someone had explained it to me years ago, even though I am now a perfectly happy older mama. PPS If you want help drawing this line and letting go of guilt, you should take my course You Before School. PPPS This applies to all working mamas! Work hard. Love your kids harder. Love you all!
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2019 Review
Best Day: Noutin’s birth on September 3rd Worst Day: Nouarie’s heel surgery on August 30th Births You Celebrated: Noutin and our friend Charlotte Deaths You Grieved: My Great Uncle Ed (100!) and my former student Lazaro Momentous Events: Nouarie holding Noutin and her learning to use the potty Scariest Thing that Happened: My dad’s new pacemaker poking a hole in his heart (he’s recovered now) Most Exciting Thing: Finding out I was pregnant A little excerpt from my 2019 reflection in 2020 My Shining Year Life Goals Workbook by @leonie_dawson . This is my third year spending January writing life goals in one of her workbooks instead of a resolution. I love it. I also love Nouarie’s smiley face. She had so many firsts this year, but it’s all kinda a blur. A few of you warned me this would happen while pregnant and after the birth of baby number two. I used to keep a daily journal. I fell behind in it and gave up. I keep telling myself I’m catch it up. Maybe I’ll jump back in. Maybe I’ll sit and go through my stories and catch it up. It’s important. Maybe I’ll set aside time for it. Anyone else feel like you just want the world to pause long enough for you to capture a time capsule? Why does time seem so much faster this time?
Noutin’s already 4 months. He’s bigger than his sister was at 6 months. Scroll down to see who-wore it-best. Maybe it’s because our whole world didn’t stop when he was born. It couldn’t. Nouarie kept us going. I went back through old pictures today. He’s super into chewing on his hands and laughing right now. So was she. Her giggle sounded different and sounds like her little voice. His hands are bigger and he drools more. He lights up when he sees familiar faces, especially mine. So did she. When she was 4 months, it hit me that she a fun little human to go on adventures with. He is a happy little human. I’m looking forward to all of our family’s adventures together. PS New and future mamas, grandmas, dads, grandpas, aunties, uncles, and everyone else, take more videos. I wish I had more videos of Nouarie’s little laughs and smiles.
"Self-efficacy is really the final frontier for women"
Yesterday, I read about this in a book I'm re-reading and can't get the idea out of my head. In case you need a vocab refresher like I did: self-efficacy is confidence in your skills to control your motivation, behavior, and environment. Ladies, so many of us often feel so out of control in relation to: •Health/weight •Parenting •Work (teaching!) •Relationships •Chores/clutter Right? When we feel out of control, we don’t speak up and then get even more stressed out. That’s me! Get this, Kathy Korman Frey claims that we begin to lose confidence in ourselves as teenagers and then begin putting others first; soon after, our lives become so busy that we never even think about it. Aah! How true is this?! I thought it was just me! I thought it was just from too many messages like "help people at all times." (Girls Scouts, sound familiar?) We can fix it though! The researcher says we build self-efficacy by: •Doing things well to built mastery •Finding role models and mentors •Listening to, and believing, positive messages •Recognizing and controlling negative patterns and thoughts I’m so intrigued and motivated to learn more about this to help myself and others. I can see areas where I feel like I have a strong start and areas where I have some work to do. Positive messages is one I want to work on right away. I’m going to stop follow my negative accounts and look for some more positive ones. Any suggestions? Quote: Frey as quoted in Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte I used to love just watching Nouaire play with her dolls. This is even better.
We’re slowly getting this family-of-four thing down. “Ride a camel” Today we began working on a list of family goals for the year. Nouarie has already contributed quite a few, such as: •Take Noutin to the fair •Go apple picking •Pet a goat That camel one is a big deal. She totally thought of it on her own. Last year, she was too small to ride a camel at the Oasis Camel Dairy, even though she was old enough. She knows she has to wait until she's 5 or older to do most things, like her dream of going to kindergarten. She must have remembered that we said "next year" when left the camel dairy in July. It's going to head to the top of our list! Guys, know that Bucket List Family has been trending lately thanks to their misleading giveaway schemes? I almost called our 2020 family goals list a bucket list, but it's totally not. We're not trying to do things before we kick the bucket. We want to have experiences that fill our buckets.
As Nouarie's contributions remind me, our family's happiness comes from simple and familiar things. This year, we will look forward to celebrating exciting milestones, such as hearing Noutin's first word, and repeat things, such as eating s'mores in our backyard with the neighbors. Who else is making a 2020 family goals list? What's on yours? If you don't, you should join us and make one! It's our first time, too. Grateful. Baby Noutin. My Nouaire. Nishantha. Family. Friends. My word for 2019 was “balance.” At the time I had no idea that it would be more like the year of “brother.” Now I’m happily balancing two babies. If you’re thinking of a word for 2020, be prepared for the results to be even better than you can even imagine. Time is running out to enroll in my new course!
I know you’re thinking about starting 2020 off right. If you are ready to bring better work-life balance back into your life, I would love for you to join You Before School! In 4 weeks, you will: •Reprogram your teacher brain to say goodbye to guilt •Identify what you really need to take care of yourself and your loved ones •Create a weekly routine that aligns your priorities with your time •Build boundaries to stick to your plan Self-care is so much more than pockets of time set aside for pedicures. I want to help you build a life that ensures your needs are consistently met, so things like #selfcaresunday and #teachertired don’t even need to cross your mind. I know. I know. You don’t have time. I get it. I used to be you, busy friend. It’s okay. I’m ready for you anyway! •The course will take only around an hour per week •You can work at your own pace •Everything will be recorded •You’ll have access to the course for a year •It’s not grad school: no reading, no discussion boards, no tests •There’s even an app so you can listen on your commute Teachers, I’m seriously so excited to share You Before School with you! And excited to bring you together! Did I mention there’s a mastermind group to connect with other teachers? And weekly live Q & A webinar calls? It’s going to fun! The course starts on January 1st! Here's the link. Please message me with any questions! Thank you in advance for sharing this with your busy teacher friends! “Our [American] cultural belief around infant sleep is that it should be solitary, scheduled, independent, and fuss-free.” I disagree with this cultural belief. Reading about how babies are cared for in most of the world made me begin to challenge many mainstream American beliefs around what babies really need. Quite a few of our practices stem from outdated advice from non-moms and/or align with our value of independence. They feel wrong to loving mamas and they are scientifically wrong. Sleep is a very, very sensitive topic for parents and a huge challenge for moms, especially working moms. Waking up at night to care for a tiny human is hard. Through many, many private conversations, I’ve learned that most American moms I know actually DO NOT follow the mainstream cultural beliefs. Instead, most of us follow our gut and secretly snuggle our babies in our arms as much as they need — including in our beds. We just don’t talk about it because we’re told it’s wrong. If you’re a mama struggling for follow the American sleep expectations, I suggest you zoom out a little in your research. The mamas and babies I know whose families break the rules are happier, healthier, and sleep better. If you’re a mama who breaks/broke the rules, share your wisdom. You are doing/did the right thing. Quote: Parenting Without Borders: Surprising Lessons Parents Around the World Can Teach Us by Christine Gross-Loh I know you’re already thinking about starting 2020 off right. If you are ready to bring better work-life balance back into your life, I would love for you to join my new course!
In 4 weeks, you will: •Reprogram your teacher brain to say goodbye to guilt •Identify what you really need to take care of yourself and your loved ones •Create a weekly routine that aligns your priorities with your time •Build boundaries to stick to your plan Self-care is so much more than pockets of time set aside for pedicures. I want to help you build a life that ensures your needs are consistently met, so things like #selfcaresunday and #teachertired don’t even need to cross your mind. I know. I know. You don’t have time. I get it. I used to be you, busy friend. It’s okay. I’m ready for you anyway! •The course will take only around an hour per week •You can work at your own pace •Everything will be recorded •You’ll have access to the course for a year •It’s not grad school: no reading, no discussion boards, no tests •There’s even an app so you can listen on your commute Teachers, I’m seriously so excited to share You Before School with you! And excited to bring you together! Did I mention there’s a mastermind group to connect with other teachers? And weekly live Q & A webinar calls? It’s going to fun! The course starts on January 1st. Here's the link. Feel free to message me with any questions! Tag your favorite busy teacher friends below! |
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February 2020
CategoriesNatalie PriesterI'm a teacher, mama, and mentor. I created the You Before School e-course and more. I'm here to encourage and share self-efficacy skills for women. |