Have you ever wondered how to make the most of your time with your children and ensure their mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing is nurtured? After taking a week off each month during summer break to be with my kids, I realized the importance of being present, prioritizing productivity, and managing social media use. Join me on this week's Smart, Wealthy Stylist Podcast as I share valuable insights on investing in our children and transforming mindless scrolling into max productivity.
As parents, it's crucial to set boundaries and limit tech use to prevent potential neurological issues and improve our children's behavior. In this episode, I discuss my own experiences with tech and its effects on kids, stressing the importance of spending quality time in nature and taking time off for yourself and your family. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation on how to build stronger connections with your little ones and make every moment count.
Have you ever wondered how to make the most of your time with your children and ensure their mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing is nurtured? After taking a week off each month during summer break to be with my kids, I realized the importance of being present, prioritizing productivity, and managing social media use. Join me on this week's Smart, Wealthy Stylist Podcast as I share valuable insights on investing in our children and transforming mindless scrolling into max productivity.
As parents, it's crucial to set boundaries and limit tech use to prevent potential neurological issues and improve our children's behavior. In this episode, I discuss my own experiences with tech and its effects on kids, stressing the importance of spending quality time in nature and taking time off for yourself and your family. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation on how to build stronger connections with your little ones and make every moment count.
I'm your host, emily Cardin. Over here, we're dedicated to helping hairstylists manage their finances, stay organized, healthy and manage their time and mental well-being. We focus on staying healthy in all areas of life and maximizing productivity. If you're a hairstylist looking for these things, then this is the podcast for you. Together, we'll avoid burnout and step into being the smartest, wealthiest stylist that we can be. Welcome back to the smart, wealthy stylist podcast. I'm your host, emily Cardin, and I am excited to dig into this episode this week.
Speaker 1:
I am coming off some time with my kids and I was at Sunday dinner this last Sunday and I was talking to my mom and I really value her input. She's a wise woman. I said, hey, what's a podcast idea that you think I should cover? I have a lot of podcast recommendations from stylists that I love gathering, and then I also have my own list of podcast ideas. She said why don't you do one on investing in your children? I love that idea because I'm just coming off of time with my kids Every year during the summer.
Speaker 1:
Starting this summer, i decided that I was going to take a week off of each month during summer break that my kids are out of school. I am on a hardcore debt payoff journey For me. I have to be really intentional and diligent about where I'm spending my money and making sure that I can still do that. Nothing that we're doing is crazy or we're not taking vacations and trips and spending money and going shopping and all that stuff. I'm just taking time off so we can have lazy mornings and cook breakfast slow and then go for a bike ride and come back home and take a nap and then go back outside and play with the horses or play pickleball in the backyard. Just have some easy, slow time with my kiddos. I thought what a better time to cover a podcast about investing in your kids right after I've come off my first week's stint of doing just that.
Speaker 1:
So many times, we get caught up in building our careers and becoming the best that we can be, and that's not a bad thing. I think it's super important to prioritize whatever it is that you're wanting to do, but that can really take a toll on balancing family life and spending time with our kids and our spouses, for that matter. But this one is. This episode is more geared towards children. Finding balance is key, but how do we do that. What are some things that we can do to prioritize our life so that we can invest in our children mentally, physically, just be present with them. So let's dive in.
Speaker 1:
My first one is prioritizing productivity. So if you're trying to build your business, or if you are a salon owner and you're managing other stylists, it can be really difficult to make sure that you do the work in your business and balance family life. So the first one, social media, is a tool, so you need to schedule out time to work on social media. Posting and interacting should be scheduled during working hours or when your kids aren't around. Get up early or work this time into your workday, not when you're with a client, but block it out an hour or so to do this during your work day while you're not seeing clients. This has been a total game changer for me. So in the mornings, when I get up at four or five usually I'm getting up at four That is an awesome time to gather all your pictures and create captions and then put them in a schedule posting app, or you can even just save them in like Facebook or meta. Business has a scheduling feature on there that will post to your Facebook and your Instagram simultaneously, and so Using social media as a tool and making sure that you're scheduling out all your post greatly decreases the time that you're spending away from your family while trying to post on Instagram.
Speaker 1:
Mindless scrolling is okay every once in a while, but the rule of thumb that I really do try to follow is Create content with 70% of that time and then the other 30% is scrolling. So, say you create content for 60 minutes, allow yourself 18 minutes to scroll mindlessly, and You know, if you're a person who's on social media all day long, that can be Really like you're thinking 18 minutes to look on my phone. That's ridiculous, like I can't do that. You know, or maybe that's your. You know your you time or your Time to yourself, or you know that's what numbs your brain long enough to zone out.
Speaker 1:
This podcast isn't meant to talk at you. I really do want to help you Prioritize your time so that you know the, the future of your family and the future of your life and all those things can Be fruitful and wonderful. And you know, those little humans are just so incredibly smart and They're so special and I don't want to miss a moment And I want to make sure that I do everything in my power that I can to enrich my children and show them the way and teach them kindness and and teach the importance of Prioritizing time with your children, even as they're a child so Mindless scrolling. There's just so many times that those kids will look up at you and you're not looking at them, you're looking at your phone. That's showing them like, hey, my phone's more important than you are. You know, a lot of times I think a lot of kids get that feeling.
Speaker 1:
And then, moving on a cleaning, inventory and after appointment experience. So a lot of times whenever I get new clients, i'll send them a thank you card or I'll check in about a week later and just say, hey, how'd you like your hair? You know, is there, are you having any problems? I hope you are enjoying it. Da-da-da, you know, and That takes time. Also, i do have the luxury of Having an in-home salon, so I do do my cleaning and inventory and a lot of things like that Before my family even wakes up in the morning. So I get up early. I make sure that I do all of those things before they wake up. But if you don't have an in-home salon, staying a little bit later after work, or Working that into your schedule once again. You know, maybe scheduling that during your lunch And if you don't have a lunch break at work, we need to talk about that but or even get there an hour earlier or Don't get there an hour early and then just scheduling that first hour for salon maintenance or Bookkeeping or whatever it is that you're struggling with, balancing between family life and personal or work life. Make sure that you're blocking that into your schedule, not during family time.
Speaker 1:
The third one is get up early for self-care. So I know I preach this all the time and so many people are always like I could never get up early like you do. That's just crazy that you do that. Getting up early has literally changed my entire life. It allows me time to study my Bible and talk to God, i record my podcast, i do my bookkeeping, i create social media content, i work out, i play my day and anything else that I need to do.
Speaker 1:
So if you were wake up early before your children are awake, think of all of the things that you could get accomplished, and then, when they're awake, they have your undivided attention, and so does your husband or who you know, whatever life you're living, you have time to devote your attention to other things. And then you know huge thing, that used to be a problem with me and I still do struggle with this some, because I Do get the mindless scroll going. And you know, like on the weekends when I'm not super diligent about my time, i'm. I can be pretty bad about this, but put the phone down and pay attention. You know what are you missing? I looked up some statistics on this and it is shocking. So on On average, people spend 5.4 hours a day on their phone and check it an average of 63 times a day. And you know I was thinking like. Our kids spend about seven hours at school, sometimes another three at an after-school program. So you may have like an hour or 30 minutes in the morning with them and then, if they're bedtime to eight, you have another three hours with them in the evening. So you have four hours Max with your child during the day. Some people get less than that. Every single minute counts and when they look up to see if you saw the cool dance move They did or the flower they picked for you, or you don't answer until the seventh, hey, mom, you're showing them that your phone is more important.
Speaker 1:
I read a blog about this lady that was talking about, you know, a tech-free home and why they decided to go tech-free. And I'm not going full tech-free in her house, but I do limit tech time with the boys and I also am trying to limit tech time with myself, because Why would I limit it with them and then not with myself, you know? and her realization was she set up a camera and and she was on her phone for 30 minutes and She was checking to see how many times she missed an opportunity to make eye contact with her child or to recognize that they were doing something, or Just to. You know you connect with a person when you make eye contact with them. And in that 30 minute time span she missed making eye contact with her child 50 different times. And That just struck such a chord in me because I thought, you know that child looked up 50 times and his mom was not looking at him. She was so immersed in her phone that she didn't even know that he was trying to show her the Legos. He didn't speak up, but he looked at her and was holding them out like, hey, look what I did and she missed it.
Speaker 1:
I Know that kids can be very overwhelming at times, and I'm not saying my kids are perfect They are not and Sometimes you need a break. Well, that's why I get up early, it's why I prioritize my self-care time. This podcast probably isn't gonna be the favorite among all of these podcasts, because I don't. I don't want to people to feel like I'm talking down to them or like talking at you, but I do think it's really something that needs to be addressed. So, moving on Tech use in kids. So tech use in children, so like their tablets or Video games or whatever, it is shown to cause behavioral issues, interaction problems with other children and neurological problems, and I am a full testament to that.
Speaker 1:
So my oldest son, bronson If he is on tech anything for really more than an hour a day, he's moony, he's sensitive, he is like super grouchy, he's difficult to get along with And whenever we go tech free with him, he is an angel. He's kind and sweet and patient And most of the time he's such a good kid. It is directly correlated to how much tech time that he has Recently. Well, actually last Christmas we got him an Xbox and he would just kind of play on it here and there some. Well, he's eight and two of his friends have Fortnite and I talked to their parents about it and they're like, yeah, i mean it's not really graphic, there's not blood and all this stuff, and they play together as a team And they really enjoy spending their time together playing as a team And I'm like, okay, i'll give that a try, i'll see how he does. Well, he was like addicted, like he wanted to play Fortnite 24 seven And I'm like this is not healthy.
Speaker 1:
And his behavior declined super fast. He was super like he back talk a ton and he was just like hateful and disrespectful. And that is not my kid. Usually he is like such a good kid. So I was just like this has to be Fortnite. So we went on a camping trip and he was super disrespectful And that was the very first day we got there And I said, okay, well, you're grounded from Fortnite for a year. I'm done with this behavior. I'm sorry your friends are gonna be upset, it doesn't matter, because this is absolutely unacceptable, that you're treating me this way And I don't deserve this treatment. And of course, it was a major meltdown this whole thing. But let me tell you what happened. He's sweet, he's respectful, he listens, he's not cranky Like I got my kid back And the fact that a video game or a tech device can cause that sort of response that my child is scary to me.
Speaker 1:
So that leads me to the next one is get outside. Spending time at the park or nature teaches kids so much about the world and themselves. You can bond over skipping rocks, going for a bike ride or a walk. Some of my very favorite times with my kids have been outside in nature And in the springtime I love going around and showing them all the little blooms on the trees and the flowers that are getting ready to bud. And I remember when Bronson was little I'd show him those little buds on the trees and stuff and he'd say mom, look, there's little bugs. And I just thought that was so cute. And I still remember that he's eight and he was maybe two at the time. So it's just precious whenever you do that And having time outside builds core memories. If you and your spouse and your kids go outside and play whatever just kicking a ball around in the yard or playing catcher, playing in the sprinkler, i mean those are core memories that your child will remember forever.
Speaker 1:
And then another one is taking time off. Like I said in the beginning of this podcast, i am taking a week off for every month during summer break. So it has been really great And I'm excited for our second one. And I just made it a priority to take that first week off of every month. Way back in probably January, i knew that I needed to block it off in my schedule. I need to be intentional about that. So planning way ahead of time was very helpful for me, because some of my clients schedule way out. So making sure that I had those times blocked out beforehand was very helpful and it was really easy to do that.
Speaker 1:
So and like I said, yes, times are tight. Like maybe you're saying I can't afford to do that. Well, i know what type of a tight budget that I'm on and if I can do it, so can you. And the way I looked at it was I only have 10 summers left with Bronson before he's 18. And then really probably like more, like eight, because once he's 16, he's not gonna wanna hang out with his mom all day. So I wanna make sure that I prioritize my time now and spend time with them while I can before. They're way too cool for me. Hopefully that won't happen, but I just wanna be realistic And for me it was a no-brainer to be able to take the time and my husband was supportive of that which he works full-time. I wish he was able to come home with us. He did take that Friday off and we went camping, so it was a great time and I was really glad that he was able to prioritize some family time too.
Speaker 1:
Go to the school parties. You know your kids will remember when you came to their parties and it's exciting for them to see their parents at parties. It makes them feel special and showing them that they're important. You know I give Bronson for hooky days a year and you know, if he just needs a mental health day, it wants to stay home and veg on the couch all day and watch movies. I let him. But I really like to have him do hooky days whenever I'm off work and I go ahead and take Jackson to the babysitter and then Bronson and I spend the whole day together just chilling or, if he wants to, you know, go to the arcade or we go out to lunch or something. You know, just have that intentional one on one time and give him those hooky days from school so that he can, you know, just have a day if he needs it. You know, sometimes we call in for our mental health or we call in because we just need a day. I think kids should be able to too.
Speaker 1:
Another one is invest in your children's future monetarily, you know, not only spending time with them, but financial planning for the future. I wish I had started this, you know, years ago, but my journey wasn't there. You know I wasn't. I didn't even know about any of this stuff up until just a couple months ago, you know, up until January really. But you can put 6000 a year into an IRA for your kids at any point in time, i mean from day one that they're born. You can start doing this.
Speaker 1:
But say, you have a two year old and you decide to invest 6000 a year into an IRA until they're 18, and then they continued and decided to retire. Maybe they want to retire early, and so at 18, they start paying their 500 a month into their IRA once they get a job or whatever. Or you can even, you know, continue and help them And then at some point, you know, in their adulthood, they transition over into paying for all themselves and they decide to retire at 50. They would have 1539,387 dollars to retire on With investments. Yesterday was the best day to start investing. So if you have kids and I'm not saying you have to max out their IRA every year and you know, do the full 500 a month for your kids, but do what you can. Even $10 a month makes a difference. That compound interest is real. So you know there are trust funds and so many other types of investment routes that you can take, but prioritizing their future could set them up to be very comfortable and successful And by showing them how important it is to invest at a young age, you could save them years of tough times.
Speaker 1:
As an adult And you know Bronson already is you know I'm super transparent with the mistakes I made as an adult and how to fix it and my plans for the future, and you know all of those things. So For me it's super important to be transparent with my kids and tell them This is what I'm doing, this is the mistakes I made and this is how I'm gonna fix it, and this is what I want you to know. You know so that you don't make the same mistakes that I did. And he already talks about, you know, real estate, investment and Return on investment, and talks about interest rates and banks and like all these things. And he's eight years old. So he's listening, he's watching, he's seeing my journey and I'm so glad that he's paying attention, because What an incredible life lesson for such a young person to be able to realize What he needs to do in the future. And then Another one is create special traditions and one-on-one time.
Speaker 1:
You know, by finding the space in your day to spend one-on-one time with your kid can be a challenge, and I understand that. But there was a study done by American Academy of Pediatrics that found there are so many benefits to child's development, including promoting their social skills, cognitive, language and self-regulation skills, just by their parent spending more one-on-one time with them. And You know my oldest, tatum She's 16 my stepdaughter, she is. She loves traditions. So you know, creating traditions with your kids can give them a sense of security and belonging. And You know, whenever you take time to have that special one-on-one time with just that child, it's just so special and they just feel so loved. So I just want to encourage you.
Speaker 1:
I know this is a lot of information, but Maman ain't easy. Being a parent is the most difficult job that you can do compared to anything else. You know, literally the future of the world depends on us as parents, because we're raising up the next generation. I Try to do the very best that I can do and sometimes I fail. Sometimes my kids have way too much screen time. Sometimes I have way too much screen time and I don't look up and I miss the moments and I fail sometimes. But I am aware of The things that I need to work on. So I try to do better every day, even just 1%, you know. 1% better Every day and that will make me a better person, a better mom and hopefully lead the way for them on how to be a successful adult and How. I hope that my kids feel loved and treasured and That they feel completely secure and who they are. And so let's recap here and With five actionable steps on how to invest in your child.
Speaker 1:
Number one prioritize productivity, so that's, you know, getting up early or scheduling a lot of your work time things Into your work schedule so that you're not doing that at home. Put the phone down and pay attention. Make sure that you know, try to keep your mind list scroll at 30%. So how much ever you produce minute wise of content, take 30% of those minutes and that's how many minutes you get to scroll mindlessly. And you know, maybe you look up from your phone and look at your kids while they're playing because they're probably trying to make eye contact with you. Taking time off you know prioritizing taking time off with your kids during summer breaks or anytime they're out of school. Try to take off with them, invest in them monetarily Setting up an IRA trust fund, any sort of other investment that you can the younger the better and And then create traditions and spend one-on-one time with them. Just making sure that you're making each child feel special and like an individual will make them more confident and Make them feel more loved.
Speaker 1:
So I know this podcast is a little bit different than anything else that I've done. I think that the family dynamic of being a hairstylist can be very difficult and And you know, our kids can suffer in a way sometimes. So I just wanted to bring this to light and Maybe help some of you create some boundaries in your life so that you can prioritize your time with your children more. So I hope that you guys do do this and if you do, send me a DM on Instagram And let me know how it's going. Or if you need me tips or tricks, reach out and let me know. I Look forward to talking to you guys next week and I hope you have a great day. Thank you for listening in today. If you have a burning question or a topic you want me to cover, leave a review and ask the question in the review. This is the best way to get your questions answered. Just remember you are a smart, wealthy stylist and you are capable of anything you set your mind to. I'll catch you later. Don't be a stranger.