Balancing Phone Time & Kids with Pampered Chef: A Creative Solution

Balancing Pampered ChefOne thing I heard when it comes to balancing phone time & kids which I
thought was a great idea is have her go to a $1 store & pick out 10 or so
items/toys. Put them in a box marked Phone time. The only time the kids get to play with
these particular toys is when mom is making Pampered Chef calls. So the kids
look forward to her phone time because they get to play with these special
toys they don't get to play with all the time, only during her phone time.

Dawn Hlavaty

Balancing Pampered ChefThat's a great idea! Just one of many great ideas I've gotten from this
website. Thanks for sharing!

Balancing Motherhood and Pampered ChefBalancing Motherhood and Pampered Chef.

I had a system for when I was on the phone. It had to do with fingers. If they held up one finger, it meant there was an emergency (like blood, etc). I immediately hung up the phone and went to them. If it was a two, when I was done, I didn't make another call, I went and found out what they wanted. If they bugged me while on the phone the ANSWER WAS ALWAYS NO.

I also had "office toys." A laundry basket filled with things to stamp, color, etc. Quiet toys that they "played office" with while I worked. I always took my children with me for things we could do together like grocery shopping. I HIGHLY VALUED nap time and used that to make phone calls etc, things that I couldn't do when they were awake. My best thing was my pay scale for baby sitters. One dollar amount if they just watched my children. A higher amount per hour if they cleaned up, etc and did some "stamping" for me. So instead of 5 per hour 7 per hour or something like that. But I'd come home to a clean home and receipts or catalogs that were ready to go!

My life saver was that business in a box. You heard the one about having a recipe box that the large index cards fit into. An 1-31 tab in the front, then a Jan-Dec tab after that and an AZ tab in the back. I would simply stick up the cards of the people I needed to call for the day. (I still use this
method) and by the end of the day my goal is to get all the cards back into the box, filed away either because I got hold of the people or I decided to file to another day. So if I had 15 minutes that the kids weren't crazy, I could make a quick call. In between laundry loads etc. The second life saver was a best friend. We would swap kids one day a week. I'd pick them up after preschool and take them to my house one day, for lunch and play. She'd do the same thing on a different day. So I had one day per week that I could really catch up. This is key- don't get your hair done then-do your work. I also belonged to a baby sitting coop. We started one in the neighborhood, Moms would exchange baby-sitting hours. I would use that for getting my hair done etc. No cost, just time. So if I had two kids it would use two hours of sitting per hour. I would earn my hours by providing sitting for others. No cost, allowed me to get to know moms in the neighborhood, and once a month or so we would meet at night.
Schedule office hours that are flexible but not optional. (from Marie Frieday)

Using Index Card BoxesI was reading this post and just wanted to chime in on the importance of a paper/hard copy file, such as the index card box system, etc. I have been in business for almost four years and right after Christmas a couple of weeks ago my home PC crashed, hard drive "fried like a mozarella stick"! I have a back up disk and am hoping to recover my database when my new Dell arrives next week, but if I can't recover anything from my disk then I am going to loose 3 1/2 years of data-including all my contacts!

The moral of this story...paper files and index cards can sometimes seem redundant if you are using pampered partner, but they are definately still important!

This is my first post and I am enjoying all of the info shared here...Thanks!

Christina in SC

, Pampered Chef ConsultantHi Dawn,Thank you for sharing this great idea! Balancing work and family time can be a challenge, especially when it comes to using our phones for business purposes. I love the idea of designating special toys for the kids to play with during phone time. It not only keeps them occupied, but also makes them feel included and excited about mom's work. I will definitely be implementing this in my own routine and sharing it with my team. Thank you again for the helpful tip!Best,