BLOG, CREATIVITY

Creativity, Parenting and Education Time

For those who want to succeed, planning is the best tool to reach your goals, ambitions and the position you want to be in the future. As a single mother, I understand how difficult it is to plan and accomplish everything as we desire; time is very scarce, money may not be enough, work always pushes our boundaries, and most importantly, our children need us. I know! Seems unrealistic. But trust me, it is possible.

In my country, there is a saying that goes “The only thing there is no solution for is death”, and there is another one that I like very much: “if you want it, you can do it”. So, I prod you to find ways around life and to be creative around our unique situations, and despite those – enjoy our children, even if 2020 told us that we don’t need plans.

I started with many ideas on how we can handle these conflicting priorities with grace, and I would like to start with this: Prioritize yourself, only then you will figure out how to bring more creativity and efficiency into your routine with the kids at home – and thus, also be ready for the approaching summer vacations.

In addition, I had the privilege of interviewing the Founder & CEO of InnovatorsBox, Monica Kang. InnovatorsBox® is creative education firm with the mission to unlock creativity, helping businesses and individuals stay creative to solve problems in complex times of change. During that interview, Monica told me how we, as parents, have the ability to unleash our full potential through creativity – and that we can be creative in raising our children. Being positive and relaxed is the key to fully enjoy the moments we spend with our children and be present in those moments!

Monica shared with SingleParentPower the tip called: CC Time – i.e., Creativity and Connection Time. The CC Time consists of including in our routine a specific hour where we are with our children, completely disconnected from technology, to have creativity and connection. During this time, you will not talk about work or everyday life and its situations that tends to bog us down – but about another topic that allows you to create a powerful, emotional, and intentional moment. You can do it during your breakfast, dinner or at any time that suits your family.

As part of the tips, it is particularly important that you involve your children in the daily activities. Involve them in selecting the activities they would like to do. For example, the meal of the day, the restaurant they would like to visit, etc. This helps bonding, helps them develop their own voice, and makes all family members feel like they are contributing in one way or another.

If you want to know more about tips on how to support your child in virtual education, or if you feel identified with this content, I invite you to read this eBook about Back to School: How to support your child in virtual education? This is another tool to make your single parent life easier.

And remember, you are not alone; we are a community of over 13.7 million single parents in the United States. Subscribe for free to our SingleParentPower community.

About the Author

Yurani Sandoval

Yurani Sandoval is a social entrepreneur, Founder and Director of Womenpalante and SingleParentPower.
SingleParentPower is the only one-stop-shop where single parents can find a bilingual, diverse, and inclusive online community. WOMENPALANTE is a nonprofit that provides entrepreneurship education to Latina mothers and their children.

Yurani is a native of Colombia, living in D.C metro area, and a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about helping single parents to excel. Before founding SingleParentPower and Womenpalante, Yurani worked in several roles with the Pan American Health Organization, the Regional Office of the World Health Organization in the Americas. She also completed training in the Founder Institute and MET Community Program.