July 31, 2025 • 23 mins
We need to focus not just on getting our kids ready for back-to-school season, but also ensuring we're taking care of ourselves as parents because without us there's no them, and without them there's no us.
• Take time to just breathe - whatever happens, it's going to be okay
• Create a plan for your school-year routine, but view times as guidelines, not rigid requirements
• Give yourself a gradual wake-up time instead of jumping out of bed
• Coffee and tea will be your best friend, but budget for it - create a small weekly "allowance" for emergency coffee runs
• Meal prep to avoid spending excessive money on takeout ($400/month at Starbucks adds up quickly)
• Pack your work bag the night before and put it in your car to avoid forgetting essentials
• Plan ahead for after-school care and make sure emergency contacts have all necessary information
• Create homework rules - establish a distraction-free environment with no homework in bedrooms
• For student athletes, break homework into daily segments rather than cramming on weekends
• Keep duplicate sports equipment and a spare bag in your car for forgotten items
• Use weekends wisely - do small tasks throughout the week rather than saving everything for Saturday and Sunday
• Take time for yourself, even if just a few hours - if you're not good, your kids can't be good
Make sure to follow us on IG and YouTube at the Gag Is Pod. Please make sure you are liking, subscribing and rating so we can reach more people.
Follow us on Instagram!
@thegagispod
Email:
TheGagIsPod@gmail.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the
Gag is Pod.
I'm your girl, charlie Shante.
Thank you for joining me onanother episode and I'm not even
like, wait, today's not Friday.
We getting an episode.
Yes, we are getting an episodebecause I've been focusing on
the kids and this is going to belike what I call a parent
(00:23):
edition, because we need, we gotto take time for us too.
So, before we do that, ifyou're not already, please make
sure you are following us on IG,at the gag is pot YouTube as
well as the gag is pot, becauseafter you listen to this, you
can go watch it too, because youknow kind of see what I didn't
kind of see your girl, you know,um.
(00:47):
And then if you want to dobusiness, you know there's the
email the gag is pod at gmailcom.
So, like I always say, go aheadand grab whatever it is you eat
, drink or whatever it is you dowhen you listen to this episode
, so we can go ahead and jumpinto this episode.
So I'm calling this my back toschool parent edition because,
like I said, I've been focusingon the kids a lot.
We're making sure the kids aregood and whatnot, but what about
(01:11):
us.
We got to take time for us.
So before we jump all the wayin, I do have another letter
that I received that I'm goingto read.
It says Dear Family of ClarenceSpencer and I'm going to change
the name in here because theperson's name's in here, so I'm
going to change the name alittle bit Dear Family of
(01:34):
Clarence Spencer.
My name is John Doe.
When scrolling across the TravisManning Foundation website, I
was looking through the FallenHeroes section.
That's when I came across thestory of Clarence Spencer.
Clarence was a humorous, lovingleader who was dedicated to the
army, freedom and even football.
Yes, he loved his cowboys.
I just wanted to thank yourfamily so much for Clarence.
(01:55):
He truly is an amazinginspiration giving up his life
for the freedom of Iraqicitizens.
Although I have never met him,I can confirm that just by
reading his story.
He was a wonderful leader.
I will keep Clarence and yourfamily in my prayers forever.
Thanks for your time.
(02:16):
Yes, I can confirm that he wasa wonderful person too.
Day he was a wonderful persontoo.
So thank you for writing thatletter.
I greatly appreciate it.
I love getting the letters andbeing able to read the letters,
whether they be short, long orsomewhere in between.
(02:40):
So now let's go ahead and jumpinto today's episode.
So, like I said, I sat and Ithought I'm like, hmm, what can
I talk to my parents about?
Because I'm always giving themthe checklist for the kids.
What about us?
So I figured I'd do us a littleshort episode.
You know something that'll helpus remember.
You know what it is.
(03:00):
We got to do Because without nous, there's no them, and without
them, there's no us.
Is we got to do because withoutno us, there's no them, and
without them, there's no us.
So we got to make sure that notonly we're taking care of them,
but we're taking care ofourselves as well.
So my first thing is justbreathe.
Just breathe, because, whateverit is, it's going to be okay.
All right, it's going to beokay, it's going to be good.
Just breathe, all right.
(03:31):
In and out, a little motivation,meditation, you know, just a
couple of breathing exercises.
Um, just breathe, because,remember, if you plan to fail
you, if you fail to plan, youplan to fail.
Now, this is not always thecase, but I always say you got
to have a plan for when you gointo the new school year.
And so, listen, we got a coupleof bullet points for you.
(03:51):
Just breathe and plan, plan,plan, plan and you can say, okay
, well, if I plan, it may not goaccording to plan, you're right
.
But if you have a base, why amI tongue tied today?
If you have a basis of what itis that you need to do, it makes
(04:13):
it a little bit easier versusif you're free handing it.
Forgive me if I start stumblingover my words and stuff.
It's been a very long weekendand I spent over 12 hours in the
sun at a swim meet for New Face, so I think I might have fried
a few brain cells or something,because the heat indices have
been over the 100s.
But I digress.
(04:35):
I will say this while you'rebreathing, coffee and tea will
be your best friend.
Ok, they're going to be yourbest friend because they're
going to give you that littlespark of energy and what you
need to continue on with yourday.
Me, yeah, I have what I call anallowance, a weekly allowance,
(04:55):
and this allowance allows me, ifI'm running late or I'm falling
behind, I can grab myselfcoffee.
I can grab myself a littlesomething to eat on the way to
work or if I'm going to getsomething to eat at work if I
don't meal prep.
That's what my like allowanceis for.
So I keep about $20 and you say, well, that don't seem like
(05:16):
much.
No, because I don't want it to.
I don't want to have a bigamount because I don't want it
to become a habit.
This is just something that youknow.
If my plan isn't comingtogether like I overslept or
something like that, this isjust my little emergency money
that I can grab a coffee, grab alittle something on the way
because I'm going to plan.
So, since I'm planning thenbecause if I have a lot of money
(05:41):
that I'd be like, oh, I ain'tgot to worry about meal prepping
or I ain't got to worry aboutno food or nothing like that,
because I have this emergencymoney and I have like $100 in
emergency money for the week.
So I just go get me a coffee orgo get me a whatever.
And it becomes an everydayhabit.
And I know this from experience.
There was one point in timewhere I was not meal prepping, I
(06:07):
was not getting myself togetherand I had to go to work and I
was going to Starbucks every day.
And I want to say I wasspending about three $400 at
Starbucks and you probably like,oh, that's a lot, yeah.
But when you think about it,the drinks at Starbucks are like
between five and $8.
So it adds up really, reallyquickly.
10 drinks that's $80 rightthere.
Really really quick.
(06:28):
Uh, 10 drinks, that's $80 rightthere if the drink costs $8.
So you can see that it adds uppretty quickly.
And not only was I gettingsomething to drink, but I was
getting something to eat as well, so it just added up.
So I'm spending literally like$15 a day because I wasn't
planning, I wasn't gettingmyself together.
So by starting to meal prep andmaking coffee at home, that
(06:50):
easily saved me about 30, 45minutes out of my day.
Because if you show up towhatever coffee shop you go to,
the line could be long or theymay not have something, or the
traffic may be bad, and it justadds extra time into your day.
And that's, we already ain'tgot enough time, so you don't
want to do something that'sgoing to add time to your day.
(07:10):
While you're establishing yourday-to-day routine, make sure
that it is something feasible.
I used to say you know, okay,at this time we're going to do
this, at this time we're goingto do that.
Use those times as guidelines,not as dress right, dress Like.
(07:32):
My alarm is set every morningfor 4.30.
4.30 is just my baseline, 4.30,.
I am not sitting up in a bedlike, oh yes, good morning, 4.30
is just a baseline of okay,it's time to wake up and it's
time to start slowly arising.
Because even though my alarmgoes off at 4.30, I typically
(07:54):
don't get out the bed justdepending on what day it is,
because my week looks differenteach week.
For the most part it's prettystable, but it sometimes look a
little different.
So my alarm goes off at four,30 and I kinda that's kinda like
my wake up, but I'm not woke up, if that makes sense, and I
typically don't get up untilaround five, 15,.
(08:15):
But instead of just waking upand just jumping up and being
cranky uh, it's it's kind oflike how you do a kid.
You just allowed them to justgradually wake up.
So I give myself 45 minutes tojust gradually wake up, and I
know you'd be like dang, youain't got to wake up that early.
You can just sleep in a littlelater and then just wake up and
get up.
I could, but I don't want to doit like that, so I just give
(08:39):
myself that 45 minutes to slowlyawake.
I don't turn any lights on, Idon't get on my phone or
anything like that.
I just take that morning tojust slowly wake up and just
kind of slowly get myselftogether.
Once you're up and you haveyourself together, then you know
, establish a routine of like amI going to go make lunches
(09:03):
first?
Am I going to wake up the kidsfirst?
What order am I going to dothings in?
You know, what do you feel likeis going to work best for you?
Do you have small kids?
Do you have medium kids?
Do you have older kids?
Everybody's day-to-day is goingto look different.
For example, my day to day whenschool has started looks like
(09:26):
this I still get up at 4.30 andI'm typically out the door by
5.45, six o'clock.
Just because the trafficchanges Like now school in there
I can leave the house at 6.30and still get to work by seven.
Now I have to allow time forbuses, long lights, school zones
(09:46):
and different stuff like that.
So I get up at 4.30, showerabout 5.15.
Typically my food is alreadypacked.
So I spend about 10 minutesjust grabbing stuff out the
refrigerator and putting it inmy lunch bag.
And then right before I godownstairs to do that, I go wake
(10:06):
up New Face because he has tobe out the house by 7.10 to walk
to the bus stop and so before Ileave I just wake him up, kind
of give him a nudge to make surehe's starting to wake up a
little bit like that.
I give him the same courtesy,wake him up about 545.
That way he has until about 630to just kind of slowly wake up.
(10:30):
And then he gets up, takes hisshower, grabs his breakfast he
normally makes his breakfast onthe spot grab his breakfast, get
to the bus stop and get his daygoing.
Bus stop and get his day going.
(10:51):
Now, if you have a child orchildren that require morning
care or daycare, if they'rereally, really small, then make
sure that you have their bagstaken care of the night before.
And I've even gotten in thehabit of my work bag, because
there have been many times whereI've gotten to work and I don't
have my work computer, I don'thave my work folder, I don't
have my password, but I don'thave any of that.
So the night before I pack allof that and then I put it in the
(11:14):
car and then I go from there.
That way, it alleviates mepotentially forgetting it at
home, forgetting my bagalleviates me potentially
forgetting it at home,forgetting my bad, like I like
listen.
It didn't been sometimes whereI've literally just showed up to
work no badge, no work.
If you know nothing, I'm just atwork on vibes because I ain't
(11:35):
got nothing.
And if I turn around and comehome, I'm just gonna be at the
house.
I'm pto me because I ain'tcoming back.
Okay, I'm just going to be outthe door.
So just sit down and look atwhat your day to day looks like.
If your schedule is prettyconsistent, then you know that's
amazing, that's great.
But if you're like me andyou're like your remote days
(11:56):
vary and stuff like that, yourday to day may look different a
couple of days out the week.
However, if you have a baseline, stick with that baseline and
it'll be easy to adjust if youhave a different workflow this
day versus if you have adifferent workflow the next day.
Aren't y'all proud of me, likeI got my notes over here, like
(12:19):
um.
So my next talking point isafter school care.
Start deciding what you'regoing to do for after school
care.
Is your child a walker?
Do they walk home?
Are they going to be a carrider?
Are they going to go to afterschool care?
Is the after school care goingto be at the school, or are you
going to hire a bus service orlike one of those after school
(12:42):
programs to come pick up yourchild?
Make sure you start decidingthat now, please, please, please
, like.
Over these next couple of weeksand the first couple of weeks
of school, you're going to haveto pack your patience.
You can plan all you want, butit's not going to go according
to plan, because that's just thechaos of the first few weeks of
(13:04):
school.
Make sure that while you'redoing this, you are letting your
emergency contacts know.
While you're doing this, youare letting your emergency
contacts know and you might saywell, why Think about it like
this.
Say, for instance, you can'tget there on time, and you call
hey, nick, can you go pick upNew Face, because I ain't going
(13:27):
to be able to make it.
Well, now is not the time todetermine if Nicky is on the
pickup list.
Do Nicky even know where NewFace go to take care of it?
Or do Nikki know where NewFace's after school care is?
Probably not, but you want tomake sure you take care of this,
because they can somebody tellyou oh, I know where that's it.
(13:49):
Do you really know where it is?
Because when you in that moment, time is of the essence, okay.
And so just make sure that youkind of get in your ducats in a
row, make sure the emergencycontact has all the information
they need If they either need topick your child up from
afterschool care or they need todrop them off.
(14:11):
If there's any kind of secretpassword, anything like that,
please make sure that they haveit In addition to afterschool
care.
What about homework?
If your child is a walker andthey walk home and they're a
latchkey kid until you get home,what does that look like for
homework in the afternoon?
For us, homework looks a littledifferent because nine times
(14:35):
out of 10, most kids are goingto have homework and then
they're involved in some type ofathletic.
So you've got.
You have got to find thebalance.
I hear so many times that kidsare involved in athletics and
they are literally doing theirhomework in the backseat of the
car on the way to practice.
Let me be the first to tell youI don't have no psychology
(14:58):
degree, psychiatry degree.
That is not healthy for yourchild.
I always make sure that New Faceallots time for his homework
these last few weeks of school.
Before school starts I'mtelling him get your little
video gaming out, get yourlittle phone play out, because
when school starts it's going tobe homework, homework, homework
.
I always provide he has to doit downstairs.
(15:20):
He's not allowed to do it inhis room.
He's not allowed to do itupstairs.
He has to do it downstairs ateither the countertop or either
at the table, no exceptions, noexceptions whatsoever.
Has to be downstairs.
Distraction free, no ifs, andsand buts about it.
(15:43):
Then, whatever time he has togo to athletics.
So right now his practicestarts at 6 pm, he gets out of
school at 3.50.
So that kind of gives him aboutan hour, hour and a half to
kind of work on his homework.
Um, one thing I do make him dois after he does his homework on
the way to practice.
I do.
He can't have his phone, so hedoes read notes because it's a
(16:07):
form of reading.
He's not on his phone, um, he'snot actively writing or
anything like that.
He's just like reviewing thenotes that he's made.
Nothing wrong with that.
Like when I say kids shouldn'tbe doing homework.
I'm like writing and likeflipping pages and stuff like
that.
They should merely be reviewingnotes, like just strictly like
that.
And then for if some reason hehas a lot of homework and he
(16:29):
didn't finish before swim, thenhe can do it when he gets home.
I meal prep the food.
I typically meal prep thedinner.
That way, when he gets home,all he has to do is take a
shower, he just food up and thengo back to that With him.
His teachers give the deadlines.
His homework is due on Sundays,so what he does is, instead of
(16:50):
sitting doing it all in oneserving, I will say, at one time
, he breaks it up day by day, byday, so that on Saturdays and
Sundays he's not playing likestudent Olympics.
He just breaks it up day by day, by day by day.
It makes it a little bit moremanageable for him.
Athletics I always make surethat his bag is packed and I
(17:12):
keep a spare bag in my car aswell, because I know my child,
you know your child, so I alwayskeep a spare bag in a car that
has everything it mimics his bag, just in case, like he gets to
school and he'd be like mom, Iforgot my bag and I'm like
that's fine when I pick you up.
I got my bag in the car, youain't got to worry about it.
Like we good, bro, like we good, make sure if you.
(17:40):
If possible, just make surethat they have their bagpacks.
They have everything I need and, like I said, I just mimic his
stuff and I just keep a bag inthe car.
It just makes it easy foreverybody, because I feel like
I'd rather be over-prepared thanunder-prepared, simple as that,
because if you'reunder-prepared, then you have to
find time to stop at a storeand grab something or something
(18:03):
like that.
No such thing as beingover-prepared.
Just keep extra stuff in yourcar and swap it out if you need
to.
You know what I'm saying.
Put fresh towels in there forswim or whatever they sport they
do.
Keep a pair of shoes, whetherit be just a pair of Bobo shoes
or something like that, like ajust-in-case pair, because you
never know what is going tohappen.
(18:27):
Parents, I cannot stress thisenough the weekend is your best
friend and I know you say, well,well, my child got sports on
the weekend.
Okay, my child does too.
However, I do take the weekendsfor myself.
It don't gotta be a lot of time.
It ain't gotta be a whole day.
(18:47):
Give yourself a few hours, takea nap.
What I do is I do a little, afew things during the week.
I keep things straight duringthe week and then on Saturday by
the time Saturday and Sundaycome, I don't have this whole
big old thing going on where Ihave to spend all day cleaning
and doing laundry and differentstuff like that.
I do it little by little bylittle, because it's easier to
(19:09):
eat a pizza slice by slice thanto eat it all at one time, right
?
So I use that same philosophywhen it comes to school and
making my plan.
Just do it a little bit at atime, that way, when I have the
allotted time, it's not going totake me a long time because I
kind of have everything.
I've already put the pieces inplace, shall you say.
(19:32):
And, like I said, this is timeto catch up on homework for kids
, catch up on housework, laundryand get prepared for the next
week.
Saturday I use that day to kindof close out the previous week,
and then Sunday is the start ofthe new week.
That's when I get my groceryshopping done, that's when I get
my meal prep and done and I getall of that stuff done.
(19:54):
Yeah, so the weekend is yourbest friend, like this weekend.
When I tell you, I am beat downbecause New Face had a swim meet
and it was.
We had to get up at 4.30, drive45 minutes.
He had to be at warmups at 6.3030.
The heat indices have been over100 for the past two days.
(20:17):
He made it to finals yesterday,so that mean we had to come
back at three o'clock for him toswim and we didn't get home
till six o'clock.
But today he um unfortunatelydidn't make finals.
He was okay with that, so weactually got to come home, um
about 11 30, which was cool, andyou know it was still hot.
So I didn't do any laundrytoday, unfortunately, I just
(20:40):
laid around.
So I'm going to have to playcatch up on that this week and
this weekend because there's noswim the end of the season.
Today was the end of the season, so there is no swim for a
couple.
Today was the end of the season, so there's no swim for a
(21:10):
couple.
There's no meets for a littlebit and there's no practice this
week either.
So going to be long.
It was just a parents whilewe're out here doing everything
for our kids.
Just make sure that we'retaking care of ourselves, make
sure we're hydrating, make surewe're getting enough sleep,
because if we're not good, thenour kids can't be good, and vice
versa.
You know, make you a plan.
Regardless.
If the plan goes, dress right,dress every day and it goes off
(21:32):
without a hitch every day,that's okay.
You have the plan, and a plancan be tweaked.
It doesn't need to be perfect,but just set that baseline for
what it is you need to do and,yeah, you'll be good to go.
So, since this was just like aparent edition and kind of like
a pop-up, there's no song lyricof the week.
(21:52):
Yeah, so until next time, makesure you're following us on IG
and YouTube at the Gag Is Pod.
Please make sure you are liking, subscribing and rating.
That way we can get out thereto more audiences.
And yeah, until next time.
Bye, guys.
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the
Gag is Pod.
I'm your girl, charlie Shante.
Thank you for joining me onanother episode and I'm not even
like, wait, today's not Friday.
We getting an episode.
Yes, we are getting an episodebecause I've been focusing on
the kids and this is going to belike what I call a parent
(00:23):
edition, because we need, we gotto take time for us too.
So, before we do that, ifyou're not already, please make
sure you are following us on IG,at the gag is pot YouTube as
well as the gag is pot, becauseafter you listen to this, you
can go watch it too, because youknow kind of see what I didn't
kind of see your girl, you know,um.
(00:47):
And then if you want to dobusiness, you know there's the
email the gag is pod at gmailcom.
So, like I always say, go aheadand grab whatever it is you eat
, drink or whatever it is you dowhen you listen to this episode
, so we can go ahead and jumpinto this episode.
So I'm calling this my back toschool parent edition because,
like I said, I've been focusingon the kids a lot.
We're making sure the kids aregood and whatnot, but what about
(01:11):
us.
We got to take time for us.
So before we jump all the wayin, I do have another letter
that I received that I'm goingto read.
It says Dear Family of ClarenceSpencer and I'm going to change
the name in here because theperson's name's in here, so I'm
going to change the name alittle bit Dear Family of
(01:34):
Clarence Spencer.
My name is John Doe.
When scrolling across the TravisManning Foundation website, I
was looking through the FallenHeroes section.
That's when I came across thestory of Clarence Spencer.
Clarence was a humorous, lovingleader who was dedicated to the
army, freedom and even football.
Yes, he loved his cowboys.
I just wanted to thank yourfamily so much for Clarence.
(01:55):
He truly is an amazinginspiration giving up his life
for the freedom of Iraqicitizens.
Although I have never met him,I can confirm that just by
reading his story.
He was a wonderful leader.
I will keep Clarence and yourfamily in my prayers forever.
Thanks for your time.
(02:16):
Yes, I can confirm that he wasa wonderful person too.
Day he was a wonderful persontoo.
So thank you for writing thatletter.
I greatly appreciate it.
I love getting the letters andbeing able to read the letters,
whether they be short, long orsomewhere in between.
(02:40):
So now let's go ahead and jumpinto today's episode.
So, like I said, I sat and Ithought I'm like, hmm, what can
I talk to my parents about?
Because I'm always giving themthe checklist for the kids.
What about us?
So I figured I'd do us a littleshort episode.
You know something that'll helpus remember.
You know what it is.
(03:00):
We got to do Because without nous, there's no them, and without
them, there's no us.
Is we got to do because withoutno us, there's no them, and
without them, there's no us.
So we got to make sure that notonly we're taking care of them,
but we're taking care ofourselves as well.
So my first thing is justbreathe.
Just breathe, because, whateverit is, it's going to be okay.
All right, it's going to beokay, it's going to be good.
Just breathe, all right.
(03:31):
In and out, a little motivation,meditation, you know, just a
couple of breathing exercises.
Um, just breathe, because,remember, if you plan to fail
you, if you fail to plan, youplan to fail.
Now, this is not always thecase, but I always say you got
to have a plan for when you gointo the new school year.
And so, listen, we got a coupleof bullet points for you.
(03:51):
Just breathe and plan, plan,plan, plan and you can say, okay
, well, if I plan, it may not goaccording to plan, you're right
.
But if you have a base, why amI tongue tied today?
If you have a basis of what itis that you need to do, it makes
(04:13):
it a little bit easier versusif you're free handing it.
Forgive me if I start stumblingover my words and stuff.
It's been a very long weekendand I spent over 12 hours in the
sun at a swim meet for New Face, so I think I might have fried
a few brain cells or something,because the heat indices have
been over the 100s.
But I digress.
(04:35):
I will say this while you'rebreathing, coffee and tea will
be your best friend.
Ok, they're going to be yourbest friend because they're
going to give you that littlespark of energy and what you
need to continue on with yourday.
Me, yeah, I have what I call anallowance, a weekly allowance,
(04:55):
and this allowance allows me, ifI'm running late or I'm falling
behind, I can grab myselfcoffee.
I can grab myself a littlesomething to eat on the way to
work or if I'm going to getsomething to eat at work if I
don't meal prep.
That's what my like allowanceis for.
So I keep about $20 and you say, well, that don't seem like
(05:16):
much.
No, because I don't want it to.
I don't want to have a bigamount because I don't want it
to become a habit.
This is just something that youknow.
If my plan isn't comingtogether like I overslept or
something like that, this isjust my little emergency money
that I can grab a coffee, grab alittle something on the way
because I'm going to plan.
So, since I'm planning thenbecause if I have a lot of money
(05:41):
that I'd be like, oh, I ain'tgot to worry about meal prepping
or I ain't got to worry aboutno food or nothing like that,
because I have this emergencymoney and I have like $100 in
emergency money for the week.
So I just go get me a coffee orgo get me a whatever.
And it becomes an everydayhabit.
And I know this from experience.
There was one point in timewhere I was not meal prepping, I
(06:07):
was not getting myself togetherand I had to go to work and I
was going to Starbucks every day.
And I want to say I wasspending about three $400 at
Starbucks and you probably like,oh, that's a lot, yeah.
But when you think about it,the drinks at Starbucks are like
between five and $8.
So it adds up really, reallyquickly.
10 drinks that's $80 rightthere.
Really really quick.
(06:28):
Uh, 10 drinks, that's $80 rightthere if the drink costs $8.
So you can see that it adds uppretty quickly.
And not only was I gettingsomething to drink, but I was
getting something to eat as well, so it just added up.
So I'm spending literally like$15 a day because I wasn't
planning, I wasn't gettingmyself together.
So by starting to meal prep andmaking coffee at home, that
(06:50):
easily saved me about 30, 45minutes out of my day.
Because if you show up towhatever coffee shop you go to,
the line could be long or theymay not have something, or the
traffic may be bad, and it justadds extra time into your day.
And that's, we already ain'tgot enough time, so you don't
want to do something that'sgoing to add time to your day.
(07:10):
While you're establishing yourday-to-day routine, make sure
that it is something feasible.
I used to say you know, okay,at this time we're going to do
this, at this time we're goingto do that.
Use those times as guidelines,not as dress right, dress Like.
(07:32):
My alarm is set every morningfor 4.30.
4.30 is just my baseline, 4.30,.
I am not sitting up in a bedlike, oh yes, good morning, 4.30
is just a baseline of okay,it's time to wake up and it's
time to start slowly arising.
Because even though my alarmgoes off at 4.30, I typically
(07:54):
don't get out the bed justdepending on what day it is,
because my week looks differenteach week.
For the most part it's prettystable, but it sometimes look a
little different.
So my alarm goes off at four,30 and I kinda that's kinda like
my wake up, but I'm not woke up, if that makes sense, and I
typically don't get up untilaround five, 15,.
(08:15):
But instead of just waking upand just jumping up and being
cranky uh, it's it's kind oflike how you do a kid.
You just allowed them to justgradually wake up.
So I give myself 45 minutes tojust gradually wake up, and I
know you'd be like dang, youain't got to wake up that early.
You can just sleep in a littlelater and then just wake up and
get up.
I could, but I don't want to doit like that, so I just give
(08:39):
myself that 45 minutes to slowlyawake.
I don't turn any lights on, Idon't get on my phone or
anything like that.
I just take that morning tojust slowly wake up and just
kind of slowly get myselftogether.
Once you're up and you haveyourself together, then you know
, establish a routine of like amI going to go make lunches
(09:03):
first?
Am I going to wake up the kidsfirst?
What order am I going to dothings in?
You know, what do you feel likeis going to work best for you?
Do you have small kids?
Do you have medium kids?
Do you have older kids?
Everybody's day-to-day is goingto look different.
For example, my day to day whenschool has started looks like
(09:26):
this I still get up at 4.30 andI'm typically out the door by
5.45, six o'clock.
Just because the trafficchanges Like now school in there
I can leave the house at 6.30and still get to work by seven.
Now I have to allow time forbuses, long lights, school zones
(09:46):
and different stuff like that.
So I get up at 4.30, showerabout 5.15.
Typically my food is alreadypacked.
So I spend about 10 minutesjust grabbing stuff out the
refrigerator and putting it inmy lunch bag.
And then right before I godownstairs to do that, I go wake
(10:06):
up New Face because he has tobe out the house by 7.10 to walk
to the bus stop and so before Ileave I just wake him up, kind
of give him a nudge to make surehe's starting to wake up a
little bit like that.
I give him the same courtesy,wake him up about 545.
That way he has until about 630to just kind of slowly wake up.
(10:30):
And then he gets up, takes hisshower, grabs his breakfast he
normally makes his breakfast onthe spot grab his breakfast, get
to the bus stop and get his daygoing.
Bus stop and get his day going.
(10:51):
Now, if you have a child orchildren that require morning
care or daycare, if they'rereally, really small, then make
sure that you have their bagstaken care of the night before.
And I've even gotten in thehabit of my work bag, because
there have been many times whereI've gotten to work and I don't
have my work computer, I don'thave my work folder, I don't
have my password, but I don'thave any of that.
So the night before I pack allof that and then I put it in the
(11:14):
car and then I go from there.
That way, it alleviates mepotentially forgetting it at
home, forgetting my bagalleviates me potentially
forgetting it at home,forgetting my bad, like I like
listen.
It didn't been sometimes whereI've literally just showed up to
work no badge, no work.
If you know nothing, I'm just atwork on vibes because I ain't
(11:35):
got nothing.
And if I turn around and comehome, I'm just gonna be at the
house.
I'm pto me because I ain'tcoming back.
Okay, I'm just going to be outthe door.
So just sit down and look atwhat your day to day looks like.
If your schedule is prettyconsistent, then you know that's
amazing, that's great.
But if you're like me andyou're like your remote days
(11:56):
vary and stuff like that, yourday to day may look different a
couple of days out the week.
However, if you have a baseline, stick with that baseline and
it'll be easy to adjust if youhave a different workflow this
day versus if you have adifferent workflow the next day.
Aren't y'all proud of me, likeI got my notes over here, like
(12:19):
um.
So my next talking point isafter school care.
Start deciding what you'regoing to do for after school
care.
Is your child a walker?
Do they walk home?
Are they going to be a carrider?
Are they going to go to afterschool care?
Is the after school care goingto be at the school, or are you
going to hire a bus service orlike one of those after school
(12:42):
programs to come pick up yourchild?
Make sure you start decidingthat now, please, please, please
, like.
Over these next couple of weeksand the first couple of weeks
of school, you're going to haveto pack your patience.
You can plan all you want, butit's not going to go according
to plan, because that's just thechaos of the first few weeks of
(13:04):
school.
Make sure that while you'redoing this, you are letting your
emergency contacts know.
While you're doing this, youare letting your emergency
contacts know and you might saywell, why Think about it like
this.
Say, for instance, you can'tget there on time, and you call
hey, nick, can you go pick upNew Face, because I ain't going
(13:27):
to be able to make it.
Well, now is not the time todetermine if Nicky is on the
pickup list.
Do Nicky even know where NewFace go to take care of it?
Or do Nikki know where NewFace's after school care is?
Probably not, but you want tomake sure you take care of this,
because they can somebody tellyou oh, I know where that's it.
(13:49):
Do you really know where it is?
Because when you in that moment, time is of the essence, okay.
And so just make sure that youkind of get in your ducats in a
row, make sure the emergencycontact has all the information
they need If they either need topick your child up from
afterschool care or they need todrop them off.
(14:11):
If there's any kind of secretpassword, anything like that,
please make sure that they haveit In addition to afterschool
care.
What about homework?
If your child is a walker andthey walk home and they're a
latchkey kid until you get home,what does that look like for
homework in the afternoon?
For us, homework looks a littledifferent because nine times
(14:35):
out of 10, most kids are goingto have homework and then
they're involved in some type ofathletic.
So you've got.
You have got to find thebalance.
I hear so many times that kidsare involved in athletics and
they are literally doing theirhomework in the backseat of the
car on the way to practice.
Let me be the first to tell youI don't have no psychology
(14:58):
degree, psychiatry degree.
That is not healthy for yourchild.
I always make sure that New Faceallots time for his homework
these last few weeks of school.
Before school starts I'mtelling him get your little
video gaming out, get yourlittle phone play out, because
when school starts it's going tobe homework, homework, homework
.
I always provide he has to doit downstairs.
(15:20):
He's not allowed to do it inhis room.
He's not allowed to do itupstairs.
He has to do it downstairs ateither the countertop or either
at the table, no exceptions, noexceptions whatsoever.
Has to be downstairs.
Distraction free, no ifs, andsand buts about it.
(15:43):
Then, whatever time he has togo to athletics.
So right now his practicestarts at 6 pm, he gets out of
school at 3.50.
So that kind of gives him aboutan hour, hour and a half to
kind of work on his homework.
Um, one thing I do make him dois after he does his homework on
the way to practice.
I do.
He can't have his phone, so hedoes read notes because it's a
(16:07):
form of reading.
He's not on his phone, um, he'snot actively writing or
anything like that.
He's just like reviewing thenotes that he's made.
Nothing wrong with that.
Like when I say kids shouldn'tbe doing homework.
I'm like writing and likeflipping pages and stuff like
that.
They should merely be reviewingnotes, like just strictly like
that.
And then for if some reason hehas a lot of homework and he
(16:29):
didn't finish before swim, thenhe can do it when he gets home.
I meal prep the food.
I typically meal prep thedinner.
That way, when he gets home,all he has to do is take a
shower, he just food up and thengo back to that With him.
His teachers give the deadlines.
His homework is due on Sundays,so what he does is, instead of
(16:50):
sitting doing it all in oneserving, I will say, at one time
, he breaks it up day by day, byday, so that on Saturdays and
Sundays he's not playing likestudent Olympics.
He just breaks it up day by day, by day by day.
It makes it a little bit moremanageable for him.
Athletics I always make surethat his bag is packed and I
(17:12):
keep a spare bag in my car aswell, because I know my child,
you know your child, so I alwayskeep a spare bag in a car that
has everything it mimics his bag, just in case, like he gets to
school and he'd be like mom, Iforgot my bag and I'm like
that's fine when I pick you up.
I got my bag in the car, youain't got to worry about it.
Like we good, bro, like we good, make sure if you.
(17:40):
If possible, just make surethat they have their bagpacks.
They have everything I need and, like I said, I just mimic his
stuff and I just keep a bag inthe car.
It just makes it easy foreverybody, because I feel like
I'd rather be over-prepared thanunder-prepared, simple as that,
because if you'reunder-prepared, then you have to
find time to stop at a storeand grab something or something
(18:03):
like that.
No such thing as beingover-prepared.
Just keep extra stuff in yourcar and swap it out if you need
to.
You know what I'm saying.
Put fresh towels in there forswim or whatever they sport they
do.
Keep a pair of shoes, whetherit be just a pair of Bobo shoes
or something like that, like ajust-in-case pair, because you
never know what is going tohappen.
(18:27):
Parents, I cannot stress thisenough the weekend is your best
friend and I know you say, well,well, my child got sports on
the weekend.
Okay, my child does too.
However, I do take the weekendsfor myself.
It don't gotta be a lot of time.
It ain't gotta be a whole day.
(18:47):
Give yourself a few hours, takea nap.
What I do is I do a little, afew things during the week.
I keep things straight duringthe week and then on Saturday by
the time Saturday and Sundaycome, I don't have this whole
big old thing going on where Ihave to spend all day cleaning
and doing laundry and differentstuff like that.
I do it little by little bylittle, because it's easier to
(19:09):
eat a pizza slice by slice thanto eat it all at one time, right
?
So I use that same philosophywhen it comes to school and
making my plan.
Just do it a little bit at atime, that way, when I have the
allotted time, it's not going totake me a long time because I
kind of have everything.
I've already put the pieces inplace, shall you say.
(19:32):
And, like I said, this is timeto catch up on homework for kids
, catch up on housework, laundryand get prepared for the next
week.
Saturday I use that day to kindof close out the previous week,
and then Sunday is the start ofthe new week.
That's when I get my groceryshopping done, that's when I get
my meal prep and done and I getall of that stuff done.
(19:54):
Yeah, so the weekend is yourbest friend, like this weekend.
When I tell you, I am beat downbecause New Face had a swim meet
and it was.
We had to get up at 4.30, drive45 minutes.
He had to be at warmups at 6.3030.
The heat indices have been over100 for the past two days.
(20:17):
He made it to finals yesterday,so that mean we had to come
back at three o'clock for him toswim and we didn't get home
till six o'clock.
But today he um unfortunatelydidn't make finals.
He was okay with that, so weactually got to come home, um
about 11 30, which was cool, andyou know it was still hot.
So I didn't do any laundrytoday, unfortunately, I just
(20:40):
laid around.
So I'm going to have to playcatch up on that this week and
this weekend because there's noswim the end of the season.
Today was the end of the season, so there is no swim for a
couple.
Today was the end of the season, so there's no swim for a
(21:10):
couple.
There's no meets for a littlebit and there's no practice this
week either.
So going to be long.
It was just a parents whilewe're out here doing everything
for our kids.
Just make sure that we'retaking care of ourselves, make
sure we're hydrating, make surewe're getting enough sleep,
because if we're not good, thenour kids can't be good, and vice
versa.
You know, make you a plan.
Regardless.
If the plan goes, dress right,dress every day and it goes off
(21:32):
without a hitch every day,that's okay.
You have the plan, and a plancan be tweaked.
It doesn't need to be perfect,but just set that baseline for
what it is you need to do and,yeah, you'll be good to go.
So, since this was just like aparent edition and kind of like
a pop-up, there's no song lyricof the week.
(21:52):
Yeah, so until next time, makesure you're following us on IG
and YouTube at the Gag Is Pod.
Please make sure you are liking, subscribing and rating.
That way we can get out thereto more audiences.
And yeah, until next time.
Bye, guys.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.