My mom squad rocks and here’s why
Summertime is usually the busiest for our family because of the tourism-related small business we own. While most families are packing up and heading to their vacation destinations, we are prepping to work seven days a week for three months. Lucky us.
But we are lucky. We work our cushions off hard during the summer season so that we can spend the majority of the year with our littles, torturing them with our love and constant presence, and denying them the opportunity to become latchkey kids. Sorry. No after school “I Love Lucy” marathon watching for you, young ladies.
A great amount of planning does go into securing the first order of business for busy season: child care. Work won’t work if the kids don’t have care. If we don’t work, we don’t eat. And if we don’t eat, then I can’t fuel properly for my races. So for the love of running and my sanity, I begin the search for a nanny early on each year.
This year was especially shitty challenging when I had not one, but two great candidates cancel on me right before they were due to start working. Candidate #1, after much thought, couldn’t justify quitting her full-time job at my favorite place on earth (insert Target plug here) for a seasonal gig. Very fair. Candidate #2 had a real estate calling in life the night before her first day with us. Let’s face it. My kids’ arts and crafts projects can’t compete with the exciting world of low-inventory, high-demand, soon-to-come real estate bubble dos. That’s Spanish for Armageddon round two.
Nevertheless, their timing sucked was unfortunate. With T-minus 2 days until the summer work season, I was running around trying to find candidates that were firm yet sweet, and who wouldn’t let my girls sniff glue. There’s no way I was going to be ready for our tourism season, I thought. Absolutely no way.
Enter my mom squad.
My mom squad is comprised of amazing women; super ninjas, if you will, who can simultaneously do six tasks with two arms and four eyes. Yes, they have eyes in the back of their heads. They flawlessly avert horrible village disasters by day and either drink wine or Facebook at night. Their hearts are the biggest organs in their bodies and they don’t seem to mind lugging around an extra back because they always have yours.
So here’s how my mom squad helped me with Nannygate ’16 and really how we all work together to make our village thrive in every situation, all the time, 365 days a year.
Asking “How can I help?”
What a powerful question. Coincidentally, the only two moms who I know with five freeloaders dependents on their taxes offered to save the day during my nanny debacle with that question. Simple words with so much oomph. See, I was raised by a pack of Peruvian wolves that taught me not to bother anyone. Ever. Considerate? Yes. Productive? No. Thanks to this mom squad of mine, my brain and heart are getting a complete makeover through their great examples of kindness and thoughtfulness. To have that kind of support exist at a moment’s notice is a huge blessing and to reciprocate that gesture makes my heart sing. I know. You wish you were us.
Sharing of childcare
Whoever came up with communal childcare is absolutely brilliant? Oh, it was us. Well, what we’ve done ever since someone put fertility juju in our city water and we all got pregnant at the same time, is rotate nannies. This means we either a) have the same nanny go to our houses at different times of the day depending on needs, b) have the nanny watch all kids at my pig sty the same house while we slay our to-do lists, c) have two nannies on rotation to do a and b. It’s cost-efficient, practical, and gives our kids a chance to drink out of each other’s sippy cups socialize. Score for us. Again.
Hustling the alcohol and dairy
Can we all agree that going to the grocery with kids can be a lot like going to the grocery store with kids? Chaotic. Stressful. More of a project than it needs to be. So when you’re lucky enough to be going into the deli-produce war zone solo because someone is supervising your minions at home, you ask your squad if they need you to pick up anything for them. When they offer to do the same for you, throw modesty out the window. Tell them to grab you that Josh wine and organic carton of milk pretty please. Oh, and if a ninja moms asks you to please pay for an entire cart of groceries that were left behind due to incorrect form of payment (pre-credit card Aldi), you do it. Because real friends don’t let their friends go into the war zone twice.
Taking my 2 for 45
Yes, taking my two kids for 45 minutes on top of the five lunches, three drop offs, and ten loads of laundry on your list, just so I can get some shit done around here a few things accomplished, makes you as cool and wonderful as Mindy Kaling in my book. This doesn’t happen often because frankly we’re all busy treading water on a daily basis. Truthfully, we also forget to offer help more regularly since our families have single handedly exterminated 95 percent of our brain cells and short term memory. But when we remember and are able to werk, werk, werk it, this sweet gesture is golden and so appreciated.
This episode of mom squad bragging has now come to an end. Tell us what your squad does to make your village thrive.
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Category: FriendshipTags: busy moms
