Will we make it through June?
I recently saw a post on Instagram that read, “Given current work demands, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off until further notice.” It certainly feels that way at the moment in the world of working from home with kids.
In thinking about ways I can help the Mindful Return community during this time, I decided to create a mini-course, “Make It Through June: A Mindful Return Mini-Course for Parents Working from Home With Kids,” to help connect us and get us through the this ongoing slog.
Please consider it my gift to you during this crisis. (Why not free? Because I want you to feel engaged and invested in participating…because the real help comes not with signing up, but with actually digging in and participating. The nominal fee is kind of like the health care co-pay concept.)
How This Mini-Course Works
For the past 5+ years, I’ve run all of the Mindful Return programs through a course software platform called Ruzuku, and this course is no exception. Once you sign up, you’ll log into a secure portal on the “Mindful Return University” platform, and you’ll view all the content and interact with course participants there. You’ll get access to new lessons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from June 1 – 12.
Each lesson will be about the length of a short blog post and will be followed by a discussion prompt. You’ll engage with all the other course participants through these prompts. There’s nowhere you need to be at any specific time of day or night.
With each lesson, you’ll get 3 things:
- A strategy to try out and practice (one that relates to managing your kids, your career, or your sanity);
- An inspiring poem; and
- A discussion prompt to journal about and/or write to others about within the course platform.
Topics We’ll Cover in the 6 Lessons
In reflecting on what exactly is helping me to stay (relatively) sane right now, I drilled down to the most important topics. I’ll be offering you lessons on these 6 subjects:
- Micro-Self-Care Practices
- None of us has huge swaths of time to take care of ourselves these days. Let’s focus on how we can be intentional with the small pockets of time we DO have.
- Proven Time Management Strategies
- There are 3 time management strategies that have saved me during this crisis: (1) the Pomodoro Method; (2) Daniel Pink’s MIT; and (3) the Eisenhower Matrix. We’ll explore all three today.
- Kid Activity Ideas – by Age and Stage
- I don’t know about you, but I’m always up for a good fresh idea of ways to occupy my boys. Today we’ll work in groups by age and stage of our kids to brainstorm creative ideas.
- COVID-19 and Your Career
- The career world seems to be an alternate reality universe these days. And it’s hard to do career planning when we can barely see past tomorrow. Let’s think through some career-related issues together (with some help from my hubby, Jason Levin, who is a career coach with Ready, Set, Launch).
- Breathing to Avoid Burnout
- There’s so much we have absolutely no control over these days. But our breath is something we can control. Not only is it there for us no matter what, but there are some great breathing exercises that can help restore our nervous systems to a state of greater calm. We’ll practice a few of those today.
- Community Connection
- Oh, how we need one another more than ever right now. Today, we’ll talk about helpful discussion prompts and conversations we can be having with the people we care about and work with – questions that really get to the heart of things.
Cost: $29. When do we start? June 1. Have other questions? E-mail me at lori@mindfulreturn.com.
Looking forward to supporting you through this loooooooooooong summer.
Want more practical tips on working parenthood? Check out my book, Back to Work After Baby: How to Plan and Navigate a Mindful Return from Maternity Leave
