Welcome to the tenth and final week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier Working I take a broader look at what worked really well for us as a family overall during the period of stay at home restrictions for COVID-19 and there were three key things that stood out: The power of small things – so often in life we think to make things better, more fun, more kind, etc we need to have lots of time, resources, ideas, money, etc. What I have always known but was constantly reminded of during this time was how small changes, short conversations, small acts of kindness, short snatches of one on one time together can have a huge impact. I really want to keep this lesson with me post stay at home restrictions easing. The power of role modelling – it was wonderful to see the strategies the older kids used to keep themselves happy and active during this time. All kids but particularly older kids take on so much more from what we parents do and how we behave, than what we say. So many of the strategies they used were based on what my husband and I role model on a daily basis. The power of accountability – some times to kick start a habit you need some form of accountability to get you going. I am a firm believer in acting your way into motivation. Motivation isn’t always on tap, but by showing up and doing the work, motivation can be found. Having accountability for me and the kids throughout this time definitely helped us achieve things. Not working When I look back over this time and when things weren’t going well, I feel it many cases it had a lot to do with me not being fully tuned into the vibe of the family as a whole and the emotions of each child individually. A great reminder to me about being fully present in the activities that I do. Resource My resource this week is a resource from me, it is my Power Up Performance Group! It is small group coaching designed to help women achieve their goals over a five-month period. Through this time I guide and support you to plan out how you will achieve your goal, the steps you need to take to make it and how to take action and keep on task when it gets tough – because there will always be moments when we find the work hard and feel like giving up – Power Up won’t let you give up!  Click here to find out more. Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the ninth week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working Finding pockets of one on one time with the kids has worked really well. As we get near the end of our stay at home experience, the difference of spending one on one time with the younger three was noticeable. Even though I know how well this works, I always seem to be surprised by this. If you are after some more info on this topic this post is worth reading –Spending Individual Time With The Kids. Being able to go places definitely worked this week too! And being able to commit to the kids that we can go away for the school holidays to visit family gave everyone a boost. And there is actually science behind this to prove that looking forward to a holiday makes you happier. It takes more than a vacation to make people happy. Indeed, vacationers tend to be happier than non-vacationers in the lead up to their break, but once they are back, there is very little difference between the two groups’ levels of happiness.Happiness is … looking forward to your vacation Not working For me at least seeing everyone doing more outside of the home has meant that card games at night with all the family is no longer workable every evening  . Resource Joyce from TOT: HOT OR NOT has amazing location guides if you are after some inspiration of where you can go for this upcoming school holidays, amongst the Victorian regional guides here are just a few that are worth checking out: Top 10 Things to Do in Beechworth with Kids Top 8 Things to Do in Castlemaine and Maldon with Kids 17 Best Things to Do in Ballarat with Kids Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the eighth week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working Getting the right balance between routine and variety over the last week has definitely kept family harmony. Routine is more for the younger kids as the adult kids do their own thing! But having some key activities they need to do during the day really has helped to keep them active and have some variety. In the podcast, I share how I have been coaching the kids to organise their days so they fit in everything they need to do. In terms of variety, creating variety in the smallest of things like the types of crackers at the weekly shop has been a winner! I share a couple of other variations that have worked well. Not working Not sure if it is the change in weather or what it is, but over the last 1 – 2 weeks I have found it so hard to keep food in the house! Hangry teenagers is not something I want to deal with, so I have been at the shops more than what I like. Resource Paper to do lists are a wonderful thing! I have tried many apps, spreadsheets etc but still find I work best with a proper process for managing my work load for home and business. You can see a detailed outline of the process I use with photos here – Why paper to do lists work for me. Each night after dinner during COVID-19 restrictions we have played card games. Uno is a perennial favourite but thanks to a tip-off from my sister about the Uno Facebook page we have still been playing Uno but mixing up the rules to give us some variety. Some of the popular changes have been: Face up Uno – you have your cards in front of you so everyone sees each other’s cards. This way of Uno requires more strategy and inevitably having the family to work together to stop someone from winning! Reverse bounce back Skip bounce You can find the offical rules for Uno online here. Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the seventh week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working I have big project deadlines looming over the next month and much of the work requires significant concentration from me. It is hard to keep your train of thought and articulate your ideas when you are being interrupted every 5 minutes. After feeling pretty frustrated with this on Thursday I decided to be more flexible about when and how I worked which involved: different days and hours being laser-focused in what I work on when and I share the simple paper-based tool I help me to do this – my to do list process! You can read about it here. Also on the working front this week was: Seeing family! We had the in-laws over for dinner and our traditional after-dinner COVID-19 card games session. The kids getting to see some friends in real life. Running with my pack! I love my running group and in particular the amazing crew of people who I run with regularly in the workouts. It has been great to be running together again. Not working We have two kids that are really not enjoying each other’s company at the moment. There is a lack of patience on the part of one and an unstoppable desire to wind the other up from the second party. I know this will pass, but I have to remember to not be too quick to jump in and be a referee – I can never win in that roll. Resource The amazing meditation app Insight timer. I have used this app for many years now and I love it. Here are some guided meditations I have found useful at this time: Annoying person meditation – I love my family dearly, but this does not mean they do not annoy me at times and I know I annoy them too. This meditation reminds me that we are all on different paths with different struggles and it has a super calming affect on me. Sleep meditation: Awaken to a clean slate – this is by Bethany Auriel-Hagan and she is one of my favourite teachers on the app. I love all her meditations but find this is a perfect one to do at the end of a day that hasn’t gone the way you planned. Heart Opening Frequency – this is actually just music and I do my own meditation to it. It is soothing and allows me to keep my thoughts away! Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the sixth week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working Melbourne had a pretty glorious autumn week last week and the sun shone beautifully and brightly. A couple of the kids and I undertook an activity which I refer to as chasing the sun. We moved our work stations around the house so we could work in the sunshine. It made such a difference to our moods and energy levels. We also spent more time outside when the sun was shining and this made us all feel better. Setting deadlines was also a winner. In the podcast, I share an approach the youngest child took to a project he is working and what I did to keep me moving forward and accountable for a project I am working on. Not working The not working issue this week was a little different. It was more about how I was feeling with the kids starting to leave the house more and the reality that the school kids are going back to school soon and how this brings some sadness with it for me. I reflect on how I would feel differently if COVID-19 struck 10 years ago when we had 5 kids under 10! Resource Music was a wonderful resource for us this week. Music has the power to change the mood in the house and to be supportive and stimulating for the activities we do. Here are some of my favourites you can find on Spotify: Music for concentration – with my workdays being more broken up and having shorter times when I can create content, I find having some cues to get me in the writing frame of mind really help. This playlist works so well. I put my headphones on and start this playlist and it’s like my brain knows it is time to start working! Ludovico Einaudi – In a Time Lapse – I found this beautiful classical album via a teacher of our youngest child. She is an amazing teacher and would have this music playing in the morning as the children arrived and settled in for the day. I use this music to help me to think. I will put it on while I am cooking and in the shower etc, and it really helps my mind ponder on problems I am looking to solve whether they are for work or home. Want to share something about your stay at home experience with COVID-19? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the fifth week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working In last week’s episode, I shared that the bickering was the big not working thing in our house for that week. With that in mind, I was intent on making some small changes throughout our week in an attempt to break the monotony of being at home all the time. And it was a success. I share the very little things I did to make life a little more enjoyable and keep family harmony on track. I also decided to get up earlier in the morning so I could get in 30 – 60 minutes of work before the rest of the house starts to wake and get on with their day. I discuss the positive flow on effects this has had. The COVID-19 WFM parenting plan is still an absolute winner too! Not working The correlation between me being more intentional about how I lead the family over the last week and there not being any major issues in the house is VERY STRONG! I reflect on how I am being the primary carer and how this has a role in leading the family in a positive direction at this time. This is a challenging and tiring role and I note ways on how I can keep this up for at least the next 5 weeks. Resource My resource for the week is getting some more indoor plants! This has been on my wishlist for a very long time and spending so much time at home made me want this even more. I used this book Yates Top 50 Indoor Plants And How Not To Kill Them! to help me choose which plants to get. I am not a green thumb at all so I decided to choose plants that were super easy to care for. A massive shout out to my awesome family for buying the plants for my birthday present and to my wonderful in-laws for buying the pots for me – truly appreciated. The plants bring a smile to my face every time I look at them. I received the following plants: Imperial Green – Philodendron erubescens Zanzibar Gem – Zamioculcas zamiifolia Devil’s Ivy – Epipremnum aureum Monstera deliciosa Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the fourth week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working Meal prep! I always do some meal prep each weekend but with everyone being home I had reduced how much I was doing. I realised this was negatively impacting the time I have for work and how well I was eating so last weekend did a proper meal prep session. You can see a photo of my well-stocked fridge here! If you haven’t tried meal prep before these links will give you more info: My weekly food prep process Weekend meals that will make your week days easier Tips for meal prepping veggies Not working After having a week last week where I didn’t have much to say for not working, this week it was all about the kids bickering! Resource My resource for the week is a podcast about Corona – Coronacast from the ABC. I take a mindful approach to the info I am consuming about the virus and its associated impacts. It is too easy to spend loads of time scrolling feeds and watching news segments and not really take much away from it other than feel slightly overwhelmed. Coronacast episodes are short and succinct, running for about only 10 minutes, which is about as much as I can get through before I am interrupted at the moment! Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the third week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working Over the last week and a bit, my husband and I have had a major breakthrough in how we are managing the working from home and home learning with the kids. Since we have been under stay at home restrictions I have been what we refer to as the “primary parent” on the weekdays. This means that my husband has been able to be off in his home office (aka the card table set up in our bedroom) and work uninterrupted. This system worked in the short term, but the amount of work I have been able to do has been impacted significantly by this. We worked together to create a COVID-19 WFM parenting plan. I discuss this in detail in the podcast and can highly recommend creating one for you and your partner if you are both working from home. Not working While of course the week wasn’t perfect and there were fights with the kids and times they frustrated me, overall there were no standout issues, that made me think I needed to change things – hooray! Resource The Five Minute Journal App is my resource for the week. The app is true to its name – I would spend less than 5 minutes in the morning and then another 5 minute or less session in the evening to practice gratitude. You have settings to choose from, for both morning and evening entries. I have mine set so in the morning I reflect on: what I am grateful for what will make my day great my affirmation for the day You don’t need an app to do this though. You could just use a notebook and note down each morning and evening things that you are grateful for. Starting each day, thinking of three things I am grateful for moves me into positive thinking. Already I am looking for the good around me and there is plenty even in times of COVID-19. You can read more about how I use this app in this post – Monthly review – practising gratitude. Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify         See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to the second week of season five of the this family life podcast! This season is focusing on how our family is organising, surviving and at times thriving under the stay at home restrictions in place in the COVID-19 pandemic. Each week I am recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working – setting a personalised schedule for the home learning of our youngest child in year 6. Each day his teacher sends an email with a suggested time table and the work he needs to complete. The youngest and I work together to construct a schedule for the day that means if I have any Zoom calls etc where I cannot be disturbed that he has work he won’t need help with. Working – each day the youngest has allocated 30 minutes of fitness in his school schedule. We have been doing PE with Joe together each day and it has been so much fun. Not working – the year 11 and year 8 students are online for most of their school days and the majority lessons are held either via Zoom or Google meets. The uni students have Zoom calls for tutorials, I have some Zooms for my work as does my husband. Sometimes all of us could be on some form of group call online. We ran into issues a few times over the last week, with who was in what room for their calls, who wanted to use rooms for other reasons and those not on calls being too loud while others were on calls. I will need to think some more about how we can better manage peak online call times. Resource – I have used the Scannable App for many years now, but now a number of the kids have downloaded the app as well! They are using it to scan handwritten work and upload it to their teachers. If you don’t have a printer that scans this is an excellent free app you can use to scan documents, photos etc. Scannable is made by Evernote and it links in beautifully with the main Evernote app. Evernote is a great way to reduce paper clutter at home and for work. I have written about how I use Evernote in the home here if you are keen to check it out further. Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

this family life podcast is back for a new season in 2020. This season is going to be different from previous seasons – a reflection from the season of life we are currently in. We have just finished 2.5 weeks of school holidays amidst the CIVD-19 pandemic. The state of Victoria in which I live has had stay at home restrictions in place for all of this time. The state government has advised that all children that can stay home for the whole of the second term of school need to do so. Term 2 officially started today, so I have decided for the next 10 weeks I will be recording a short, in time podcast episode sharing: What is working What isn’t working Resources that have helped make our time at home more enjoyable, more productive or healthier In this week’s episode it looked like: Working – having school holidays guidelines. You can find a free template to use here. Working – playing games after dinner with the whole family. Not working – cooking bulk meals. The family has always been pretty happy about having leftovers for breakfast, lunch or snacks. Now with our days looking very similar day in, day out, this has changed. They want more variety. You can read more about the changes I have made to our evening meals here. Not working – later dinners. Eating dinner pre daylight savings and pre COVID-19 at 7:00pm was fine. Now dinner that late is not working at all. Not working – I was staying up later as I didn’t have time pressures in the morning. Unfortunately, I would still wake up early, just feeling more tired! Resource – we used Kahoot! to create a fun family trivia quiz and played it over Zoom with extended family. Want to share something about your stay at home experience? I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] at let me know. Connect: Twitter | Facebook | IG Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.