16 – A babysitter is an investment

Hey Mama, Happy Monday. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com. Mamas Daily Dose is… “Mama investment tip number one – get a babysitter.” Let’s get moving, before we get interrupted.

Hands down. One of the best investments I’ve made this year is a regular babysitter. Every Monday afternoon for two hours, I have one of the girls from the neighborhood, come over and watch the boys for two hours. So, that is two hours a week that I have guaranteed time that I can do things I can do whatever I want, I can catch up on the housework. I can work on this podcast, I can work on my business I can read, I can sit there and do absolutely nothing. 

But not only is that two hours, just amazing. But the peace of mind that it brings knowing that I have these two hours a week where I can either get things done, or I can take that time to decompress and relax. 

Babysitters can be more helpful than just date nights, right? Sometimes you need to get things done around the house. And sometimes you just need to chill, either with your partner or by yourself. So look into this investment. Think of it as an investment. You can use that time to better yourself, better your life, better your sanity. 

And I know that maybe not everyone is in the position to hire a babysitter weekly. So, other ways that you can do it is if you have friends or family that can watch your kids even for just an hour. That’s super helpful. Or think about a mom share. Do you have other mom friends with kids? Maybe one week you take them and the next week the other mom takes them. There’s a lot of ways that you can make this work. Think of this time as an investment, not just money you’re spending on a babysitter. It’s a real investment, and you get a return on that investment.

Thank you so much for tuning in. If you are enjoying this podcast, please subscribe and give us a rating. Also, be sure to share with your mama friends. Have a fabulous Monday and a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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15 – Play announcer instead of referee

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com.

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Mama’s Daily Dose is… “Try being announcer instead of referee.” Let’s get moving before we get interrupted.

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Honestly, I absolutely love this analogy. I don’t remember exactly where I heard it from. But it said something like, “imagine if you played announcer instead of referee.” So, if your kids are fighting over a toy instead of saying, “Hey, stop that give that back to your little brother.”

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You do something along the lines of, “Oh, look, Saxon’s got the toy now. Anderson’s going for the toy. Oh, oh he smacked it out of Saxons hands! Oh Saxon’s going for the hair. He’s going for the hair. AH Anderson gets away, he gets away, he starts running away with the toy. AH Saxon’s following him. He’s going, oh no Saxon tripped any fell. But he gets back up and he goes for the toy. Oh no, they’re tugging back and forth. Anderson has it, Saxon has it… who’s gonna end up with the toy?!?! And basically, that’s just a hell of a lot more fun than trying to play referee.

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Thank you for listening and hearing my attempt at being an announcer. If you are enjoying this podcast, please help us out and give a five star rating. And be sure to share with your mama friends. Have a fabulous weekend and as always have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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14 – Eat cake for breakfast

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com.

Today’s episode is a bit of a special one. It will be airing on June 24, which is my dad’s birthday. And this will be his fourth birthday that we’re having without him. He passed away almost five years ago. And every year to celebrate his birthday, we eat cake for breakfast. So in honor of that, Mama’s Daily Dose is… “Eat cake for breakfast.” Let’s get moving, before we get interrupted.

My kids never got to actually meet their grandpa. But it is important to me that we talk about him and celebrate him and let them know who he really was. I’d say my dad and I have a lot of the same qualities, including our hardheadedness, also our love of sports, and really, my dad was just kind of one of those people that if he wanted to do something, he was pretty much going to do it and didn’t really care what other people thought about it. And this might sound odd, but one of the ways that he did that was how he ate breakfast. My dad ate one of two breakfasts; literally a banana, or he would have like a huge slice of cake, or pie or some cookies. There was really nothing in between that. 

So to commemorate my dad’s birthday, and to celebrate him every morning on June 24, we eat a piece of cake for breakfast. It was actually the first cake that my older son Anderson, ever ate. Usually that happens on their first birthday, but his grandpa’s birthday was about a month before his first birthday. So that was his first taste of cake. And I don’t think I’d have that any other way. So here’s to my dad. Happy birthday!

Thank you so much for tuning in today. And tell your loved ones that you just love them today because honestly, we don’t know how long we’re going to be on this earth. So, don’t waste any time. Tell them that you love them. And have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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13 – No One Has Ever Calmed Down by Being Told to “Calm Down”

Hey, Mama. This is Mama’s daily dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com.

Mama’s Daily Dose is… “No one has ever calmed down by being told to ‘calm down.’ ” Let’s get moving before we get interrupted.

Before I even relate this to children, if you’ve ever been told to calm down, you know that that is the last thing that is actually going to calm you down. I don’t know about you, but if I’m super worked up about something, and someone’s like, “Hey, calm down, it’s not that big of a deal.” That just riles me up even more. 

It’s like, you don’t know me. You don’t know why I’m upset. You don’t know why I’m feeling this. That person doesn’t know what you’re feeling. And maybe you are justified feeling that way. Maybe you aren’t. But they’re your feelings. 

Now let’s take it to the tiny humans. So kids can’t even label a lot of their feelings. They don’t really know…they can’t control them, they’re still learning them. So, when they’re super upset about something, and someone comes in, and it’s just like, “calm down, it’s really not that big of a deal.” If adults react the way that we do to somebody saying that and we can control our emotions (to some degree) think about how it’s going to affect a child. And really by telling someone to calm down, you’re just totally invalidating their feelings.
 

Thank you for tuning in. And be sure to sign up for the newsletter at allyoumama.com it goes out tomorrow, Thursday morning, and have a great day for your mama girls because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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12 – It wasn’t the shoes…

Hey, Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com Mamas Daily Doses is… “It wasn’t the shoes.” If you didn’t listen to yesterday’s podcast, go ahead and take a quick Listen, because this one’s a little bit of a follow up. All right, let’s get moving, before we get interrupted. 

Yesterday, I told one of the stories of me losing my sh*t on one of my kids, and essentially, it was over a pair of shoes, but it wasn’t the pair of shoes that upset me so much. It was everything that preceded getting those shoes on… all the little things in the morning that happened to build up that frustration and overwhelm, you know, from not having the right cup of milk to not being able to decide what to eat for breakfast, for being in a rush or having to get out the door so quickly. It was just all these little things that built up to this one big explosion. 

And as I said yesterday, I mean, it’s gonna happen, it happens, but we don’t want it to happen all that often. And one way to combat that is to take care of yourself, and to check in with yourself and see where you’re at. See where you’re feeling throughout the day. And if you start to feel that overwhelm that anxiousness and everything, then just take a moment and step away, get a few breaths in, it’s okay to take a moment away from your kids because you need it and it’ll be much better for you and for your kids. And it might help you from not losing your sh*t so much. 

Thank you for tuning in, and be sure to check in with yourself throughout the day today. If you like this podcast, please be sure to give us a five star rating and share with your friends. Have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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11 – Losing your Sh*t

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com. Happy Monday Mama, before we get into it, I want to let you know, I do swear of bit. And in this episode I do, but it is bleeped out. But just in case you have little ears listening in on, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Mamas Daily Dose is… “losing your, sh*t on your kid.” Let’s get moving, before we get interrupted.

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We’ve all been there before Mama, you’re trying your best. And then something just happens and you lose it.

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So let me bring a little story to you on this Monday. A little bit ago, we’re getting ready to go and my three year old is trying to get his shoes on. And he’s in this phase where it’s like, Are these the right feet? And if I tell him, they’re the wrong feet, then he gets upset because he wants them to be the right feet. But he doesn’t want to switch them. So it’s a whole thing.

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So that’s going on…during this time, my one year old slips and falls on the stairs, busts his lip, and there is just blood everywhere. And he is screaming. And I’m trying to get the blood under control and comfort my one year old a bit. And my three year old is just screaming about his damn shoes and losing his mind over these damn shoes. So I just looked around, and I was like, “I don’t give a sh*t about your shoes.”

1:50 
And, of course, once everything calmed down, I felt bad. And you know, it’s like, we’re gonna lose our sh*t, you know, everyone only has so much patience. And it’s totally normal, that it happens.

2:09 
But I think the lesson from those situations is to take responsibility for it, for your actions, and apologize to your children. Because maybe it wasn’t the greatest situation that you yelled at them or whatever. But you can use it as a learning experience where you take responsibility and say, “Hey, dude, I’m really sorry. Mommy was really scared. I had some big feelings and I should not have taken it out on you.” Even though I really didn’t give a sh*t about his shoes at the time. But you know, it’s all a learning experience. So it’s okay if you lose your sh*t, just take some responsibility for it.

3:00 
Thanks for tuning in. I hope you have a beautiful Monday. And make sure you head on over to allyoumama.com and sign up for the newsletter to receive the shortest, most impactful newsletter just for mamas every Thursday morning. And have a great day free of Mama guilt because you deserve it.

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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10 – Sometimes You Just Want to Poop In Silence

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com Mama’s Daily Dose is… “Sometimes you just want to poop in silence.” Let’s get moving, before we get interrupted. 
 

As a mom of young children, you know that silence can be hard to come by. And sometimes when you do come by it, it’s not a good sign. But, I mean, really, sometimes I just want to poop by myself. I just want to poop without anyone else in the bathroom without people banging on the door; without screaming, crying, yelling whatever other antics are going on, on the other side of that door. 

I just want to poop in peace sometimes. And I know all of us can relate to that. It does happen. But just definitely not every day. It will someday. And as people say, maybe someday I will miss that. But for right now, I would really just enjoy a nice quiet poop.

Thank you so much for listening. And here’s to hoping for some peaceful poops in the future. Have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

Rather listen than read? Listen to the podcast here:

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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09 – “My Mother is My Root…” – Michael Jordan

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com Mama’s Daily Dose is… a quote from Michael Jordan, “My mother’s my root, my foundation, she planted the seed that I base my life on. And that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.” Let’s get moving, before we get interrupted.

Wow, there are honestly so many great parts to this quote. And the part I want to start with is that Michael Jordan said his mother is his root. And that’s how most kids view their moms. Like, we have this crazy important role that honestly, no matter what we do, or how much we F up, our kids are still looking up to us. So, we not only owe it to them, but we owe it to ourselves, to be this great example, and to teach them to be amazing humans.

The second part is what Dolores Jordan instilled in Michael. And what I believe to be the most important lesson to instill in my children is that your ability to achieve starts in your mind, you have to believe in yourself in order to achieve anything, if you don’t truly believe that you can do it, you’re not going to figure out a way to do it.

And I know we’ve talked about this before that you don’t have to know how you’re going to do it. You just have to know that you can do it and you have the capabilities to do it.

So, if I instill nothing else in my children, other than swear words and some sports knowledge, I want them to know that they can achieve anything that they believe they can. And they are capable of anything. And that that belief in themselves is what’s going to carry them through life and what’s going to make them happy and successful.

Thank you so much for listening today and I hope you enjoyed the quote we’ll be throwing in some quotes on Thursdays from now on. And if you haven’t already, please give me a follow on Instagram @MeghanQBarrett. That’s Meghan with an H. Have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

Rather listen than read? Listen to the podcast here:

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Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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08 – I Don’t Know How To…YET

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com Mama’s Daily Dose is… “I don’t know how to…yet.” Let’s get moving. Before we get interrupted.

I’m definitely not the picture perfect parent. And my three and a half year old has dropped a couple f bombs and said some other unsavory words. However, the one thing that I will always correct is when he says that “I can’t” do something. And every time he says that, I correct it, too, “I don’t know how to…yet.” Because what that instills in him is that he can figure it out.

Not everything in life is going to come easy. Sometimes, you’re going to have to figure it out. And you may not figure it out the first time or the 10th time. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. It just means you have to figure out another way.

I don’t want my kids growing up feeling like they can’t do things, because of whatever reason it is. You know, when you ask kids, what they want to be when they grow up, they have these big dreams. It’s like, at what age do we get beat down, and reality starts sticking in. And it’s like, Okay, let’s go with this safe dream because I know that I can do it.

I always want to dream big. And I want my kids to dream big. We’re only on this earth for so long. So we might as well do some big things. And the only way that those are going to get achieved is if we believe that we can. We don’t know how to do it yet, but you know what? We’re gonna figure it out.

Thank you so much for listening. If you don’t follow me on Instagram, go on over and give me a follow @MeghanQBarrett. That’s Meghan with an H. And make sure you share this podcast with your mama friends as well. And remember, have a great day free of mama guilt because you deserve it.

Rather listen than read? Listen to the podcast here:

Mama’s Daily Dose

Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

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07 – You Don’t Have to Know HOW to Believe You CAN

Hey Mama. This is Mama’s Daily Dose. I’m Meghan Q Barrett of allyoumama.com Mamas Daily Dose is… “You don’t have to know HOW to believe that you CAN.” Let’s get moving. Before we get interrupted.

You can do things that you have absolutely no idea how you’re actually going to do them. And the way that you get there is that you believe that you really can. 

Think about it. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg knew exactly how to create a social media platform when he had this great dream of Facebook? No. But he knew that he could. So he kept going, and he did it. What about Elon Musk with PayPal and Tesla. He didn’t know how he would either. But he figured that out, and a lot more too. 

So when you’re trying something new, or you want something different from yourself, you have no real concrete evidence that you’re going to achieve it. You don’t know how you’ll get there. 

But if you believe that you can, and you have that undeniable belief, you’ll figure it out. Think about when we ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, right? I remember when I was a little girl, I wanted to be the first girl to play in Major League Baseball. Okay, obviously that dream did not come true. However, I didn’t care that I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I was just like, “I’m going to do this and I’ll figure it out along the way.” 

“I can’t” will stop you before you even start. So don’t just go with “I can’t” because you don’t know how.

Believe that you can and you just figure out the rest of the crap along the way.

Thank you so much for listening. And if you are enjoying the podcast, please give us a rating. And make sure to share with your mama friends. Have a great day free mama guilt because you deserve it.

Rather listen than read? Listen to the podcast here:

Mama’s Daily Dose

Meghan Q Barrett helps mamas figure their sh*t out so they can create a life they love as “mom” AND an individual without the mom guilt.

Book your FREE Confident Mama Session