Children are such a joy, aren’t they? They’re cuddly, interesting, sweet little humans who, given the barest wisp of an unfulfilled need or desire, turn into relentless automatons of repetitive request. I have three children, and they each have their own unique, special style of approaching need fulfillment. My oldest, A, dances around the edges of nagging, swooping in and dropping a hint or a question, then swooping back out of range of parental irritation before conscious acknowledgement sets in. He’s like a seagull. He doesn’t forget, but he is quick and he stays out of the danger range. My youngest child, B, is like the tide – relentless and always changing but never ever ceasing when she wants something. Ebs and flows, the intensity varies, but it never goes away. My middle child… aw, my sweet C. She is the one who will break you. She never loses sight of her end goal, no matter what it may be. From something as simple as what she can have for a snack, to what she would like for her birthday, to the ever popular ‘can we go out for dinner?’, she modifies her style as appropriate, she changes tactics depending on her audience, she is overt and covert and basically the Ethan Hunt of forceful reminding. Forceful reminding – that’s my new phrase for nagging, easily interchanged with ‘Jesus please make it stop’ – which ever suits my needs at the time. Anyway, as I am starting out on my own small business venture, I am at the same time continuing with my daily duties as a stay at home mother. My older two are in school – for 4 more days, cue mixed emotions – but my youngest is home with me still, until the fall when she starts kindergarten – cue all the emotions. In addition to home stuff, and mother stuff, I also serve on several local boards and committees, and volunteer at our local food pantry. I like to keep busy, and I have found that volunteerism is a lovely way to feel useful and generous on a larger scale (I’m not one of those stay at homes who finds being a stay at home completely fulfilling, for whatever reason) while at the same time making valuable contacts within your community. We all know about the dreaded ‘resume gap’ that happens when you decide to stay at home with your kids, and volunteering is one way to dance around a lapse of paid experience. For instance, I manage the social media accounts of 2 local non-profits, both of which are high-visibility. I have spearheaded social media campaigns to increase community awareness and involvement, and also to fundraise, successfully. Had I been working a part-time retail position, I would not have had those opportunities. Now here is where I say the obligatory ‘there’s nothing wrong with retail, nothing wrong with being a stay at home parent’ – yes. Obviously those things are true. But for me personally, about 5 years into this motherhood thing I started to notice this little dark cloud in my subconscious, whispering “hey Kate – this is cool and all, but sooner or later you’re going to freak out because you’re treading water”. As an attempt to avoid a fairly inevitable midlife crisis, I began to reinvent myself. (Hey, B. is hungry. She needs something right this second, even though she just had breakfast a half hour ago. She cannot wait. She is hungry right now. Now. Yes, she has legs and can walk into the kitchen, but it’s better when I decide what she wants. I have to figure that out right now.) And so, I begin at the bottom. I am working my contacts, I am using my skills, and my time, and my snack-making prowess, and I will make it happen. I hope you join me.