Ok... Its partl my fault for trying to do so much.... I: have a daycare homeschool daisy gs leader oldest in gs as well sell avon... Oldest wants to do piano so im encouraging it... do books for my hubbys business PLUS my hubbys and FIL business plus have 3 kids of my own... I just feel like i dont have enough time in the day to give everything the attention it needs. I feel guilted into the gs leader but cant back out now... I guess i just want to know how you guys with tons to do make time for everything.
just wondering how you do the daycare and homeschool also. I have been asked and asked to watch more little ones at home. ( have one now, and just got another) wondering how to do it all myself! * by the way today I have 4 extra little ones around, form 6 wks to 3yr old.* how did I say yes to them all! take time for yourself even if it means leting something go!
wow, I am overwhelmed, just reading what you wrote. Yes, like Shelby said take time for yourself if something has to go, let it go.
I saw that you posted about gs leader on another thread and I didn't get a chance to read it yet. Is there really no way to let that obligation go? I have had that sort of thing happen to me before. It is humbling to have to admit to others who count on you that you took on too much, but in this case, it would seem that so many very, very important things in your life will suffer for the overload you are experiencing. There is no shame in admitting to others that we aren't able to do something that we thought we would be able to do. ((( hugs )))
You have an overflowing plate! Try to let go anything you can...you can't run on empty. THat won't be good for anyone. I think sometimes we forget that we don't stay home and homeschool to get involved with a million other things. We need to focus on our primary responsiblity. If you can fit something around it...great..if not ....turn it down. Of course, some of what you do generates income...so keep doing that. The rest...get rid of! lol. I know I often neglect the very people I stay home for and the house i live in because of outside responsiblities. I mean being involved iwth everything sometimes defeats the purpose.
I have found out that if I just do the min. house cleaning during the week, then on Sat, the girls and I can get the rest done in a few hrs, It has really helped me not to feel so overwhlemed.
I feel your pain. I homeschool, have three kids, work from home teaching online college classes, am starting to get busy with my jewelry business (every weekend in Nov is booked with jewelry shows) and I teach a class at our homeschool coop. I backed off of a lot of my volunteer duties when we started homeschooling. I NEED the time away from my kids when they have activities. I don't need to volunteer MORE! Sometimes others guilt me a little about that, but I remind them that I'm home teaching them all day! They don't need me to teach activities too. Right now, my jewerly is MY thing... so it doesn't feel like a stressor. It's what I love. Find something you love and you will find yourself again. Hugs! Edie
I would say to do anything you can to let the GS thing go. If at all possible. It seems like you have enough going on right now and GS is just adding stress. I keep one little girl (almost 2yrs old), homeschool one, do books for two businesses, answer phones for one, volunteer with many things for dd13's school drill team and take both my girls to various activities. I understand! I really think you should try to let the GS thing go. Maybe see if another mom is interested.
Do you have a co-leader for the Daisy troop? When I was co-leader for our brownie troop, we spent 1 day per month (a couple hours tops and that was because we ate dinner and the kids played) and planned everything. Daisies don't need to meet more than 2x per month so don't feel like it HAS to be done every week! Also combine try-its. Seriously - our troop in 2 years finished almost ALL the badges (dd did not go back to girl scouts once we started homeschooling because she was frustrated she wouldn't "move up" with everyone).... But we combined try-its. "Hey this activity can be used for this, this AND THIS!!" type attitude. Get the parents to volunteer as much as possible. I have somewhat learned to say no....but I have found that with a set "schedule" I get a lot more done. I'm still working on that with the 2 new girls I have.... but we are getting there (this is a huge "push" week for us at the farm so any schedule is already out the window). Start delegating your house as well. Ok - for AVON.... how often do you do it? Can you set it up where people email or call in orders and you place your campaign order 1x every 2 weeks? Delegate 2 hours TOPS per week to AVON. When I did that business, besides recruiting that's about what I did with it and still made extra $$. I just got an iPhone.... why? Because so much of our business is by email and I need to be able to see everything in 1 place. It was either that or a Blackberry or even a Palm device.... but I just liked the iPhone Plus ds just bought an iTouch so we can share apps. So far, I make my grocery list, take notes, have a calander and all my contacts on it. I also have a PDF reader so I can look at forms and such and see what needs to be done and then music and books. The hardest thing I am finding is taking time for me - but I will hide in the bathtub on occassion and try not to think for awhile. Get a weekly calendar with timeslots. Lay everything out on the table and LOOK at it. If you have too many overlaps with time - THEN get rid of something. But once you have a visual of it - maybe you can change times or rearrange stuff. BUT make a block for "ME" time or "FAMILY TIME" off my soapbox now
I mostly do my avon thru email and close friends so thats really not a problem.. lol The books for my hubbys business and him and fil business hasnt really got up and running yet becasue their doing a major changes and so it will be about a month before i am like "swamped" with that. homeschooling..theres no choice there...im doing that regardless older dd gscouts.... i can take her meetings or her dad can youngest dd gs...OK my daughter is VERY VERY shy that is why i enrolled her int eh first place but want her to have a good experience...well the lady thats been doing it becasue she couldnt find no others has been in it like 30 years. shes the service unit manager...shes older and health isnt very good so she doesnt do alot with them. SO i thought i would take over and make it maybe more fun but even like last night...she still dictates EVERYTHING I do and what we are going to do..... My daughter will not talk to anybody even if I am there so leaving her and going is out of the question. I do have a co-leader if I can get her to show up.....shes a freind and well i dont know if its going to work. I hate to give up becasue that gives my daughter a reason to quit something..you know the "well you quit doing leader" which she would never do and maybe she just wont like it...you never know....lol as for a calender... thats my bible..lol i have one on the wall..one on the computer and one in my bag..lol Im actually a really organized person but somedays i look at the stuff and think O M Goodness..... when a week is like jammed packed.. daycare..i have to have my daycare atleast for now. with my hubbys business and than his share of my fils business also we are hopeing i can get out of daycare within the next year.... I want to stay with it and pay off some smaller dumb bills and than once thats generating income for the month enough to pay bills and pay for itself amonth I will beable to do that. I only have 4 kids on given day and theire USUALLY pretty quiet so its not that bad....lol I just wonder whats best for me and my family...and my mind..lol
I also think that you need to make more time. The simplest solution seems to be giving up the girl scouts. I know that you say your dd is very shy but you can do other things to help her with it. Do you attend a church? Sunday school would be helpful for shyness too. If you took that girl scout time and made that family time I think that it would really help not only you but your whole family would be blessed by it. These are your children and they will grow up fast, slow down and take the time to enjoy every moment with them.
if my youngest had to give up gs my oldest one will too and shes not fond of that idea. All of her friends is in gscouts and she loves the leader......We actually spend ALOT of time together..we are together pretty much 24/7... I dont know I feel bad about maybe giving it up and than I think about this sat.... I want to take the m to this really cool pumpkin patch about an hour away but we have to walk in the parade. It will be good for them though... I dont know I have severe thinking to do....
I can relate, not to the bookwork though, yuck! I keep a busy schedule and the only way I make it work is starting my day before anyone else gets up and praying and reading my bible. with out that time I get stressed otu and am a basket case. I have worked day care before, and though I dont do that now I do understand how busy that can get not just at home but even when its not "work time" you are thinking of what yu will be doing the next day and cleaning up after it. I would nto do that again, yikes! So I will pray for you, that things work out for you to get some "break time" for you.
Hello, I just got out of Girl Scout leading after 4 years. You can get out of it. Do you have a Co-leader or parent that might be willing to take it over? If not, inform the council that you can only carry it through Christmas Holiday and that you will not be able to do it after that. If no one volunteers to take it over, then when you have your troop Christmas party announce - or send a letter home explaining that due to circumstances that require your time elsewhere that you will not be able to continue in the New Year. We got out because our council is "all about the money". They want you to sell this and that, but if someone orders and doesn't come up with the money, then it is on your shoulders to come up with it. My daughter sold over ?2000 boxes (don't remember exact number) anyway, she was supposed to get all of the prizes, but once she reached a certain amount they said she either gets this or that. That isn't what the form says, it says that all prizes are cumulative and even the area coordinator said she was supposed to get it all, but she didn't. Anyway, we're done with them, however if no one takes your troop and your daughter still wants to participate, she can do it from home as an individual.
My DD is very shy and if I'm there, she clings to me. We really had to work on that with her GS last year. Honestly, after talking with the leader - who was awesome - I just left. I told her I was doing it, but that she was a big girl. The first time I did it, it was a bowling activity, and she cried so much they called me to ask me to come back and get her, which the leader profusely apologized for (though she didn't need to). But I was in a bad cell area when she called, so by the time I got back, the activity was almost over. She hadn't quite come completely out of her funk, but she was mostly there. The troop was big (30 girls, although only 10-15 would show up for meetings), but the leader worked hard to draw her out. Honestly, for me, that is one of the reasons I put her in extracurriculars, to give her a chance to overcome that shyness without me around. I am a very shy person as well, and we moved every year when I was growing up so I was always the "new kid", and I hate getting in new situations - but you have to learn to do it IMO. I found a mom that I really liked and we had her and her kids over a couple of time (she has boys close to my boys age, actually, so it worked out great), and that helped both of our daughters to open up. Having someone over for dinner once in awhile is way less stress than leading a troop. Side note: >My daughter sold over ?2000 boxes (don't remember exact number) anyway, she was supposed to get all of the prizes, but once she reached a certain amount they said she either gets this or that.< I would be so massively ticked that the explosion would not be contained. My DD sold 250 boxes and that was HARD, I can't imagine 2000. One other thing I have learned: some income is not worth the cost of time. Sometimes because you can earn more doing another job, sometimes because the "value" of family time is worth more. I've done a couple of work-from-home jobs that, frankly, paid very little hourly, and it was worth more for me to cut corners a little more and focus on something else. How much are you getting out of Avon? Can you focus on just the residual sales from existing customers - maybe take one or two days a month to make calls - and drop parties? Or, on the flip, are you making more from Avon than you're dh would wind up paying someone to do the books? It may be ideal to do both but unrealistic. You've gotten lots of good advice, so I'll just leave you with a <hug>. SG
