June 21, 2025 • 49 mins
What does it take to break free from a lifetime of educational conditioning? For Evgenia, a Russian immigrant now homeschooling in Canada, the journey began with a powerful realization: "I don't like to share my child with the government."
Growing up in Russia's rigid school system left lasting impressions – some teachers still appear in her nightmares decades later. But becoming a mother transformed everything, shifting her from liberal-minded to questioning mainstream educational approaches. When her son was born, Evgenia discovered a freedom she never knew existed in education.
The path hasn't been without challenges. Homeschooling an only child means constant companionship without breaks, especially for her naturally social six-year-old who "always is on me all the time." She candidly shares her evolution from attempting strict "school at home" with her toddler to embracing a more natural learning approach across three languages – Russian, Polish, and English.
Perhaps most valuable is Evgenia's insight into sustaining yourself through the intense journey of homeschooling. Her morning ritual before anyone wakes gives her 45-60 minutes of self-renewal – looking at the sun, enjoying nature, practicing self-massage, prayer, and sometimes dancing alone. "I realized I cannot live like this anymore," she explains, "because I want to pour into everyone's cup, but my cup is empty."
Her wisdom extends beyond education into wellness: "Use your kids as motivation to take care of yourself." This perspective reframes self-care not as selfish but essential – we're modeling behaviors our children will carry into adulthood. Whether you're considering homeschooling, struggling with balancing parenthood, or simply seeking a fresh perspective on education, Evgenia's story reminds us that learning never stops for parents or children.
Free resources https://www.atnourishedmotherhood.com/free-resources
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What is the most important thing we can teach our kids?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, and with us today I have Evgenia.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Okay, today's just.
It's been a day, but we'realmost at the end of it and it's
almost time to sleep, so I willrest, recover.
Our car broke down and today wehad some leakage from the
second floor to the first floorthrough the lights and I was
thinking do I cancel the podcast?
I don't know, but it's okay.
(00:24):
I remembered that, since I'mRussian, I can work under
pressure and that's mysuperpower, so I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh my God, I love that.
Well, first of all, you couldhave rescheduled.
I would not have been mad atyou for that.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I actually was like, I actually work under pressure
way better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So I love that you're Russian.
I one of my favorite guests andshe's someone that messages me
all the time.
She's Russian as well, and shejust had the funniest stuff to
say when she was on my episode.
She was like if there are anypeople that know the laws in the
US better than Americans, it is.
I think she said something likethe Jews and the immigrants.
(01:04):
Yeah, of course, it was sofunny, so welcome.
And you homeschool?
Yes, I do have you.
Is it big in Russia or is thissomething like because you're in
the States, you can do this.
I'm actually in Canada.
Oh, you're in Canada, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I do homeschool because I don't like to share my
child with the government.
Plus, I obviously wanted tospend more time with him.
I would say I first wanted tospend more time with him and to
capture this very importantyears, but then, second of all,
it's because I didn't want toreally expose my child to the
curriculum stuff that they arepromoting in Canada,
(01:41):
unfortunately, or in.
Ontario, but mostly it's thewhole country.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They're promoting it here too, in the States.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, exactly.
No, of course.
Yeah, I am aware of this.
So I wanted to preserve mychild's childhood.
So that's why we decided to tryto keep up with homeschooling.
How old is your son?
He's six, so it's just.
You know, we are at the verybeginning of this, even though
we do this for three yearsalready.
(02:09):
But right now there are somemore difficulties.
You know they say, first it'sterrible, twos, then it's
something threes, and you hopethat it's going to be better
eventually and it's not likeit's really bad.
But kids do have certaindevelopmental stages and it's
always very interesting toexperience what's next what's
(02:31):
going to be next.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And it's never easier when I talk to, like my sister,
whose kids are all grown.
She just has such differentworries.
now she's like oh, my Godthey're out on the road, they're
going to visit friends off atcollege and doing God knows what
.
My nephew was just actually inCanada a couple of weeks ago and
I'm like, oh no, what's legalthere that isn't here that he
can get into?
(02:52):
No, yes, yeah.
Yeah, they wouldn't get into ithere too.
I'm sure they find ways, justlike I did.
But so, okay, you have asix-year-old son.
I have had two people in thelast couple of days ask me on
Instagram DMs abouthomeschooling their only child.
Do you find this a challenge ornot?
(03:14):
The socialization, oh my God,they're going to be a hermit.
How has this?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
been.
It's been really interesting.
I would say there are somechallenges there, but not always
.
But of course, the fact thatI'm the only adult or another
human being next to him all thetime, that's the challenge.
Because he's okay.
I think he was born very social,like.
He's naturally so social thatsometimes it's even scary that
(03:42):
he just goes to anyone and hesays do you want to be my friend
?
And then, you know, sometimeshe gets reply no, and then he
cries, but usually the thehardest part is that I'm by
myself with him all the time andthere is no other kids or
adults.
Well, my husband is sometimeshere, sometimes not, but no
(04:03):
other kids who can, who I cansay you guys go and play for 10
minutes and mama will have sometime to rest and recharge.
There is no option like this.
And older he becomes, moreattention he wants and I was
actually never thinking thatthis is going to be the case.
I thought, okay, when they'rebaby they need us the most and
(04:24):
then you know they can beindependent.
It's not true, especially whenwe're home.
When we are outside on aplayground or somewhere, he can
be independent, but when we arehome he doesn't want to.
He can, but he doesn't want to.
He wants to be dependent andhe's very social, loves physical
(04:44):
touch.
It's his love language.
So he always is on me all thetime, which is great.
I love this, but, um, sometimesthere are days, like today,
when it's hard to handleconstantly.
So I would love, of course, tohave another child hopefully
it's gonna happen this year ornext year but I mean not the
(05:06):
child, but the conception, and Iwould love him to have the
sibling.
Because I was the only childtoo and, to be honest with you,
that was really sad for me togrow up by myself, when I didn't
have anyone to play with and myparents were constantly working
, and that's why I actually wasenjoying the sports and I was
doing competitive acrobaticgymnastics my whole life,
(05:28):
because that was my community,because if I wouldn't do this, I
would be sitting at home halfof the day by myself alone.
What about school?
Did you go to school?
Oh yeah, of course I did.
Yes, yes, I did go to schooland it was.
It was Russian school, hardcoreRussian school.
I went to German gymnasium orGerman school, where we were
(05:48):
focusing on German language andEnglish was the second language
and Latin was the third languageand then we were having
exchange with German studentsfrom school when we were in high
school In Russia the differencein school is that you go to the
same school from grade one tograde 11, and there is no change
(06:09):
.
It's always the same school.
So it's like your home in a way, but at 3 or 3.30, the lessons
were done and then you're goinghome stressed because you have
millions of studies to do,homework to do and other things
from school, and then it's likeyou know, you don't really
(06:32):
understand because the classesare about 30 kids and the
teachers are not necessarilyspending time explaining to
every child.
They're, like you, understood,understood, and that's it.
Child.
They, like you, understood,understood, and that's it.
But who wants to raise the handand say I didn't understand?
Actually, out of 30 kids, noone.
So I was like this because I wasgoing to competition and I was
(06:55):
missing some classes.
Then I would come back anddon't understand anything and
then you know it was reallyreally hard with school, even
though I would say that becauseI was in school in Russia, I
know how to be under pressureand I know how to deal with it
and how to not show the sign ofpressure that's not necessarily
(07:16):
superpower.
I would say that this is moredisadvantage, especially right
now, when I know the importanceof mental health.
I would say that just suckingit up and keep going is not the
best thing to do, especiallywhen we are already 40 and when
we have kids, because kids learnfrom us everything, not just
(07:36):
alphabets and math and somescience.
They learn from us the way howwe react to life and how we
manage stress and everythingelse, and I don't want my son to
learn this, but I think he willanyway, right, or at least a
little bit.
He will be exposed to this.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, what year?
How old were you when you cameto Canada?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh, I came exactly 10 years ago.
I actually last week celebrated10 years being in Canada.
I came on May 8th.
I remember it was Friday.
I came with my dog and it wasreally warm and I was just in
shock because in three days Iwas supposed to go to college
and I went to college and it wasmy first time in Canada.
(08:19):
I never knew this country.
I just came and I was slightlyoverwhelmed because when I could
hear people talking for me itwas like white noise because
even though I could read onEnglish and understand English,
but when people talk to mereally, really fast and just
like you know, just like theymet me, and they're talking in
(08:41):
their own pace, I was like Idon't understand a word.
But then it changed in a coupleof months.
After I was sitting a couple ofmonths with my, I went to
college to study fitness andhealth promotion and we of
course had biomechanics andanatomy and all the other
science stuff there and I wasliterally sitting with the book
(09:01):
that was that thick and I wastranslating not every word, of
course, but I was translatingsome words with the dictionary
and that was of course, makingmy studies complicating because
it was taking so much time totranslate the whole book or not
the whole book, but some words.
But it was okay.
So I came to it 10 years agoand I went to college.
(09:24):
I enjoyed it.
Of course, I only wanted to goto college because I actually
wanted to move from Russia, butthat became actually my job that
I enjoy, so it's really greatthat that happened this way.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And so okay, so you came over.
You wanted to leave Russia.
Were there any out like lyingover?
You wanted to leave Russia.
Were there any outlying reasonsthat you wanted to leave?
Is there anything big?
I mean, I don't want to get toointo it, I'm just like a silly
American that doesn't reallyknow what's really going on in
the world.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh, this is very interesting because I was very
liberal in my mindset at thattime and I didn't want to deal
with Russian conservatives.
And you know, I was thinking Iwas 30, still rebellious because
I didn't have kids and I didn'tlearn my lessons yet that kids
(10:19):
very often teach us.
But I was thinking that I don'twant to be in Russia because I
didn't feel safe and I choseCanada because it was the
easiest country to move withpets and legalize myself.
So I had two dogs and one catat that time and I was.
I wanted to go to Australia andthanks God I didn't go to,
(10:42):
because COVID showed thatAustralia was even worse than
Canada.
But I couldn't go to Australiabecause you have to put your
dogs or your cats intoquarantine for up to six months
and then they could just killthem or euthanize them without
letting you know, just becausethey think.
You know Australia has reallyreally hard restrictions on
(11:05):
bringing pets there, becauseit's a different continent,
right, and they don't want anydiseases that are not really
popular there, sure, but I'vechosen Canada because of the
reason that I could easily bringmy dogs and my cats.
So I wanted to stay, of course,but it wasn't easy to legalize
yourself in the States unlessyou get married.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Okay, interesting?
Yeah, cause I, you know, I hearthings over the years, maybe
not even searching for the stuff, but you just hear things.
So I always wondered, like, howhard is it?
I mean, I have friends fromPoland.
I suppose I could just ask them, but it's interesting cause
they're from Poland.
And then, like my friendSusanna, just ask them, but it's
interesting because they'refrom Poland.
And then, like my friendSusanna, she lived in Germany
(11:50):
for a while and her husband aswell came here, but they came
separately.
So, yeah, that's interesting.
So it is.
It was at least at one pointharder.
Obviously, I think it waseasier, maybe that we hear about
the last term, presidentialterm, I don't know you could
have snuck in then I guess, butyeah, but yeah, that's really
interesting.
So you had your son and you werein your 30s, like I am, I was
34 when I had my six-year-old,so I think we're the same age.
(12:11):
Actually, I would imagine ifyou were in gymnastics and
competing, that's probably whyyou were competing in your 20s.
Is that more or less what youwere doing?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I was competing more before my kids.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Then I was hit by a car and my competitive career
was done.
Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorryto hear that.
It's okay.
Yes, it taught me lots ofpatience.
Well, at least you look ateverything, as they taught me
this.
It gave me this skill.
That's part of that's.
That's everything, right there,okay, so what made you?
You said that you were veryliberal and the conservatives
bothered you, same as me.
What made you turn your tune orkind of understand that the
(12:52):
governments are overreaching andmaybe living in a communist
country isn't a very liberalthing to do?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, I had my son andeverything changed.
I should say that, like,obviously, I still have values
that you have to be a goodperson, you have to treat people
kind and nice, in a nice way,but my other values, most of
them, did change after I had mychild.
(13:19):
Everything basically,especially how I look at the
world and you know I was was Iused to think that, oh my gosh,
people are so bad, we're just,you know, just disease of this
planet.
But I don't look at at peopleanymore this way, because I
think that this is another way,how there is like a trend to
(13:39):
pressure ourselves.
Some people just enjoy to callthemselves names and say that
it's better for them not toleave, which I don't think it's
a good thing.
But before I was, you know,pretty liberal minded and then
my child was born and I realizedthat I don't want these values
for him.
I don't want him to be, to feellike he's responsible for
(14:00):
something that he never did,like, you know, slavery and
stuff like this.
I don't want him to feel thatbecause of his skin color or
something else, he isresponsible.
Yes, he still have to be a kindperson.
He has to treat people withcompassion, just how he wants
people to treat him.
But I don't want him to beexposed to certain things, which
(14:22):
actually it's funny becauserussia is very.
Yes, there is some kind of likecommunism part there still, but
a lot of people actually votefor communist parties still,
like my parents, for example.
They think that it was reallygood while communism because it
was.
At least you knew what's gonnahappen tomorrow, and right now
(14:43):
it's not the same.
Knew what's going to happentomorrow and right now it's not
the same.
But what I wanted to say isthat Russian people and Russian
government, they do promoteChristian values, basically
right.
It's not necessarily thatthey're doing it in a way that
they prioritize church, eventhough they do prioritize, but
(15:03):
in general, even Russian peoplewho are not really religious,
they do prioritize like valuesof the family and kids and
everything else, and they standfor this.
And of course, there aredifferent people there.
There are different kinds ofdifferent genders and all this.
You know, I just need to learnhow to talk about this in a
(15:25):
political correct way.
I mean, I'm pretty open on this,yes, there is some nonsense
there, right, but I think anyonedeserves to live and exist as
long as they are not trying topush this ideology into your
throat and onto your families.
I don't care what people wantto do in their personal lives
(15:47):
behind their doors.
I just don't want this to belike an exposure to kids and
like we have to have threemonths of certain celebrations
and is that in Russia?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Or in.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Canada.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Probably right.
Yes, in Canada, for sure.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And they then don't tolerate this really well.
Like I know, gay people doexist in Russia.
I know them personally andthey're great people.
I don't tolerate this reallywell.
Like I know, gay people doexist in Russia.
I know them personally andthey're great people.
I don't have any problems withthem.
But also these people, theydon't have any problems with me
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yeah, and I think once I started realizing like
there's an agenda from thegovernment behind it and it's
not altruistic, they reallydon't care about the gay person.
If anything they want gays tobe able to get married, so they
can track them better and, youknow, keep tabs on their taxes
(16:41):
and that sort of stuff.
The government literally doesnot care.
They're not here to make surethat gays, or you know that
people of every color aretreated equally and you know
there I worked in the welfaresystem.
We're here, to hand you justenough to make sure that you
stay a crab in that bucket andyou never crawl out to make
(17:03):
anything of yourself.
We'll give you just enough.
And then we and we control somuch else of what you do.
Um, yeah, it's.
It took a long time for me tokind of see that.
And we live in a nation whereyou can get any job.
You know they don't.
It's, it shouldn't be based onthat.
And then now that they'reputting it into the schools of
there are, in the elementaryschool down the road from me,
(17:26):
there is a bathroom that has themale symbol, the female symbol
and then half a female.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So it's a transgender .
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I'm like this is an elementary school, there is no
need for this.
It was and it's.
It's only a single bathroom.
But it's like then there's noneed to put that on the door,
it's a single bathroom.
So that even makes it worse,cause it's like you're just
putting this in I know you'reputting this here because you
get funding to prove that you'repromoting transgender in the
schools.
(17:53):
So yeah, that's they, but theydon't care really about any
individual's feelings.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes, as long as we are staying divided and we are,
you know, on things that arekind of they are important but
they are also not, because if wedivide it, we can never unite,
unfortunately.
And it could be anything race,religion, anything.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, the religious wars have been going on for
thousands and thousands of years.
I mean, it's just, it's notgoing to be solved in a
government mandate.
Yes, for sure, that is what itis.
So what did your husband saywhen you said that you wanted to
homeschool?
Or was he all for this?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Well, my husband is Polish, so he knows very well
what communism is too, and wehave pretty similar values in
life.
So he was okay.
He was just like.
I just don't know how we willfigure it out, because before my
son was born, I was workingfrom 5 am to 9 pm absolutely
every single day because I lovemy job.
(18:59):
I was working as a competitiveacrobatic gymnastics coach.
I was running a full program.
I was a head coach, so I wastraining 50 kids, approximately
50 kids, and by myself.
It's not like they weredivorced Sometimes they were.
Sometimes it was 50 kids.
And then I was working indifferent gyms as a personal
(19:19):
trainer and as a fitnessinstructor, and I loved all of
these jobs.
But when the time came todeliver, my husband was thinking
out loud.
He was like I don't know howwe're gonna do it, because it
should stop, because how are wegonna have a baby when you're
working from basically morningtill evening?
(19:39):
And I didn't even know thathomeschooling existed until I
started to finally meet moms whowere free souls, free freedom,
loving moms who didn't want todo any of this government stuff
during COVID.
So we would meet up and wewould rent a place like an
indoor playground, they wouldshut the windows with something
(20:04):
like what's the name, thecurtains, for example, so no one
sees us right and it's like abig party of 50 to 100 people
with the kids.
And they started telling methat what homeschooling is.
And I was thinking in thebeginning, okay, that's way too
crazy.
I remember thinking about this,that these homeschoolers people
(20:25):
, they're insane.
I don't know who would want tospend the whole time with the
child, even though by that timeI was already spending the whole
time with my child and Ialready said no to all my jobs
and I would not even want toleave him with a babysitter.
But I think that when it wasabout the school, I still had
(20:45):
this stereotype that this is theonly way how you learn um.
You know we started very slowand then pandemic was kind of
very long.
Right, my, my son, was born in2019, so when covid hit and they
shut us down, he was exactly.
It was when he turned one.
His um birthday is in march, soit was exactly that week and I
(21:09):
remember thinking, oh, whatcould?
What could go more wrong thanthis, because I was gonna go to
work and, you know, have sometime.
But then I really think thatCOVID in in some ways was a
blessing, because I realizedthat I don't actually want to do
what I was doing, or at least Iwanted to do the fitness and
(21:31):
sports and everything but Ididn't want to do it in the same
rhythm.
And then we startedhomeschooling, very slow, and of
course my homeschooling wasschool at home in the beginning
and it was in a Russian way,strict way.
My child was like two and ahalf.
I would put him, sit him downin the front of a table and I
(21:52):
would show him ABC book and wewould try to repeat the letters
Right now, I know this is notthe best way to do it,
especially when your child istwo and a half years old, and I
remember how he was.
He's a boy.
He never sits down and I wastrying to just make him sit in
and do not move and he wasresisting.
(22:14):
Of course, he's a very strongchild, strong-willed child and
he's very emotional and it was achallenge.
But then more I would beexposed and this is the only
positive thing about socialmedia More I was getting exposed
to different people who arehomeschooling influencers or
homeschool moms or running somekind of businesses online, much,
(22:37):
which I'm schooling like how,how could that be?
But because I didn't grow up inthis, I was growing up more
under constant supervision, eventhough there was no supervision
(23:00):
in my home, but like you had to, you know, report every single
day.
If you did this, because theywere in in school, they would
check your homework every singleday, right, and like you had
this.
It's like a diary and in Russiaevery teacher puts their marks
(23:24):
into this and then you bring ithome and you show it to your
parents, basically almost everyday.
I don't know if it's the sameright now, but before you
couldn't hide anything.
Nothing was online and then wewere trying, you know, to erase
the marks and me and make adifferent way.
See the the good thing aboutrussia like you, you, you find
(23:44):
the ways to go over.
Like you find your ways, how tomake it work, the way, how you
need to work, how unschooling issuch a great way of introducing
, especially kids who went tothe school, or de-schooling,
right, who went to school, andthey need to detox, basically,
from all of this pressure andeverything.
It's just the perfect way.
And when I realized this, whenmy son was about four years old
(24:09):
already, I was thinking Iactually have to unschool myself
because I need to let go of allof these limitations that are
holding me back about education,that I can have relationship
with my son, not just, you know,he's sitting by the table and
I'm pressuring him into learning.
So now it's better because I amlearning constantly.
(24:33):
I am listening to audiobooks,I'm learning from Jennifer
Pepito, for example, or otherpeople who are doing it for 20
something years, right, and theyobviously went through all of
the styles, probably, and all ofthe possible lessons of their
kids.
(24:53):
So I would say that it's aconstant learning process and we
should never stop learninganything.
Really.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, that's a great point because we kind of always
have that notion that as soon aswe're done with high school or
as soon as we're done withcollege, we can stop the
learning.
And I have learned way moreafter the after my time was
taken up by those institutionsthan I ever did in the
institutions.
And it's funny because, yeah,you were talking about how in
(25:23):
Russia it was so strict and sorigid.
Like I can look back at schoolin America and be like, yeah,
they stuck us with like 30 kids,most of the kids just goofed
off, so you weren't reallypaying attention anyway.
Like nothing was really gettingdone all day.
You know, I don't reallyremember much of any of it, so
it wasn't.
Like it's not a huge concept forme to be like we could unschool
(25:45):
or I can teach him to read here, because even if I I can learn
the ways or whatever, help themwith different programs, we can
do it slow and at our pace.
But, like with you coming fromRussia, where it was so strict
and so rigid, like how do youfeel sometimes I'm sure you did
where you're like, oh my god,how am I gonna teach him all the
things that I learned?
And did you finally get to therealization that it didn't
(26:07):
really matter?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And now.
And now I'm dealing with myparents who are asking me how
he's going to go to university.
It's very interesting becausethe funny thing is that I see my
teachers in my dreams sometimes.
I'm 40 years old and I see thatteacher, the only one teacher.
She was my German teacher, whowas teaching me German from
(26:31):
grade 5 to grade 11.
She was also the teacher whowas responsible for my class,
right?
So she was the main kind ofteacher who was dealing with
everything and she was handlingall the issues and she was
having different meetings withthe parents.
So she was responsible.
And I still see her in mydreams and those are bad dreams.
(26:54):
Always I wake up really anxiousbecause she was constantly
belittling me, saying that Ionly can use my limbs to do some
sports, but my brain is not thebest.
Basically my word.
And the thing is this she knewthat I don't want, you know, I
don't want to be to sound verycocky right now, but I am a very
(27:17):
smart person and I was a verysmart child and I could really
read a lesson five minutesbefore the class and do the test
and do everything what theyneeded me to do.
Again, working under pressureright, I still do sometimes
these things but she was justshe wasn't satisfied with me in
(27:37):
a way, how I was doing not theschool work but the social work,
and that's why she was sayingstuff like this.
But I have another example.
I had a Russian language andliterature teacher and it was a
man.
I have only great memoriesabout him because he was always
making us Well.
First of all, he was very, veryrespectful and in russia when
(28:00):
you talk to adults or, forexample, if it's a, it's your
boss or something, you call them, not just you.
But you know, sometimes whenyou spell you with a capital,
like, there is certain way ofcalling the people who you have
respect to.
So he was calling all the kidsthis way, right, and you know, I
(28:22):
learned that by taking French,so he basically treated us with
respect.
He was also, you know, he wasnot babysitting us.
If he had issues with us, hewould say this in a respectful
way.
And sometimes it felt terriblebecause it's not like the other
teachers who were just, you know, talking to you like you're
(28:43):
nothing.
He was actually talking to youlike you're a human being and
you felt really bad when he washaving problems with your work
or something, or with yourbehavior and something.
So there are different teachers, but he was the only one out of
how many?
10 or 15 teachers probably.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, you know, but he was the only one out of how
many 10 or 15 teachers probably.
Right, as you were talkingabout the female teacher, it,
before you even mentioned him,it sparked in my mind that, like
man, she's jealous of you andshe's literally trying to take
you down like a catty bully, anda teacher should not have those
feelings about her students.
But it just sounded like that'show you if there's nothing
wrong with the work you'relearning it, you're just not
(29:21):
learning it the way she wants,like that is that's what, like a
catty bully that's just jealousof you would do.
And so here we are, sending ourkids to these institutions.
We don't even meet the parentor the teachers we like don't
even meet them.
We don't know who they're inclass with.
They're just around these kidsfor 40 hours a week around these
teachers and, yeah, we're justsupposed to accept that.
(29:43):
That is a little crazy and howthey're treating our kids yeah,
yeah and um.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
The funny thing is that this teacher she was afraid
of my mom, though very much.
It was really interesting.
So she was doing this to me,putting me, because in russia
you cannot just take any spot.
You are assigned a spot behindthe table in a certain row and
that's where you're alwayssitting, like you can't choose
your spot.
And then she was always puttingme at the back and I was always
(30:10):
complaining that I want to be.
I understand, I'm a tallerperson, but I wanted to be
closer to the front so I canhear better, so I can focus
better.
And it was always like this.
I never wanted to be at theback and they would always put
me to the back and at the back.
There were also kids who didn'twant to learn.
So we were having lots of fun,because you know, if you're that
(30:30):
far and you're a child andthere is something fun happening
, of course there is always some.
You would want to do thiseventually because you were a
child, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
So, getting back to the homeschooling, how do you
handle like the difficult times,especially as you were talking
in the beginning of this episodelike having that one child?
It is hard because, yes, youare their person and unless you
make it a point to do a playgroup or a co-op or have a play
date every single day, you arethat person.
(31:04):
So how do you get through thosehard days or even just hard
hours?
You know it might just be anhour, but that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
well, today, today was the first day.
I wanted to have one a week off.
Usually we do school well, it'snot usually.
We just started this kind ofroutine.
Then I want personally to doseven weeks of school and one
week off.
I don't think it's going towork for us, because I think my
child really needs consistency,even though it's maybe this much
(31:32):
of school, but he needs somekind of, you know, routine, or
maybe I do need, I don't know,but it was really hard.
We missed three weeks of schoolbecause there was certain
events happening all the time.
Something was all the timehappening and I was thinking
today, okay, today's the day.
I just can't.
I cannot wait until Monday andI cannot wait.
(31:53):
And you know it's May, whatever14th.
I wanted to start May 1stbecause my child is not used to,
or at least for three weeks hewas relaxing and of course he
was learning, but it wasn't, youknow, formal learning.
We do homeschool on threelanguages, so there is a lot of
things to do right, so you'renot actually unschooling.
(32:15):
Well, I call it that we areunschooling.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
It's unschooling for Russian standards.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Yes, but it's not like we're doing anything crazy,
right?
So it's not like I still thinkit's not real school yet,
because it's okay that we are.
Like I include piano into ourschool, right, because he does
piano and I think, since we needto have consistent practices
(32:41):
and he wants, I ask him all thetime if you don't want to do
piano, we can cancel it at anytime, just let me know.
And he says he wants to do it.
So I include piano in schooland then we only do alphabets,
because I really want him tolearn how to read and write on
all these three languages, notjust English.
My husband is Polish, so hespeaks Polish.
(33:01):
He speaks Russian Me and myhusband, we only speak to him on
native languages.
So we agreed in the verybeginning that he only will
speak Polish to him and I willonly speak Russian to him, and
then, because we speak Englishme and my husband he will learn
and of course, he is exposed toEnglish-speaking kids and adults
(33:23):
all the time.
So it was really, really hardtoday, because, of course, he
didn't want to do anything andthere was lots of crying, there
was lots of trying to not dothings, but I know that
sometimes hard stuff are good tolearn in a nice and kind way,
because there will be hardlearning opportunities in life
(33:45):
and I don't want my child toquit very easily, but I also
don't want him to be overexposedto pressure.
So there should be some balanceand I'm trying to find it.
Hopefully I'm doing it.
And at the end of the day, ofcourse, we discussed and I said
listen, we have to be moreconsistent, we have to do hard
(34:06):
things that are hard, maybe forhim in the beginning of the day,
and then we spent 30 minutes onthis and we do whatever we want
.
We go to forest, we do somenature-based studies or not
necessarily studies, but we justgo and observe.
He loves, he loves sports.
So he does some sports justrecreationally, just because
it's close to us and justbecause me and my husband
(34:29):
sometimes need 30 minutes of ofquiet, quieter time.
He's also very loud child andwe were doing this today.
And how do I manage this?
I do wake up in the morningfirst thing in the morning, most
of the days earlier than anyone, and I have about 45 to 60
(34:50):
minutes to myself.
I do promote this in mybusiness.
All my clients do have somewhatroutines, whatever works for
them.
But when he was around twoyears old or maybe slightly
older, I was so burned out in mylife in general because I was
running, I just started businesshe was still breastfed at this
(35:10):
time.
I was, as a Russian person, I dolike take responsibilities and
do everything by myself Irealized that I cannot live like
this anymore, because I want topour in everyone's cup, but my
cup is empty.
It's so dry that even if I pouranything there, that would dry
right away and I'll have to liketry to pour and pour and pour
(35:34):
for some time before the cupwill even start fully filling up
.
So when I did this, I of courseread the book of something
about habits.
This is very, very, very famousbook about habit stacking.
I don't remember the name rightnow, but basically the author
was explaining how to habitstack and how to do things that
(35:57):
you actually want to do thatfulfilling your cup in a way
that it's not overwhelming foryou and it's not taking the
whole day.
And I've learned.
I started implementing certainthings because I was already
into health and I was alreadydoing my health coaching to just
regular moms.
At that time I started to dothings, not just working out,
(36:18):
not just eating healthy, butactually looking at the sun in
the morning and enjoying thenature around me, not just being
in my head all the time, doingsome dry brushing massage, doing
some facial massage, doing someprayer, doing, you know, some
dance by myself, whatever wasthere.
(36:38):
I created the routine formyself and I still, up to this
day, do this routine.
It's changing like it'saltering from time to time
depending on the season,depending on what new things
I've learned during that month,and I have joy doing this.
I enjoy it so much.
When I get up, as long as Isleep enough hours, I want to
(36:59):
run there.
Usually, there, I do it in mywashroom with the closed door,
because that's the only timewhen I can close the door to my
washroom.
Usually I need to have somespectators, because it's very
important to ask me a questionat this particular second when I
need washroom for just oneminute, and then you know,
sometimes if it's dark still, Iturn on some or I light some
(37:23):
candles and I just do it, andit's just so much joy for me
that that is helping me to keepup with the days like today or
other days that are harder days,or even the days that are not
hard at all, but still I am bymyself with my child and I have
to do millions of things, notjust, you know, cooking and
(37:44):
cleaning, but also for mybusiness and to help my husband,
for example, with somethingelse, or help a homeschool mom,
a friend, with something, oreven, you know, have an ear to
listen to other moms' problems,because we all need to share,
sometimes just because weoverflowing with stress and
(38:05):
overwhelm.
And when we pass thisinformation to other moms, it
feels good because it feels likeyou're not alone, we're not
alone.
And it's always good at the endof the day to chat with
homeschool mama friends to hear,to hear that maybe our day
wasn't the worst.
Not because I would like anyoneto have a bad day, but
sometimes when they're sharingtheir struggles, it feels not in
(38:29):
a bad way, but it feels thatokay, everything is okay in my
life, right, I'm justoverstressed because I'm just
thinking too much.
For example, Because, sometimesit's not that we make up the
problems, but sometimes we areoverthinking about them and
we're making them slightlybigger than they are.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Absolutely.
That happened to me earlierthis week.
We have a play group at afriend's house that we do every
week and my son is the youngestboy there and it's like a whole
thing, like he wants to go offby himself most of the time and
I'm like we are here so that youcan no-transcript so easy
(39:43):
nowadays to throw around thisterm and it's like it's just
being kids, because if your kidwalks up to them and they're
like they don't really like themor they don't want them there
right now and they tell thesecret or tell them to get away,
that's not bullying, that'sjust kids being like really
honest, and we don't know anybetter, they don't know to think
of the other person in theirshoes, you know.
(40:05):
So it's like that's all alearning experience.
And I'm happy to be there andhelp my son through his part,
and then the next day I turnaround and my son is doing it to
someone else.
So it's like, well, there'sanother learning experience and
another conversation that I getto have with him because I'm
home with him and seeing it.
But you're so right, like theoverthinking, like no, you don't
have to stop going to thisplaygroup because the 10 minutes
(40:27):
later they're all playing.
And it's something else youbrought up too about.
You know this you're not theonly one having the bad day or
the bad hour in that day.
You know social media and partof what I do with my Instagram
page.
You know you show thehomeschooling stuff and, okay,
what's trending, what's this,what's that.
But I actually took videoyesterday and I I forgot about
(40:48):
it.
Uh.
So I'm glad you took videoyesterday and I forgot about it.
So I'm glad you brought it up,because I took my son and my
daughter and his two friendswere over their brothers because
their grandfather couldn'twatch them, so we were supposed
to meet at a different playgroup.
But I'm like you know what?
You're all playing here.
Do you guys just want to stayhere?
My life's easier if I don'thave to drag four kids around,
so they're playing here and I'mlike, let's go on a hike.
(41:09):
There's a creek in the mountainbehind our house.
Let's bring a picnic and I'lltake some video footage of you
all, like jumping over trees andthis and that I'm like I'll
practice my new video takingskills.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It's gonna be wonderful.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
So of course they're all giving me a hard time.
My son is like we'll look rightat the camera and I'm like
don't look at the camera.
And then the other ones doinglike hang 10 in the camera and
I'm like don't acknowledge thecamera, Go back and do it again,
guys.
And then like we can't have apicnic because bugs are
everywhere.
Like all of a sudden Bill Gatesunleashed all of the mosquitoes
(41:42):
in New York and they were allin the mountain behind my house,
so we all are covered in bugbait stuff we couldn't even eat
because if you opened your mouththey got in your mouth.
So I'm like all right, nopicnic, Get out of the water,
Come on, let's go back home.
And it was hot and my daughterkept going pick me up and so I
had the carrier on me and so I'dput her, get her into the
(42:02):
carrier and like two minuteslater.
Can you get me down?
Of course, get her out of thecarrier, get her.
And she's almost three.
So it's like, it's not like shejust pops in and pops out.
She's way too big for thisthing.
And then, two minutes later,can you pick me up?
Can you make me?
So I took video of all of thebad stuff too, because I was
like this is going on instagramI was like this is real life.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
yeah, yeah, yes.
And and again, we we are usedto like, in a way, if we compare
a good day and this, we call itlike a bad day or bad stuff,
but in reality it's not that bad, it's just life, right, and, as
you said, kids are being kidsand it's great that they have an
(42:43):
opportunity to be themselves.
And we as adults have to comingback to your question, we as
adults have to have a, ourbodies, you know, having
stretching routine, having somehealth routine, whatever makes
(43:18):
you happy and brings you joy butalso cares for your body.
I have millions of things on myInstagram.
If they want to go, they can goand check and they can create
something new.
If they want to go, they can goand check and they can create
something new.
So we can handle this tantrumsand hystericas in a better way,
and that we are okay with pickme up, you pick me, pick her up
(43:40):
and then bring me down and bringyou down.
We're okay with these kidsbeing kids right to the point,
of course, that we're not, youknow, tiptoeing in front of them
when they're misbehaving, butthere is nothing bad in kids
being kids and showing theirreal selves to us oh, you're so
right, and you know you're right, it's not.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
It's not that it's a bad day, it's just our
expectations for what we had forthe situations weren't met, and
so we interpret that as a badday, but it wasn't.
The kids still had fun.
We got some bug bites, whatever, we got some cream to put on it
and I got, hopefully, a funreel out of it that I will at
some point, maybe at five in themorning Although now you have
(44:22):
me thinking I get up at five totry to get my work done on the
computer and I put bird feedersoutside my window so I can look
at the birds while I do it.
But I should be like out theregrounding with the earth.
But I have to say too, I wentoutside today without shoes on
and I like stepped on a snakeand it went over my foot and I'm
like oh Lord.
Oh Lord, I don't know aboutthis.
I thought I could handle it,but no, I'll be all right.
(44:44):
It wasn't like a poisonous one,just a garter snake.
But, evgenia, I am going to putlinks to your Instagram and to
your wellness program into theshow's description so people can
check that out and get somepointers for themselves.
And any last parting words.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yes, I want to wish every mama to be compassionate
to herself.
Show this compassion every dayto her mental health, to her
physical health, and rememberthat when you do this, you are
also teaching your kids how todo this to themselves.
So when they're adults, theywill never have to focus and
(45:20):
cope with what we're copingright.
And just remember that you aretheir most precious example in
life.
They they will be learning fromyou the most.
And it's not to stress outanyone, but it's just to use as
motivation, because it could beboth right, we could stress out
about things and start feelingguilt, but it's not to feel
(45:44):
guilt, it's so you can use yourkids as a motivation to take
care of yourself, because really, what we want at the end is
that we, as long as we can, arewith our kids and we are
supporting them just how we weresupporting them when they were
two.
When they're 42, we're stillthere for them, just in a
(46:07):
different way, of course,hopefully right and that we can
run with our grandkids andinstead of our kids to change
our diapers, just because we arenot capable of living by
ourselves, we can be the supportthey need to help with their
kids, meaning our grandkids tochange their diapers and that we
can put our shoelaces, tie ourshoelaces by ourselves, and
(46:31):
that's the main thing why Ipromote health and why I want
everyone to be healthier, notjust because of certain shape or
body composition even thoughit's always nice to have it the
way how we want it right butit's the.
Health goes way deeper and Ireally wish everyone to start,
(46:52):
if they don't feel like it,start changing the mindset
around this, because health isnot just the way how you look,
it's how you feel deep inside.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
take this when I uh when this episode airs and put
that on Instagram use your kidsas motivation to take care of
yourself.
That is so beautiful, Evgeniathank you for being here.
Welcome, and with us today I have Evgenia.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Okay, today's just.
It's been a day, but we'realmost at the end of it and it's
almost time to sleep, so I willrest, recover.
Our car broke down and today wehad some leakage from the
second floor to the first floorthrough the lights and I was
thinking do I cancel the podcast?
I don't know, but it's okay.
(00:24):
I remembered that, since I'mRussian, I can work under
pressure and that's mysuperpower, so I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh my God, I love that.
Well, first of all, you couldhave rescheduled.
I would not have been mad atyou for that.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I actually was like, I actually work under pressure
way better.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So I love that you're Russian.
I one of my favorite guests andshe's someone that messages me
all the time.
She's Russian as well, and shejust had the funniest stuff to
say when she was on my episode.
She was like if there are anypeople that know the laws in the
US better than Americans, it is.
I think she said something likethe Jews and the immigrants.
(01:04):
Yeah, of course, it was sofunny, so welcome.
And you homeschool?
Yes, I do have you.
Is it big in Russia or is thissomething like because you're in
the States, you can do this.
I'm actually in Canada.
Oh, you're in Canada, Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I do homeschool because I don't like to share my
child with the government.
Plus, I obviously wanted tospend more time with him.
I would say I first wanted tospend more time with him and to
capture this very importantyears, but then, second of all,
it's because I didn't want toreally expose my child to the
curriculum stuff that they arepromoting in Canada,
(01:41):
unfortunately, or in.
Ontario, but mostly it's thewhole country.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
They're promoting it here too, in the States.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, exactly.
No, of course.
Yeah, I am aware of this.
So I wanted to preserve mychild's childhood.
So that's why we decided to tryto keep up with homeschooling.
How old is your son?
He's six, so it's just.
You know, we are at the verybeginning of this, even though
we do this for three yearsalready.
(02:09):
But right now there are somemore difficulties.
You know they say, first it'sterrible, twos, then it's
something threes, and you hopethat it's going to be better
eventually and it's not likeit's really bad.
But kids do have certaindevelopmental stages and it's
always very interesting toexperience what's next what's
(02:31):
going to be next.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
And it's never easier when I talk to, like my sister,
whose kids are all grown.
She just has such differentworries.
now she's like oh, my Godthey're out on the road, they're
going to visit friends off atcollege and doing God knows what
.
My nephew was just actually inCanada a couple of weeks ago and
I'm like, oh no, what's legalthere that isn't here that he
can get into?
(02:52):
No, yes, yeah.
Yeah, they wouldn't get into ithere too.
I'm sure they find ways, justlike I did.
But so, okay, you have asix-year-old son.
I have had two people in thelast couple of days ask me on
Instagram DMs abouthomeschooling their only child.
Do you find this a challenge ornot?
(03:14):
The socialization, oh my God,they're going to be a hermit.
How has this?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
been.
It's been really interesting.
I would say there are somechallenges there, but not always
.
But of course, the fact thatI'm the only adult or another
human being next to him all thetime, that's the challenge.
Because he's okay.
I think he was born very social,like.
He's naturally so social thatsometimes it's even scary that
(03:42):
he just goes to anyone and hesays do you want to be my friend
?
And then, you know, sometimeshe gets reply no, and then he
cries, but usually the thehardest part is that I'm by
myself with him all the time andthere is no other kids or
adults.
Well, my husband is sometimeshere, sometimes not, but no
(04:03):
other kids who can, who I cansay you guys go and play for 10
minutes and mama will have sometime to rest and recharge.
There is no option like this.
And older he becomes, moreattention he wants and I was
actually never thinking thatthis is going to be the case.
I thought, okay, when they'rebaby they need us the most and
(04:24):
then you know they can beindependent.
It's not true, especially whenwe're home.
When we are outside on aplayground or somewhere, he can
be independent, but when we arehome he doesn't want to.
He can, but he doesn't want to.
He wants to be dependent andhe's very social, loves physical
(04:44):
touch.
It's his love language.
So he always is on me all thetime, which is great.
I love this, but, um, sometimesthere are days, like today,
when it's hard to handleconstantly.
So I would love, of course, tohave another child hopefully
it's gonna happen this year ornext year but I mean not the
(05:06):
child, but the conception, and Iwould love him to have the
sibling.
Because I was the only childtoo and, to be honest with you,
that was really sad for me togrow up by myself, when I didn't
have anyone to play with and myparents were constantly working
, and that's why I actually wasenjoying the sports and I was
doing competitive acrobaticgymnastics my whole life,
(05:28):
because that was my community,because if I wouldn't do this, I
would be sitting at home halfof the day by myself alone.
What about school?
Did you go to school?
Oh yeah, of course I did.
Yes, yes, I did go to schooland it was.
It was Russian school, hardcoreRussian school.
I went to German gymnasium orGerman school, where we were
(05:48):
focusing on German language andEnglish was the second language
and Latin was the third languageand then we were having
exchange with German studentsfrom school when we were in high
school In Russia the differencein school is that you go to the
same school from grade one tograde 11, and there is no change
(06:09):
.
It's always the same school.
So it's like your home in a way, but at 3 or 3.30, the lessons
were done and then you're goinghome stressed because you have
millions of studies to do,homework to do and other things
from school, and then it's likeyou know, you don't really
(06:32):
understand because the classesare about 30 kids and the
teachers are not necessarilyspending time explaining to
every child.
They're, like you, understood,understood, and that's it.
Child.
They, like you, understood,understood, and that's it.
But who wants to raise the handand say I didn't understand?
Actually, out of 30 kids, noone.
So I was like this because I wasgoing to competition and I was
(06:55):
missing some classes.
Then I would come back anddon't understand anything and
then you know it was reallyreally hard with school, even
though I would say that becauseI was in school in Russia, I
know how to be under pressureand I know how to deal with it
and how to not show the sign ofpressure that's not necessarily
(07:16):
superpower.
I would say that this is moredisadvantage, especially right
now, when I know the importanceof mental health.
I would say that just suckingit up and keep going is not the
best thing to do, especiallywhen we are already 40 and when
we have kids, because kids learnfrom us everything, not just
(07:36):
alphabets and math and somescience.
They learn from us the way howwe react to life and how we
manage stress and everythingelse, and I don't want my son to
learn this, but I think he willanyway, right, or at least a
little bit.
He will be exposed to this.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Now, what year?
How old were you when you cameto Canada?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Oh, I came exactly 10 years ago.
I actually last week celebrated10 years being in Canada.
I came on May 8th.
I remember it was Friday.
I came with my dog and it wasreally warm and I was just in
shock because in three days Iwas supposed to go to college
and I went to college and it wasmy first time in Canada.
(08:19):
I never knew this country.
I just came and I was slightlyoverwhelmed because when I could
hear people talking for me itwas like white noise because
even though I could read onEnglish and understand English,
but when people talk to mereally, really fast and just
like you know, just like theymet me, and they're talking in
(08:41):
their own pace, I was like Idon't understand a word.
But then it changed in a coupleof months.
After I was sitting a couple ofmonths with my, I went to
college to study fitness andhealth promotion and we of
course had biomechanics andanatomy and all the other
science stuff there and I wasliterally sitting with the book
(09:01):
that was that thick and I wastranslating not every word, of
course, but I was translatingsome words with the dictionary
and that was of course, makingmy studies complicating because
it was taking so much time totranslate the whole book or not
the whole book, but some words.
But it was okay.
So I came to it 10 years agoand I went to college.
(09:24):
I enjoyed it.
Of course, I only wanted to goto college because I actually
wanted to move from Russia, butthat became actually my job that
I enjoy, so it's really greatthat that happened this way.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
And so okay, so you came over.
You wanted to leave Russia.
Were there any out like lyingover?
You wanted to leave Russia.
Were there any outlying reasonsthat you wanted to leave?
Is there anything big?
I mean, I don't want to get toointo it, I'm just like a silly
American that doesn't reallyknow what's really going on in
the world.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Oh, this is very interesting because I was very
liberal in my mindset at thattime and I didn't want to deal
with Russian conservatives.
And you know, I was thinking Iwas 30, still rebellious because
I didn't have kids and I didn'tlearn my lessons yet that kids
(10:19):
very often teach us.
But I was thinking that I don'twant to be in Russia because I
didn't feel safe and I choseCanada because it was the
easiest country to move withpets and legalize myself.
So I had two dogs and one catat that time and I was.
I wanted to go to Australia andthanks God I didn't go to,
(10:42):
because COVID showed thatAustralia was even worse than
Canada.
But I couldn't go to Australiabecause you have to put your
dogs or your cats intoquarantine for up to six months
and then they could just killthem or euthanize them without
letting you know, just becausethey think.
You know Australia has reallyreally hard restrictions on
(11:05):
bringing pets there, becauseit's a different continent,
right, and they don't want anydiseases that are not really
popular there, sure, but I'vechosen Canada because of the
reason that I could easily bringmy dogs and my cats.
So I wanted to stay, of course,but it wasn't easy to legalize
yourself in the States unlessyou get married.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Okay, interesting?
Yeah, cause I, you know, I hearthings over the years, maybe
not even searching for the stuff, but you just hear things.
So I always wondered, like, howhard is it?
I mean, I have friends fromPoland.
I suppose I could just ask them, but it's interesting cause
they're from Poland.
And then, like my friendSusanna, just ask them, but it's
interesting because they'refrom Poland.
And then, like my friendSusanna, she lived in Germany
(11:50):
for a while and her husband aswell came here, but they came
separately.
So, yeah, that's interesting.
So it is.
It was at least at one pointharder.
Obviously, I think it waseasier, maybe that we hear about
the last term, presidentialterm, I don't know you could
have snuck in then I guess, butyeah, but yeah, that's really
interesting.
So you had your son and you werein your 30s, like I am, I was
34 when I had my six-year-old,so I think we're the same age.
(12:11):
Actually, I would imagine ifyou were in gymnastics and
competing, that's probably whyyou were competing in your 20s.
Is that more or less what youwere doing?
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I was competing more before my kids.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Then I was hit by a car and my competitive career
was done.
Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorryto hear that.
It's okay.
Yes, it taught me lots ofpatience.
Well, at least you look ateverything, as they taught me
this.
It gave me this skill.
That's part of that's.
That's everything, right there,okay, so what made you?
You said that you were veryliberal and the conservatives
bothered you, same as me.
What made you turn your tune orkind of understand that the
(12:52):
governments are overreaching andmaybe living in a communist
country isn't a very liberalthing to do?
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, I had my son andeverything changed.
I should say that, like,obviously, I still have values
that you have to be a goodperson, you have to treat people
kind and nice, in a nice way,but my other values, most of
them, did change after I had mychild.
(13:19):
Everything basically,especially how I look at the
world and you know I was was Iused to think that, oh my gosh,
people are so bad, we're just,you know, just disease of this
planet.
But I don't look at at peopleanymore this way, because I
think that this is another way,how there is like a trend to
(13:39):
pressure ourselves.
Some people just enjoy to callthemselves names and say that
it's better for them not toleave, which I don't think it's
a good thing.
But before I was, you know,pretty liberal minded and then
my child was born and I realizedthat I don't want these values
for him.
I don't want him to be, to feellike he's responsible for
(14:00):
something that he never did,like, you know, slavery and
stuff like this.
I don't want him to feel thatbecause of his skin color or
something else, he isresponsible.
Yes, he still have to be a kindperson.
He has to treat people withcompassion, just how he wants
people to treat him.
But I don't want him to beexposed to certain things, which
(14:22):
actually it's funny becauserussia is very.
Yes, there is some kind of likecommunism part there still, but
a lot of people actually votefor communist parties still,
like my parents, for example.
They think that it was reallygood while communism because it
was.
At least you knew what's gonnahappen tomorrow, and right now
(14:43):
it's not the same.
Knew what's going to happentomorrow and right now it's not
the same.
But what I wanted to say isthat Russian people and Russian
government, they do promoteChristian values, basically
right.
It's not necessarily thatthey're doing it in a way that
they prioritize church, eventhough they do prioritize, but
(15:03):
in general, even Russian peoplewho are not really religious,
they do prioritize like valuesof the family and kids and
everything else, and they standfor this.
And of course, there aredifferent people there.
There are different kinds ofdifferent genders and all this.
You know, I just need to learnhow to talk about this in a
(15:25):
political correct way.
I mean, I'm pretty open on this,yes, there is some nonsense
there, right, but I think anyonedeserves to live and exist as
long as they are not trying topush this ideology into your
throat and onto your families.
I don't care what people wantto do in their personal lives
(15:47):
behind their doors.
I just don't want this to belike an exposure to kids and
like we have to have threemonths of certain celebrations
and is that in Russia?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Or in.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Canada.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Probably right.
Yes, in Canada, for sure.
Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
And they then don't tolerate this really well.
Like I know, gay people doexist in Russia.
I know them personally andthey're great people.
I don't tolerate this reallywell.
Like I know, gay people doexist in Russia.
I know them personally andthey're great people.
I don't have any problems withthem.
But also these people, theydon't have any problems with me
as well.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yeah, and I think once I started realizing like
there's an agenda from thegovernment behind it and it's
not altruistic, they reallydon't care about the gay person.
If anything they want gays tobe able to get married, so they
can track them better and, youknow, keep tabs on their taxes
(16:41):
and that sort of stuff.
The government literally doesnot care.
They're not here to make surethat gays, or you know that
people of every color aretreated equally and you know
there I worked in the welfaresystem.
We're here, to hand you justenough to make sure that you
stay a crab in that bucket andyou never crawl out to make
(17:03):
anything of yourself.
We'll give you just enough.
And then we and we control somuch else of what you do.
Um, yeah, it's.
It took a long time for me tokind of see that.
And we live in a nation whereyou can get any job.
You know they don't.
It's, it shouldn't be based onthat.
And then now that they'reputting it into the schools of
there are, in the elementaryschool down the road from me,
(17:26):
there is a bathroom that has themale symbol, the female symbol
and then half a female.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
So it's a transgender .
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I'm like this is an elementary school, there is no
need for this.
It was and it's.
It's only a single bathroom.
But it's like then there's noneed to put that on the door,
it's a single bathroom.
So that even makes it worse,cause it's like you're just
putting this in I know you'reputting this here because you
get funding to prove that you'repromoting transgender in the
schools.
(17:53):
So yeah, that's they, but theydon't care really about any
individual's feelings.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes, as long as we are staying divided and we are,
you know, on things that arekind of they are important but
they are also not, because if wedivide it, we can never unite,
unfortunately.
And it could be anything race,religion, anything.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, the religious wars have been going on for
thousands and thousands of years.
I mean, it's just, it's notgoing to be solved in a
government mandate.
Yes, for sure, that is what itis.
So what did your husband saywhen you said that you wanted to
homeschool?
Or was he all for this?
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Well, my husband is Polish, so he knows very well
what communism is too, and wehave pretty similar values in
life.
So he was okay.
He was just like.
I just don't know how we willfigure it out, because before my
son was born, I was workingfrom 5 am to 9 pm absolutely
every single day because I lovemy job.
(18:59):
I was working as a competitiveacrobatic gymnastics coach.
I was running a full program.
I was a head coach, so I wastraining 50 kids, approximately
50 kids, and by myself.
It's not like they weredivorced Sometimes they were.
Sometimes it was 50 kids.
And then I was working indifferent gyms as a personal
(19:19):
trainer and as a fitnessinstructor, and I loved all of
these jobs.
But when the time came todeliver, my husband was thinking
out loud.
He was like I don't know howwe're gonna do it, because it
should stop, because how are wegonna have a baby when you're
working from basically morningtill evening?
(19:39):
And I didn't even know thathomeschooling existed until I
started to finally meet moms whowere free souls, free freedom,
loving moms who didn't want todo any of this government stuff
during COVID.
So we would meet up and wewould rent a place like an
indoor playground, they wouldshut the windows with something
(20:04):
like what's the name, thecurtains, for example, so no one
sees us right and it's like abig party of 50 to 100 people
with the kids.
And they started telling methat what homeschooling is.
And I was thinking in thebeginning, okay, that's way too
crazy.
I remember thinking about this,that these homeschoolers people
(20:25):
, they're insane.
I don't know who would want tospend the whole time with the
child, even though by that timeI was already spending the whole
time with my child and Ialready said no to all my jobs
and I would not even want toleave him with a babysitter.
But I think that when it wasabout the school, I still had
(20:45):
this stereotype that this is theonly way how you learn um.
You know we started very slowand then pandemic was kind of
very long.
Right, my, my son, was born in2019, so when covid hit and they
shut us down, he was exactly.
It was when he turned one.
His um birthday is in march, soit was exactly that week and I
(21:09):
remember thinking, oh, whatcould?
What could go more wrong thanthis, because I was gonna go to
work and, you know, have sometime.
But then I really think thatCOVID in in some ways was a
blessing, because I realizedthat I don't actually want to do
what I was doing, or at least Iwanted to do the fitness and
(21:31):
sports and everything but Ididn't want to do it in the same
rhythm.
And then we startedhomeschooling, very slow, and of
course my homeschooling wasschool at home in the beginning
and it was in a Russian way,strict way.
My child was like two and ahalf.
I would put him, sit him downin the front of a table and I
(21:52):
would show him ABC book and wewould try to repeat the letters
Right now, I know this is notthe best way to do it,
especially when your child istwo and a half years old, and I
remember how he was.
He's a boy.
He never sits down and I wastrying to just make him sit in
and do not move and he wasresisting.
(22:14):
Of course, he's a very strongchild, strong-willed child and
he's very emotional and it was achallenge.
But then more I would beexposed and this is the only
positive thing about socialmedia More I was getting exposed
to different people who arehomeschooling influencers or
homeschool moms or running somekind of businesses online, much,
(22:37):
which I'm schooling like how,how could that be?
But because I didn't grow up inthis, I was growing up more
under constant supervision, eventhough there was no supervision
(23:00):
in my home, but like you had to, you know, report every single
day.
If you did this, because theywere in in school, they would
check your homework every singleday, right, and like you had
this.
It's like a diary and in Russiaevery teacher puts their marks
(23:24):
into this and then you bring ithome and you show it to your
parents, basically almost everyday.
I don't know if it's the sameright now, but before you
couldn't hide anything.
Nothing was online and then wewere trying, you know, to erase
the marks and me and make adifferent way.
See the the good thing aboutrussia like you, you, you find
(23:44):
the ways to go over.
Like you find your ways, how tomake it work, the way, how you
need to work, how unschooling issuch a great way of introducing
, especially kids who went tothe school, or de-schooling,
right, who went to school, andthey need to detox, basically,
from all of this pressure andeverything.
It's just the perfect way.
And when I realized this, whenmy son was about four years old
(24:09):
already, I was thinking Iactually have to unschool myself
because I need to let go of allof these limitations that are
holding me back about education,that I can have relationship
with my son, not just, you know,he's sitting by the table and
I'm pressuring him into learning.
So now it's better because I amlearning constantly.
(24:33):
I am listening to audiobooks,I'm learning from Jennifer
Pepito, for example, or otherpeople who are doing it for 20
something years, right, and theyobviously went through all of
the styles, probably, and all ofthe possible lessons of their
kids.
(24:53):
So I would say that it's aconstant learning process and we
should never stop learninganything.
Really.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, that's a great point because we kind of always
have that notion that as soon aswe're done with high school or
as soon as we're done withcollege, we can stop the
learning.
And I have learned way moreafter the after my time was
taken up by those institutionsthan I ever did in the
institutions.
And it's funny because, yeah,you were talking about how in
(25:23):
Russia it was so strict and sorigid.
Like I can look back at schoolin America and be like, yeah,
they stuck us with like 30 kids,most of the kids just goofed
off, so you weren't reallypaying attention anyway.
Like nothing was really gettingdone all day.
You know, I don't reallyremember much of any of it, so
it wasn't.
Like it's not a huge concept forme to be like we could unschool
(25:45):
or I can teach him to read here, because even if I I can learn
the ways or whatever, help themwith different programs, we can
do it slow and at our pace.
But, like with you coming fromRussia, where it was so strict
and so rigid, like how do youfeel sometimes I'm sure you did
where you're like, oh my god,how am I gonna teach him all the
things that I learned?
And did you finally get to therealization that it didn't
(26:07):
really matter?
Speaker 2 (26:08):
yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And now.
And now I'm dealing with myparents who are asking me how
he's going to go to university.
It's very interesting becausethe funny thing is that I see my
teachers in my dreams sometimes.
I'm 40 years old and I see thatteacher, the only one teacher.
She was my German teacher, whowas teaching me German from
(26:31):
grade 5 to grade 11.
She was also the teacher whowas responsible for my class,
right?
So she was the main kind ofteacher who was dealing with
everything and she was handlingall the issues and she was
having different meetings withthe parents.
So she was responsible.
And I still see her in mydreams and those are bad dreams.
(26:54):
Always I wake up really anxiousbecause she was constantly
belittling me, saying that Ionly can use my limbs to do some
sports, but my brain is not thebest.
Basically my word.
And the thing is this she knewthat I don't want, you know, I
don't want to be to sound verycocky right now, but I am a very
(27:17):
smart person and I was a verysmart child and I could really
read a lesson five minutesbefore the class and do the test
and do everything what theyneeded me to do.
Again, working under pressureright, I still do sometimes
these things but she was justshe wasn't satisfied with me in
(27:37):
a way, how I was doing not theschool work but the social work,
and that's why she was sayingstuff like this.
But I have another example.
I had a Russian language andliterature teacher and it was a
man.
I have only great memoriesabout him because he was always
making us Well.
First of all, he was very, veryrespectful and in russia when
(28:00):
you talk to adults or, forexample, if it's a, it's your
boss or something, you call them, not just you.
But you know, sometimes whenyou spell you with a capital,
like, there is certain way ofcalling the people who you have
respect to.
So he was calling all the kidsthis way, right, and you know, I
(28:22):
learned that by taking French,so he basically treated us with
respect.
He was also, you know, he wasnot babysitting us.
If he had issues with us, hewould say this in a respectful
way.
And sometimes it felt terriblebecause it's not like the other
teachers who were just, you know, talking to you like you're
(28:43):
nothing.
He was actually talking to youlike you're a human being and
you felt really bad when he washaving problems with your work
or something, or with yourbehavior and something.
So there are different teachers, but he was the only one out of
how many?
10 or 15 teachers probably.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah, you know, but he was the only one out of how
many 10 or 15 teachers probably.
Right, as you were talkingabout the female teacher, it,
before you even mentioned him,it sparked in my mind that, like
man, she's jealous of you andshe's literally trying to take
you down like a catty bully, anda teacher should not have those
feelings about her students.
But it just sounded like that'show you if there's nothing
wrong with the work you'relearning it, you're just not
(29:21):
learning it the way she wants,like that is that's what, like a
catty bully that's just jealousof you would do.
And so here we are, sending ourkids to these institutions.
We don't even meet the parentor the teachers we like don't
even meet them.
We don't know who they're inclass with.
They're just around these kidsfor 40 hours a week around these
teachers and, yeah, we're justsupposed to accept that.
(29:43):
That is a little crazy and howthey're treating our kids yeah,
yeah and um.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
The funny thing is that this teacher she was afraid
of my mom, though very much.
It was really interesting.
So she was doing this to me,putting me, because in russia
you cannot just take any spot.
You are assigned a spot behindthe table in a certain row and
that's where you're alwayssitting, like you can't choose
your spot.
And then she was always puttingme at the back and I was always
(30:10):
complaining that I want to be.
I understand, I'm a tallerperson, but I wanted to be
closer to the front so I canhear better, so I can focus
better.
And it was always like this.
I never wanted to be at theback and they would always put
me to the back and at the back.
There were also kids who didn'twant to learn.
So we were having lots of fun,because you know, if you're that
(30:30):
far and you're a child andthere is something fun happening
, of course there is always some.
You would want to do thiseventually because you were a
child, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
So, getting back to the homeschooling, how do you
handle like the difficult times,especially as you were talking
in the beginning of this episodelike having that one child?
It is hard because, yes, youare their person and unless you
make it a point to do a playgroup or a co-op or have a play
date every single day, you arethat person.
(31:04):
So how do you get through thosehard days or even just hard
hours?
You know it might just be anhour, but that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
well, today, today was the first day.
I wanted to have one a week off.
Usually we do school well, it'snot usually.
We just started this kind ofroutine.
Then I want personally to doseven weeks of school and one
week off.
I don't think it's going towork for us, because I think my
child really needs consistency,even though it's maybe this much
(31:32):
of school, but he needs somekind of, you know, routine, or
maybe I do need, I don't know,but it was really hard.
We missed three weeks of schoolbecause there was certain
events happening all the time.
Something was all the timehappening and I was thinking
today, okay, today's the day.
I just can't.
I cannot wait until Monday andI cannot wait.
(31:53):
And you know it's May, whatever14th.
I wanted to start May 1stbecause my child is not used to,
or at least for three weeks hewas relaxing and of course he
was learning, but it wasn't, youknow, formal learning.
We do homeschool on threelanguages, so there is a lot of
things to do right, so you'renot actually unschooling.
(32:15):
Well, I call it that we areunschooling.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
It's unschooling for Russian standards.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Yes, but it's not like we're doing anything crazy,
right?
So it's not like I still thinkit's not real school yet,
because it's okay that we are.
Like I include piano into ourschool, right, because he does
piano and I think, since we needto have consistent practices
(32:41):
and he wants, I ask him all thetime if you don't want to do
piano, we can cancel it at anytime, just let me know.
And he says he wants to do it.
So I include piano in schooland then we only do alphabets,
because I really want him tolearn how to read and write on
all these three languages, notjust English.
My husband is Polish, so hespeaks Polish.
(33:01):
He speaks Russian Me and myhusband, we only speak to him on
native languages.
So we agreed in the verybeginning that he only will
speak Polish to him and I willonly speak Russian to him, and
then, because we speak Englishme and my husband he will learn
and of course, he is exposed toEnglish-speaking kids and adults
(33:23):
all the time.
So it was really, really hardtoday, because, of course, he
didn't want to do anything andthere was lots of crying, there
was lots of trying to not dothings, but I know that
sometimes hard stuff are good tolearn in a nice and kind way,
because there will be hardlearning opportunities in life
(33:45):
and I don't want my child toquit very easily, but I also
don't want him to be overexposedto pressure.
So there should be some balanceand I'm trying to find it.
Hopefully I'm doing it.
And at the end of the day, ofcourse, we discussed and I said
listen, we have to be moreconsistent, we have to do hard
(34:06):
things that are hard, maybe forhim in the beginning of the day,
and then we spent 30 minutes onthis and we do whatever we want
.
We go to forest, we do somenature-based studies or not
necessarily studies, but we justgo and observe.
He loves, he loves sports.
So he does some sports justrecreationally, just because
it's close to us and justbecause me and my husband
(34:29):
sometimes need 30 minutes of ofquiet, quieter time.
He's also very loud child andwe were doing this today.
And how do I manage this?
I do wake up in the morningfirst thing in the morning, most
of the days earlier than anyone, and I have about 45 to 60
(34:50):
minutes to myself.
I do promote this in mybusiness.
All my clients do have somewhatroutines, whatever works for
them.
But when he was around twoyears old or maybe slightly
older, I was so burned out in mylife in general because I was
running, I just started businesshe was still breastfed at this
(35:10):
time.
I was, as a Russian person, I dolike take responsibilities and
do everything by myself Irealized that I cannot live like
this anymore, because I want topour in everyone's cup, but my
cup is empty.
It's so dry that even if I pouranything there, that would dry
right away and I'll have to liketry to pour and pour and pour
(35:34):
for some time before the cupwill even start fully filling up
.
So when I did this, I of courseread the book of something
about habits.
This is very, very, very famousbook about habit stacking.
I don't remember the name rightnow, but basically the author
was explaining how to habitstack and how to do things that
(35:57):
you actually want to do thatfulfilling your cup in a way
that it's not overwhelming foryou and it's not taking the
whole day.
And I've learned.
I started implementing certainthings because I was already
into health and I was alreadydoing my health coaching to just
regular moms.
At that time I started to dothings, not just working out,
(36:18):
not just eating healthy, butactually looking at the sun in
the morning and enjoying thenature around me, not just being
in my head all the time, doingsome dry brushing massage, doing
some facial massage, doing someprayer, doing, you know, some
dance by myself, whatever wasthere.
(36:38):
I created the routine formyself and I still, up to this
day, do this routine.
It's changing like it'saltering from time to time
depending on the season,depending on what new things
I've learned during that month,and I have joy doing this.
I enjoy it so much.
When I get up, as long as Isleep enough hours, I want to
(36:59):
run there.
Usually, there, I do it in mywashroom with the closed door,
because that's the only timewhen I can close the door to my
washroom.
Usually I need to have somespectators, because it's very
important to ask me a questionat this particular second when I
need washroom for just oneminute, and then you know,
sometimes if it's dark still, Iturn on some or I light some
(37:23):
candles and I just do it, andit's just so much joy for me
that that is helping me to keepup with the days like today or
other days that are harder days,or even the days that are not
hard at all, but still I am bymyself with my child and I have
to do millions of things, notjust, you know, cooking and
(37:44):
cleaning, but also for mybusiness and to help my husband,
for example, with somethingelse, or help a homeschool mom,
a friend, with something, oreven, you know, have an ear to
listen to other moms' problems,because we all need to share,
sometimes just because weoverflowing with stress and
(38:05):
overwhelm.
And when we pass thisinformation to other moms, it
feels good because it feels likeyou're not alone, we're not
alone.
And it's always good at the endof the day to chat with
homeschool mama friends to hear,to hear that maybe our day
wasn't the worst.
Not because I would like anyoneto have a bad day, but
sometimes when they're sharingtheir struggles, it feels not in
(38:29):
a bad way, but it feels thatokay, everything is okay in my
life, right, I'm justoverstressed because I'm just
thinking too much.
For example, Because, sometimesit's not that we make up the
problems, but sometimes we areoverthinking about them and
we're making them slightlybigger than they are.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Absolutely.
That happened to me earlierthis week.
We have a play group at afriend's house that we do every
week and my son is the youngestboy there and it's like a whole
thing, like he wants to go offby himself most of the time and
I'm like we are here so that youcan no-transcript so easy
(39:43):
nowadays to throw around thisterm and it's like it's just
being kids, because if your kidwalks up to them and they're
like they don't really like themor they don't want them there
right now and they tell thesecret or tell them to get away,
that's not bullying, that'sjust kids being like really
honest, and we don't know anybetter, they don't know to think
of the other person in theirshoes, you know.
(40:05):
So it's like that's all alearning experience.
And I'm happy to be there andhelp my son through his part,
and then the next day I turnaround and my son is doing it to
someone else.
So it's like, well, there'sanother learning experience and
another conversation that I getto have with him because I'm
home with him and seeing it.
But you're so right, like theoverthinking, like no, you don't
have to stop going to thisplaygroup because the 10 minutes
(40:27):
later they're all playing.
And it's something else youbrought up too about.
You know this you're not theonly one having the bad day or
the bad hour in that day.
You know social media and partof what I do with my Instagram
page.
You know you show thehomeschooling stuff and, okay,
what's trending, what's this,what's that.
But I actually took videoyesterday and I I forgot about
(40:48):
it.
Uh.
So I'm glad you took videoyesterday and I forgot about it.
So I'm glad you brought it up,because I took my son and my
daughter and his two friendswere over their brothers because
their grandfather couldn'twatch them, so we were supposed
to meet at a different playgroup.
But I'm like you know what?
You're all playing here.
Do you guys just want to stayhere?
My life's easier if I don'thave to drag four kids around,
so they're playing here and I'mlike, let's go on a hike.
(41:09):
There's a creek in the mountainbehind our house.
Let's bring a picnic and I'lltake some video footage of you
all, like jumping over trees andthis and that I'm like I'll
practice my new video takingskills.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
It's gonna be wonderful.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
So of course they're all giving me a hard time.
My son is like we'll look rightat the camera and I'm like
don't look at the camera.
And then the other ones doinglike hang 10 in the camera and
I'm like don't acknowledge thecamera, Go back and do it again,
guys.
And then like we can't have apicnic because bugs are
everywhere.
Like all of a sudden Bill Gatesunleashed all of the mosquitoes
(41:42):
in New York and they were allin the mountain behind my house,
so we all are covered in bugbait stuff we couldn't even eat
because if you opened your mouththey got in your mouth.
So I'm like all right, nopicnic, Get out of the water,
Come on, let's go back home.
And it was hot and my daughterkept going pick me up and so I
had the carrier on me and so I'dput her, get her into the
(42:02):
carrier and like two minuteslater.
Can you get me down?
Of course, get her out of thecarrier, get her.
And she's almost three.
So it's like, it's not like shejust pops in and pops out.
She's way too big for thisthing.
And then, two minutes later,can you pick me up?
Can you make me?
So I took video of all of thebad stuff too, because I was
like this is going on instagramI was like this is real life.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
yeah, yeah, yes.
And and again, we we are usedto like, in a way, if we compare
a good day and this, we call itlike a bad day or bad stuff,
but in reality it's not that bad, it's just life, right, and, as
you said, kids are being kidsand it's great that they have an
(42:43):
opportunity to be themselves.
And we as adults have to comingback to your question, we as
adults have to have a, ourbodies, you know, having
stretching routine, having somehealth routine, whatever makes
(43:18):
you happy and brings you joy butalso cares for your body.
I have millions of things on myInstagram.
If they want to go, they can goand check and they can create
something new.
If they want to go, they can goand check and they can create
something new.
So we can handle this tantrumsand hystericas in a better way,
and that we are okay with pickme up, you pick me, pick her up
(43:40):
and then bring me down and bringyou down.
We're okay with these kidsbeing kids right to the point,
of course, that we're not, youknow, tiptoeing in front of them
when they're misbehaving, butthere is nothing bad in kids
being kids and showing theirreal selves to us oh, you're so
right, and you know you're right, it's not.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
It's not that it's a bad day, it's just our
expectations for what we had forthe situations weren't met, and
so we interpret that as a badday, but it wasn't.
The kids still had fun.
We got some bug bites, whatever, we got some cream to put on it
and I got, hopefully, a funreel out of it that I will at
some point, maybe at five in themorning Although now you have
(44:22):
me thinking I get up at five totry to get my work done on the
computer and I put bird feedersoutside my window so I can look
at the birds while I do it.
But I should be like out theregrounding with the earth.
But I have to say too, I wentoutside today without shoes on
and I like stepped on a snakeand it went over my foot and I'm
like oh Lord.
Oh Lord, I don't know aboutthis.
I thought I could handle it,but no, I'll be all right.
(44:44):
It wasn't like a poisonous one,just a garter snake.
But, evgenia, I am going to putlinks to your Instagram and to
your wellness program into theshow's description so people can
check that out and get somepointers for themselves.
And any last parting words.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yes, I want to wish every mama to be compassionate
to herself.
Show this compassion every dayto her mental health, to her
physical health, and rememberthat when you do this, you are
also teaching your kids how todo this to themselves.
So when they're adults, theywill never have to focus and
(45:20):
cope with what we're copingright.
And just remember that you aretheir most precious example in
life.
They they will be learning fromyou the most.
And it's not to stress outanyone, but it's just to use as
motivation, because it could beboth right, we could stress out
about things and start feelingguilt, but it's not to feel
(45:44):
guilt, it's so you can use yourkids as a motivation to take
care of yourself, because really, what we want at the end is
that we, as long as we can, arewith our kids and we are
supporting them just how we weresupporting them when they were
two.
When they're 42, we're stillthere for them, just in a
(46:07):
different way, of course,hopefully right and that we can
run with our grandkids andinstead of our kids to change
our diapers, just because we arenot capable of living by
ourselves, we can be the supportthey need to help with their
kids, meaning our grandkids tochange their diapers and that we
can put our shoelaces, tie ourshoelaces by ourselves, and
(46:31):
that's the main thing why Ipromote health and why I want
everyone to be healthier, notjust because of certain shape or
body composition even thoughit's always nice to have it the
way how we want it right butit's the.
Health goes way deeper and Ireally wish everyone to start,
(46:52):
if they don't feel like it,start changing the mindset
around this, because health isnot just the way how you look,
it's how you feel deep inside.
Speaker 1 (47:10):
take this when I uh when this episode airs and put
that on Instagram use your kidsas motivation to take care of
yourself.
That is so beautiful, Evgeniathank you for being here.
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