Tag Archives: flexibility

Finding a Way to Let Humor Shine Through

Humor is absolutely necessary—whether in every day life, family chaos or even in the business world—humor can make all the difference between the most impossible of days and a reasonably good one. Customers and clients will respond more warmly to someone who has a sense of humor and an appropriate sense of humor sends the message that a person is flexible, competent and in control. Why then, do we have such a hard time letting our humor shine through in our home businesses? We think that we need to show we are serious and hardened in order to let folks … Continue reading →

Plan B—Consider the Alternatives

Maybe you are one of those organized home business owners who has actually written up a business plan? Maybe you even have a budget, a five-year plan, and an official plan for how to reach your short-term and long-term growth goals? While this is absolutely fantastic and would probably make you in the minority of small home business owners, there are going to be those times when all those plans are for naught. You’ll have to come up with plan B (or C or D) and be willing to find some alternatives… Some people find that having a back-up plan … Continue reading →

Moving and Making Changes with a Routine-Strict Child

Many of us are not too keen on change. In fact, if you ask most adults how they feel about pending changes–whether they are expected to be good or bad, they may confess that they are a little squeamish about change or that they just don’t “handle change well.” We know that flexibility is an important element in the single parent family, but if we are having trouble with change, some of our kids really have a hard time! Those children who really cling to and need routine and structure can really be thrown for a loop when it comes … Continue reading →

Dating a Single Parent? Flexibility and Ability to Roll with Things a Must

Many of us didn’t start out as the most flexible people on earth—I know that by nature, I tend to like a fair amount of order and structure in my world. I have had to learn as a parent how to be true to those character traits, while being completely flexible and able to roll with the unexpected and the unplanned things that go down in a typical family. So, it might seem unreasonable to expect that those people we date, if they do not already have children, to be flexible and open to the unplanned and unexpected, but even … Continue reading →

Allow for Last Minute

No matter how organized you are or how much planning you put into scheduling as a single parent, the truth is—there will always be some last minute stuff to attend to. As we get into the “thick” of the holidays, I think we need to remind ourselves that we need to allow for some last minute changes—whether it is stuff that comes up with our kids, relations, or work, chances are we will need to do a little “shucking and jiving” in the next few days. For the past few weeks, I have been moving along, checking things off my … Continue reading →

Flexible Holiday Hours

One of the fantastic things about a home-based business is that we can arrange our work time to accommodate our family and other obligations. But, in taking time off or working more flexible hours during this hectic holiday season—we still need to take into account meeting the needs and expectations of our clients and customers AND we need to make sure we let them know what we are doing! I really appreciate it when people I work with on a regular basis let me know what their hours will be for the holiday season. If you are planning to take … Continue reading →

Encouraging Resourcefulness in Our Kids

Resourcefulness is more than just a basic life skill. I think that learning and developing resourcefulness can be one of the most important things our children achieve. I know it doesn’t sound glamorous–but resourcefulness equals creativity, flexibility and resiliency and, as most of us have learned from the realities of life–these qualities can mean both survival and happiness. So, what can we parents do to encourage our children to develop resourcefulness? I think that children learn resourcefulness through plenty of trial and error–they need to be able to figure out how to do things on their own; how to solve … Continue reading →

Welcoming and Embracing Change

Change is a fact of life, right? Well for many single parents, we feel like we have seen more than our fair share of change in recent months or years and we would like very much for things to just settle down and stay stable for a while. Unfortunately, whether we’ve had plenty of change or not—there is just no stopping it. Learning how to welcome and embrace the constant wheel of change can make for a happier, calmer existence. I know first-hand what it feels like to just want to dig in my heels and say enough is enough! … Continue reading →

You Might Need to Be Both Organized and Flexible in December

December asks a lot from the average single parent. In addition to all the family holiday obligations, we often have work pressures and activities, our children’s schedules might fill up with parties and pageants, and we may have relatives and friends to contend with. Our budgets are stressed and our time is stretched. While I have written about planning and time management, I thought it might be helpful to remind us that it is often both flexibility and organization that gets a single parent family through the frenzy of the holiday season. Advance planning and scheduling is good. Make those … Continue reading →

A Sense of Humor

We talk about all sorts of techniques and coping mechanisms and suggestions for how to make single parenthood a more peaceful and pleasurable experience. But, hands down the most important thing to cultivate, I think, is a sense of humor. Just because we may be keeping a dozen balls in the air and coping with some of the stigma and exhaustion that comes with being a solo parent doesn’t mean we don’t need a sense of humor too. In fact, I think all this is all the more reason we NEED a sense of humor! My kids and I have … Continue reading →