Untitled - September 3, 2026
00:00:00 Speaker: We are back. Welcome to season two of the Working Moms Redefined podcast. Two and a half. I mean, we started in March a couple years ago. So math, math, math nonetheless. Welcome back to a place where we help you feel as if you are doing good enough as a working parent. I have missed you guys. I hope you had the most amazing summer. Whether you are able to be more intentional with your work and or kids, whatever season you are currently in. I hope that it was amazing season. We're gonna call it two and a half is looking awesome for Working Moms Redefined. We have some absolutely amazing individuals who we are talking with this year. Some familiar voices like Sarah Simonec with Deeper Roots Counseling, AJ Simmons with politics and grants. We have podcast hosts and fitness experts and business owners. There is one episode coming up with a woman who is in charge of the furniture for Google and Charles Schwab. I am telling you, the people that we are going to get to learn from this year. They just keep getting better and better. But that does not exist if it is not for you. So for those of you who still continue to listen over the summer to either old episodes, or you got caught up, or if you wanted to relisten, oh, I am forever grateful and forever grateful. So as we preview what is to come, let's take a look back to life lessons that Denise and her family have learned because of summer twenty twenty six. I'm going to start this off by saying the day the school started, I was very emotional in the best way. I was mourning that summer was over because we did have such a great time. I was proud of the individuals that they are. And as they go into their next school year, how they were already showing up. And then I was sad because, oh, routine is changing. I made it about me. I got in my head and realized, like, Denise, you are so used to change. Why is this shaking you? I don't know, I had my one day to cry and then I was good. And now good is even better. We have so many fun things to look forward to, both here at Working Moms at Teddi Commedia and Denise Talcott leadership. And for those who might be new or are joining us for the first time, welcome. Thank you for being here. It is a pleasure to get to live life alongside all of you. And for those veterans who day in and day out, turn up the volume to learn from all of us here at Working Moms and from those across the country, my gratitude is endless. So, uh, we are not getting emotional. This is a great kickoff to season two and a half. So that being said, thank you. Thank you. As I look back over May twentieth to August twenty first. Wow. Wow. Wow. And as I think as you look back over your summer, you're probably thinking the same thing. I hope you are giving yourself credit for the amount of fun things that you did, but also giving yourself a pat on the back for the hard things that you all did as well. I presented the idea to Jeremy the beginning of May, when I realized that we were going to have daycare for three of the five work days weekdays. However you want to see them Fridays in the summer. I always try to leave for the kids. So I might, you know, work because business owner. But I'm not going to take appointments, in-person appointments on Fridays. So that was set. So really, I needed Thursdays covered. And as I look at these kids, Sydney is nine and a half and Hudson is he'll be eight in like a week. I'm like, you know what? I teach some online classes on Thursdays, and I often do podcast interviews. I have several clients who would love to see them. What if they worked with me? And when I proposed this idea to Jeremy, you should have seen the look on his face. He was both surprised and trepidatious and also like, okay. And he goes, are you sure this is a good idea? And I said, I don't know. I'll figure it out the first couple of weeks, and if not, we'll come up with another plan. Well, three months in, they did phenomenal. Were there hard days of them coming to appointments and meetings with me or being in the background of my Zoom? Absolutely. But they learned a heck of a lot. They learned more respect. If you know our children, like it's still a work in progress, but they learned how to be more respectful. We really focused on looking people in the eyes and shaking hands when we met about how it's so important to me that our children ask questions after they are asked a question, because it shows interest and intent. And so those were the things that we worked on. Now, are they applying those after I'm, you know, nitpicking them in the background? I don't know, I should ask their teachers. I'm not going to because I'm not sure I want to know the answer. But for the time being, they did great. One instance when the kids came with me if you are from the local area, there is a furniture gallery. It's called Oak Furniture Gallery. Long time client. I think he's been with me, I don't know, ten, twelve years. Love the owner dearly. And it's in downtown Quincy with big windows and oak furniture. Rocking chairs are in the window. And so, Hudson, as we are talking through and it is a longer meeting because some of us like to chit chat, he's sitting in the rocking chair in the display window looking out. And it was at that time that the owner said, hey, every person that you get to wave to you, I'll give you a dollar. Well, I don't know about you, but cute little boy who's seven, smiling and waving at you in a rocker chair. You don't think that he is going to make bank. What should have happened is, for every person you get to come in here would have been a more financial decision on the owner's part, but nonetheless, he got seven people out of eight to wave at him in like twenty minutes. Well, the owner, Matt, did not have cash on him at the time or nearby, he said. And so Hudson's like, he owes me seven bucks. And so every time we drive by Oak Furniture Gallery, he goes, hey, the boogeyman owes me seven dollars. Boogeyman is another story for another time. But it stuck with him, and it came from a place of kindness and serving. Now, don't get me wrong, I also understand that there's part of that where he wants his money. But it's stories like that where I'm like, okay, was it hard? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Yes. On those days, if I was working from home, we didn't have any appointments. Sidney was in charge. She took babysitting for her for each project, which when she entered in this project, she thought that actually meant that she would get to go babysit a baby. No. Sorry, dear. You're nine, but I will allow you to babysit your brother. So on Thursdays, if we were working from home. Sydney would get five dollars at the start of the day because she's going to watch and be over her brother. And if Hudson wasn't a little turd, he would get five dollars at the end of the day. Week one for lawless top notch. And I remember being like, we're gonna do this and it's gonna be great. And then I checked myself because I'm like, Denise, this is week one. Don't get ahead of yourself. Sure enough, second week tiffs were had and they got money taken away. And I said, okay, Hudson, how much money do you think you should get? And he said, four fifty. I was like, you little clever dude. And Sydney said nothing. I'm like, oh, my type a first child way to follow the rules. Nonetheless, they each got four because they had to take a dollar away and they came to those appointments. So I was trying to teach a lot of things, but also, as every working parent is listening to this, isn't this just exhausting? Like the amount of work that you all, we all do as parents never ends. And I want to give you credit for, however, you are trying to teach financial responsibility, social engagement, whatever that looks like for you. Please know that if you are trying, you are doing enough and you are doing it well. So yeah, that worked pretty well. Not that I don't want to take away from the good because there was so much good. We took some lake trips. We had a great time with a lot of our friends and family. We went to Mexico. Hudson learned the hard way. We got very excited about a swim up bar there. Like we don't have to get out of the pool to get a drink. No, you do not. Don't drink this pool water. But yeah, you do not have to. So while we were in Mexico for every fun drink that they had, I feel as if I don't have to say non-alcoholic, but I'm going to say that just so that we are clear for every fun, non-alcoholic drinks that they had, they had to drink a cup of water. Well, Hudson in the afternoon realized that, hey, if I get a fun drink, enjoy that, then chug a glass of water. I can go get another fun drink again. His tummy did not agree with him and I. He. Like I said, he learned the hard way that night that too many Shirley Temples are not good for your stomach. We played a lot of softball. We played a lot of baseball. I was able to be very intentional with the workload that I carried. Um, which is probably the reason why we paused the podcast for the summer. We also decided that we're going to get goats for the kids to show next year. That's a story for another time. As I am recording this, I'm looking out to where the goats are going to go in our yard. This will be interesting. This will be interesting. But I also want to tell you like they still had screens. They still were on their iPads on Thursday. Sometimes if I was meeting with people upstairs and they needed to be downstairs at the office, We got in a really big fight over Sydney losing her retainer. She got her braces off, and then we threw away her retainer at a hair salon. And it was. I did not show up the best. I was very mad. Scarred her for life. Hudson was great the rest of that day, but Sydney was traumatized. I mean, I think sometimes we talk about or post on social media all of the good things. And there were so many good things. But there are also hard things. Hudson has an area of opportunity to not ask for everything from people that he knows might not tell him no. We have once a week, we have a high schooler come and watch the kids and they do fun things, but Hudson's smart enough that they don't tell him no very often. And so he would ask, like, can I have a sucker or can I have a fun drink? Or can we go get breakfast at Cassie's? I was livid. I'm like, tell him no. And then at the same time, I'm thinking, where is the decision making skills on his part to know that he doesn't need something every time. It's that desire. It's that self-control that he is lacking. And we are still working on it. And there's punishments involved now. And there are like dynamics of just because you want something does not mean that you get it. Or do you ask for someone else? We've started like, hey, you want a dirt bike? Save your money. Hey, you want to go get a drink at farmhouse? Okay, we're using your money. That, as I'm talking about it, like gets me worked up as I know it does so many for all of you, because stuff is hard to teach. And then you get into that thought process of, okay, are people seeing him ask for things all the time? And then they're judging me because I'm not parenting well enough. And then the therapist and I talk about like Denise, that is called people pleasing. If you are doing a good job raising your children, why are you letting the opinions of others dictate how you view the situation? Like I said, recovering people pleaser. But we are in this together and so I encourage you if you have time, like I would make time for this, but if you could think about making time, I would love for you to go back to the week that those kids got out of school and you scan through your weeks, just as I did before this podcast recording, to see how much good you really had. Maybe at the end of the summer you were like, oh my goodness, that time flew. What did we even do? This is a great reminder for you to look back and see what you did. I kind of forgot about the fact that we had softball and baseball pretty much every night in June, and although that was painful in the moment, I think back now, I'm like, man, a lot of confidence was built in, I think back to July when the fair and how much fun that was, and that the rain and the conversations and all of these things that I don't want to ever forget about. But if we are not intentional with reflection, we might do it. And also make note of something hard, because I want you to give yourself credit for the hard things that you are continually doing. Whereas sometimes it's like, well, I'm just going to check that or delete that off my to do list. And then we forget about it. And we don't necessarily give yourself credit for it. So go back, reflect on your summer calendar and then take a breath as I am doing right now and think, okay, what do I need to do next summer so that I don't feel this way? Or so that I do feel this way? Last summer at this time, I was very overwhelmed. I very much felt as if I didn't show up as the parent that I wanted to because I had too much work on my plate. So what do we do for this year? We did not enter the podcast. It was exactly what I needed. Find that for you while also thinking, okay, is there something else on your plate right now that is too full? Or in my case right now, I can't wait to fill it back up. I need some guardrails as to what I'm filling it with. So I, you know, encourage you to hold me accountable for that. But even sometimes if it's making space for you to listen to a podcast episode, whether it is this one or Ed Mylett or Mel Robbins like to invest into yourself Personal growth and development is so, so important. Make it a reminder so that you do so at least once a week. Those are just my two cents. But that being said, thank you for being back for season two and a half. I love that we might just roll with that. And I hope, I hope that you are able to look back, whether it's on your summer or this year thus far, and be so dang proud of the parent that you are because you have done so many great things, and yet you have done some really hard things too. 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.
