Episode 70: Pressing Pause: Taking a Summer Break to Choose Presence Over Productivity with Denise

June 04, 2026

In this special summer sendoff episode of Working Moms Redefined, Denise reflects on the past year and a half of the podcast while sharing an important decision for her family and for herself as a working mom: pressing pause for the summer season.

This episode is an honest conversation about motherhood, family priorities, overcommitted schedules and the pressure many parents feel to create the “perfect” summer for their children. Denise opens up about choosing intentional family time over packed calendars, sports camps and nonstop activities in order to create more meaningful moments at home with her children.

She shares the heart behind stepping away from the podcast temporarily, the importance of recognizing when your family needs more of you and why sometimes the healthiest decision is simply slowing down. Denise also encourages listeners to rethink summer expectations and focus less on overplanning and more on connection, simplicity and presence.

In this episode, we talk about:

☀️ Why Working Moms Redefined is taking a summer pause
🏡 Choosing family connection over constant busyness
💭 The pressure parents feel to create a “perfect” summer
🚫 Learning to say no to activities, camps and overcommitted schedules
🩵 Why children often value simple memories most
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Creating intentional family time during the summer months
🌿 The importance of slowing down as a working mom
📝 Building a summer bucket list with your children
✨ Letting go of unrealistic parenting expectations
🌸 Finding joy in everyday moments with your family

This episode is a refreshing reminder that childhood memories are often built in the small moments: bike rides, root beer floats, pool days and simply being together. Denise encourages working moms to give themselves permission to pause, simplify and embrace a summer that feels good for their family instead of one that looks impressive to everyone else.

As the podcast takes a short summer break, Denise also gives listeners a preview of exciting guests and conversations coming this fall, including topics surrounding motherhood, leadership, personal growth and family life.

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Episode Transcript

Untitled - May 28, 2026

00:00:00 Speaker: Sweet, sweet summertime. Hey, it's Denise and you are listening to the Working Moms Redefined podcast and we are gearing up for a fabulous summer. What a joy it has been to live life alongside with you this past year for season one and a half, season two, whatever that looks like, because we've been doing this podcast for a year and a half. And holy cow, what an honor it has been to get to live life alongside with you. All good things. No, we're not ending. All good things deserve a pause. And as we look towards this summer here at Working Moms Redefined, first and foremost, the working mom part stands out and I want to be able to show up for our children the best way possible. And so we're going to take a break this summer. We have so much life to live in twelve weeks, if you will. And one way that I can give them my full attention is by pausing on the podcast. So this is seen a little bit. We will return right after Labor Day. We already have guests lined up. We have Amy Peters from the Quincy Children's Museum. We have let's see what else. I'm gonna pull them up right now. We have Beth McMillan, CEO of Wskg. We have Amber with the author of Escape the Motherhood Podcast. We have a performance coach interview in October with Daphne Alwyn. And the Money Hungry Mama is all the way booked out in November. So when I tell you that we have plans for you, we have plans for you. And this summer I want our kids to be my plans. And I encourage you when your schedule allows. Maybe rather than book the next basketball camp or sign them up for, I don't know, another type of sports camp or music camp or something like that. You pause and you decide, is this what's best for our family right now? And so we're saying no to a lot of things this year. We're not doing sports camps. We are not. We said no to piano for the summer. We said no to gymnastics. These things because our family union unit union kind of fits too, is what we want to make the memories with this summer in our home, with our pool and with one another and daycare, childcare looks a little different. We're in that weird transition where it's like Sydney probably is fully capable of staying home by herself. We're not going to. And yet it's Hudson, the seven year old boy. It's always that boy, as they say that I don't want to put that pressure on her to be in charge of him, because sometimes I feel the pressure of what it feels like to be in charge of him. So mama's gonna spend a little bit more time at home. And I encourage you to be okay in that, as I struggle to be okay in that one thing that as we look towards a fun filled summer for you and your family, make a summer checklist. I started doing this a couple years ago, and it has been not only so fun for us to create together, but also check off. And the really cool thing is sometimes as parents, especially working parents, we think that we need to over the top deliver on a fun filled summer. And actually, when you give them the opportunity to share what they want to do, you get things like wear tank tops and make root beer floats, go to a water park and ride our bikes to shoot shark on your list. We have a water park pass from the school year reading. We already rode to the soup shack on our bikes. Like the expectation that I think as adults, we put on what the summer should be like is way too much. Think about it. What did you love about the summer when you were young? You loved the opportunity that you got to play with your friends. Get sweaty. I mean, yes, do we remember the fun trips? But we don't necessarily remember the planned activities that our parents did for us. It's the feeling that we had when we were with them. And with that thought in mind, go make that summer checklist. You will not regret it. You will have so much fun. And so will they. So we are going to pause for a few months and we'll be back for Labor Day. But again, thank you for letting us spend season one and a half, a whole year and a half with all of you, because darn it, it has been so much fun and we can't wait for it to continue in September right here on the Working Moms Redefined podcast. Thank you for listening to the Working Moms Redefined podcast. It is not lost on me that you chose to spend time together. Thank you. Let's connect outside of the space on socials. We'd love for you to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest. We've got it all to connect with you. If you feel as if someone in your life could be impacted by this message, feel free to share it. That is the biggest compliment. As we part ways together, remember you can do hard things.

Episode 70: Pressing Pause: Taking a Summer Break to Choose Presence Over Productivity with Denise

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