WORKING FAMILY #1

Recently I realized that I learn a lot by listening to how other working parents deal with their day-to-day. I find it helps me tweak our family routine (aka shave off a few minutes between point A and B) and be more efficient and grateful. It's easy to realize that there's no one-size-fits-all formula. It's a work in progress that adapts constantly to life's surprises.

This fun new series is about us, the modern working families, and how we try our best to make it work. Today I share with you our family routine and hope you'll get to share yours with us. At the end of the day, we can all pat each other on the back for our good work. Enjoy!

Family Initials: AKAKVC

Origins: Vietnamese (Her) & Caucasian (Him), born and living in Montreal

Pregnancies/Children: 4/3 boys

What woke you up this morning: A call from our tenants about a broken shower faucet

Occupation: Entrepreneur (Him), Engineer & Strategic Planning Consultant - currently on Mat Leave (Her)

Education: Bachelor in Computer Science (Him), Bachelor in Computer Engineering + MBA in Finance (Her)

Typical Work Schedule:

• 7:30am-4:30pm Mon-Fri (Her)
• 9am-5:30pm Mon-Fri + Sat during the summer (Him)
• 9:30pm-11pm when needed (both)

School Drop-Off + Pick-Up: 

• Drop-Off: Him. Daycare first, then kindergarten
• Pick-Up: Her. Kindergarten first, then daycare. On Mat Leave: Daycare, then school bus stop.

Extra-curricular activities: Family Chauffeur, Soccer Coach, Founder & Editor of WordsofWismom.com

What you like about your job: Everyday is different. Different needs, different challenges. Helping clients achieve their strategic objectives. Relying on and building our personal skills for a good 8 hours gives us a creative boost for family duty. The drive home listening to the radio is a great transition between work and family.

Career Highlight So Far:

• Completing my MBA during mat leave. At the graduation ceremony, I was one-month pregnant with #2. It was hard work but a great feeling to know that a new chapter was starting as one was closing.
• Staying focused on learning new skills and adapting to new challenges. Change is good.
• Successfully switching fields and contributing to the growth of the family business

Childcare Situation: 

• Family Child Care at 5 months for #1 and at 9 months for #2
• Daycare center A for one year when we moved
• Daycare center B for #2. After-school daycare for #1
• Lesson Learned: Children will feel it if we're nervous about a new daycare. If we're relaxed about the new change, so will they.
• Family has been very helpful at all times;

When a kid is sick: We evaluate our day and assess who has the ability to stay home. Overall rule: Low season (him), High Season (her). Backup plan: The Wonderful Grand-parents

Evening Routine: Family Dinner, Bath, Storytime, Bed, Cleanup, Work or Laundry Folding watching a taped episode of Income Property

Breastfeeding & Formula: 

• #1: Breastfeeding until 4 months, then formula. My body stopped producing milk when I went back to study full-time. I wanted to finish my MBA before going back to work so studied non-stop for 9 months. I remember pumping milk sitting on the bathroom floor in between classes and hurting so bad on the bus ride home after my first full-day at school without breastfeeding.
• #2: Breastfeeding until 11 months, alternating with formula at around 6 months.
• #3: Didn't have any milk the first day so formula the first 3 days, then breastmilk starting day 4.

You make lists about: groceries, sports registration, housekeeping, Xmas gifts

When you're tired: Nap (wishful thinking). Otherwise, fresh air, a good Chai or Matcha Green Tea Latte and a design magazine is a great pick-me up.

Tantrum Trick: Dis-trac-tion. We try to divert the attention to something else. If that fails, a timeout until they calm down and then we'll have a little talk. Something to eat also comes in handy.

Fitness Minute: It changes a lot depending on the family schedule. Crossfit & Baseball once a week (Him), Walking to classes & the occasional home workout, possibly tennis this summer (Her)

Takeout to the rescue: Indian, Lebanese & Greek takeouts

Where do you shop: I like places where I can buy for most of our needs all at once, and also stores that have a good return policy. Zara, HM, Gap, Joe Fresh for clothes, Target & Homesense for home decor.

Things you do when the children are not there: 

• Her: Read magazines and blogs. Go shopping for clothes. I get distracted if I go with them and end up buying things we don't really need, thus why return policies are important in my case. Scream when I see a spider.
• Him: Play sports, cook, watch sports games, sleep.
• Together: Clean the house, eat in front of the tv (because we can't do it in front of the kids), movie dates, decorate the house

Dream Fashion Collaboration: Celine x Zara

Favorite Kid Item: Nutcase Helmets. They're stylish, fun and durable.

Favorite thing to do with the family: Eat, play sports and travel. We've brought them to Paris, NY, Marrakech and Hawaii. It's not easy, but the memories are worth it.

Hard Work Pays Off: When your kids' actions reflect your family values.When you can give back to your parents to thank them for their hard work. When you're able to take your kids on new adventures and get them into different sports and good schools.

Voilà! What do you like to learn about other parents?

P.S. – Are you interested in sharing your working family routine with us? Just send me a note. we'd love to learn how you make it work! thanks!

P.S.2 – I love looking at pictures of other families, especially the well-styled photoshoots. Here, I chose to not disclose the names or pictures of the families so that we can focus on content and prevent our natural instinct to compare each other based on looks. hope you can appreciate this approach and the families' privacy.