Episode 173: Why It's So Hard to Stay Organized and What To Do About It with Star Hansen
/In this episode of The Balanced Parent Podcast, we will dive into the timeless struggle of maintaining organization as a parent and what to do about it. Joining me is Star Hansen, a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO©) and author of “Why The F Am I Still Not Organized?" We explore the unique challenges parents face and discuss empowering our kids to manage their time and belongings positively.
Here are some of the topics we covered in this episode:
Discover powerful strategies for teaching your child essential organizational skills
Uncover the reasons why kids often find it tough to stay organized
If you wish to connect with Star Hansen, follow her on Facebook @starhansen, Youtube @starhansen, Twitter @starhansen, Instagram @starhansen, TikTok @starhansen and her website starhansen.com.
If you're eager to dive deeper into Star Hansen's insights and grab a free copy of her book, head over to starhansen.com/podcast.
Resources:
Why The F Am I Still Not Organized? - A book to tackle clutter head-on and find lasting solutions
TRANSCRIPT
Parenting is often lived in the extremes. It's either great joy or chaotic, overwhelmed. In one moment, you're nailing it and the next you're losing your cool. I want to help you find your way to the messy middle, to a place of balance. You see balance is a verb, not a state of being. It is a thing you do. Not a thing you are. It is an action, a process, a series of micro corrections that you make each and every day to keep yourself feeling centered. We are never truly balanced. We are engaged in the process of balancing.
Hello, I'm Dr. Laura Froyen and this is The Balanced Parent Podcast where overwhelmed, stressed out and disconnected parents go to find tools, mindset shifts and practices to help them stop yelling at the people they love and start connecting on a deeper level. All delivered with heaping doses of grace and compassion. Join me in conversations that will help you get clear on your goals and values and start showing up in your parenting, your relationships, your life with openhearted authenticity and balance. Let's go!
Laura: Hello everybody. This is Doctor Laura Froyen and on this week's episode of the Balanced Parent podcast, we are going to talk about organization and why it is so hard for us as parents to not only be organized for ourselves but also keep our kids organized and what we can do about it. So I'm bringing in a new guest, we haven't had her on the show before, but we were connecting before I hit record. And I'm really delighted and so excited. Her name is Star Hansen and she has a new book out called Why the F Am I Still Not Organized? And I think she's really going to help us get clear on, on how to not only help ourselves but help our kids learn how to manage their stuff and their time without shame, blame and guilt that has made this topic kind of heavy for folks in the past. So, Star, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to have you. Why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself, like who you are and what you do?
Star: Thank you so much, Laura. It's so great to be here with you today. So, yes, my name is Star Hansen. I'm a certified professional organizer and clutter whisper and I am here to help people understand why the why the f their clutter won't go away. And that's a really important conversation because I think, you know, we look at the world of organizing and its boxes and labels and books about getting organized and bins and the organizing industry is a $2 billion a year industry and growing. Now, if those boxes and bins were going to get you organized, that industry would be shrinking, not growing. So we have to look at the fact that there's something going on beyond the need for paring down or creating, you know, strategies for how to store your stuff. And that's what I do. I help you figure out why your clutter won't go away no matter what you've tried. Because my experience is that you are an incredible person who does a lot and you know, so much and why should clutter mean that there's a defect in you? It actually means that you have genius, untapped genius. And my job is to help you bring that to the light. Laura: Okay. Tell me more about that. What do you mean by that? Because I have lots of clutter. I have gone through, you know, the Marie Kondo, I've sparked joy and gotten rid of lots of stuff and then it just creeps back in what is up with that.
Star: Totally. So it's, it's common wisdom that it's, you know, I should be able to do this. It's so easy. Just follow A B and C and yes, but the problem is that if you don't understand the cause of your clutter, the root cause of your clutter, no system is going to work. And if you understand the root cause of your clutter any system will work whatever system you choose. And my job is to help you figure out how is clutter helping you. And that at first sound can sound like shocking if you're not watching her eyes just bulged out of her head when I said that. And so yours might be also. But it's in my experience and I've been organizing for 20 plus years. If you have recurring clutter, there is something that it is doing to help you. It's why it's staying. If we look at what clutter is clutter is really us having a conversation with ourselves non verbally. It's us having a conversation with our loved ones, non verbally. It's us processing and if we can start to really kind of dig in and figure out how it's helping us, what we can do is we can get that need met without the clutter and then the clutter isn't needed anymore and it falls away so much more easily.
Laura: Okay, so Star, can you give me an example? What, like what are some of the ways that clutter serves folks that you work with?
Star: Absolutely. So there's a few ways. So one is communicate. I, I did a TED X talk a couple of years ago about this couple whose kitchen was cluttered. And at the end of this big kitchen overhaul, we came across this broken teacup and that broken teacup was the crux of their clutter and it had been left out for over a year because the two of them were blaming each other for the teacup being broken. It was a significant cup for them. And you know, that's just one of the many ways we use clutter to communicate. You might use clutter to remind yourself of things. Like, for example, you might leave your weights out in the living room or your yoga mat and maybe you haven't used it, but it's your reminder for yourself or I don't want to forget to be this person. We also use it to create, like some people surround themselves with stuff because they feel inspired and creative and even empowered because some people grew up in poverty and, you know, had a lot of scarcity in their lives. And then when they become an adult, and if we just look at the trajectory of consumerism in the last 20 years, you can be in poverty and still have, have a lot of clutter.
So it's, you know, things are cheaper than ever easier to source. And so now we have, you know, a lot of stuff and people can surround themselves with stuff and that can make them feel safe and secure. And if you understand that you're using clutter to create a feeling of safety and we can discover how to create that safety or security without the stuff that's helpful for some people. Clutter is their friend. If you grew up in a military household and you traveled the world and people were not consistent. Your stuff was probably your one constant and you've learned that that's becomes your, your friend, your cuddle buddy. For some people, they use it to protect themselves. They'll use it to set boundaries. Keep people away, keep people out of their homes, create space within pe, you know, within their household. I've even seen people use it as a way to deflect or, you know, act as a, an actual wall. I have one mother that I work with and if there's ever anything she doesn't want her kids to get into, there is a giant pile of clutter in front of it because that acts as a deterrent for her kids to find the things that she's trying to hide. So it's, it's, it's fascinating to see how people use clutter and, and this is just a couple of examples. I could, we could spend 12 hours talking about that today. It's just super fascinating.
Laura: Yeah, that is fascinating. You know, it's interesting. So I've always attributed some of my clutter stuff to my ADHD which has gone undiagnosed my entire life. And I kind of really just figuring it out right now. I got diagnosed last winter. I've always been really good at creating systems to keep myself organized in other areas of my home. So, like my kids playroom, super organized, every single toy has a home, it goes in the home, the kids know how to put it all away. Same with the kitchen, same with all these kind of public areas. But in my domain, if you could see right now the other sides of, I mean, I have a beautiful background but if you could see, I have piles of, you know, so, like I do water, watercolor painting and other art as a form of relaxation. I've just piles of art next to my knee because I do, I take five minutes here and there to do a little bit of painting or a little bit of coloring or I have just stacks of books like yours, you know, to, to read because they give me inspiration and I really like that reframe that those things are not necessarily cluttered. They're expressing a need of mine to be creative or to be inspired. Thank you for that reframe.
Star: Oh, of course. And also I'd even venture to say it's also you inserting yourself in your life as a mother. Most moms I know you think about yourself last, absolute last. And so you kind of have to like get in where you fit in, right? It's like, okay, I have no time. Where do I find? Where do I place myself in this world? And oftentimes if you look at your kids stuff, it's so curated and your family stuff is so curated because you require that to function. And of course, you put your family first and so strongly and we put ourselves last.
Laura: Oh, you're making me tear up. You know, I've, I love to do arts and I don't get to do it very often mostly because it's tucked away in my office. And I feel like I can't be, leave it out in my spaces because those spaces are for other people, not necessarily for me. And I think about too, you know, so I have play is hugely important as a value for my family. And so our, a large portion of our house is dedicated to, to their play spaces. And I think about when they're done playing what I'll get to do with those spaces instead of being tucked into corners. But I think that you're really speaking to something that, that idea that there's one of the reasons why it's hard to keep my office organized is because I'm trying to fit a whole life into one little place instead of being seen and present in my whole house.
Star: Yeah. And what happens a lot of times for moms is, you know, when your kids were younger, your kids are now at an age where they can manage themselves a little bit more. You're not worried about, you know, them drawing on the walls with crayons at the moment, you know, or ripping up maybe. Well.
Laura: I'm just joking.
Star: Totally. But it's, you know, there was a very long time where your body was theirs, where the home was totally devoted to them. And it was about their safety and then it was about their exploration. And oftentimes we're moving so fast that we don't take the time to recalibrate and say, okay, can I re invent how I show up in the house? Because it's not just that you are shoved into one room, you are also teaching them to shove themselves into a room, you're teaching them because role modeling is the first thing that happens like whether we mean it to or not. So they see you and they're like, oh, when I'm a mom, I take care of everyone else and I put myself in a corner. And what if you got one of those rolling carts from Target or Michael's and, or IKEA and you filled that with, with art supplies and you just rolled it around the house wherever you wanted to work and you started showing up because it's exactly what you said. It's like we're waiting for some future day to start to live our life. And the best thing you can do is start to live your life today and not wait for the kids to launch.
And because, you know, this is a challenge in this day and age. But, but you know, like, why do you have to wait to embody yourself, to embody your life and you teach them to take up space. And I think as women in our society, that's something that's really difficult. We've been conditioned to turn within to be really small, to be of service, to serve and not take up space. And yet the power your power lies in you, like fully standing in your power and your kids fully standing in their power and your partner standing in their power. And like imagine the four of you like beacons in your home, like just the magic of that. And I just want to like throw in there also. Congratulations on your diagnosis because most people view that as like, oh I got diagnosed. But the truth is it's a relief for a lot of people who are right. It's okay. I'm not behind my brain as a superpower. Like your brain with ADHD is a superpower. You are genius in unexpected ways.
But most people that I know who had late, late diagnoses have spent the bulk of their life thinking that they're behind. Why can't I perform like everyone else? Why am I not keeping the house the way that someone else does? Because your brain is a supercomputer. Most of the organizing systems that are out there are not built for how your beautiful brain works. They're actually too small, they're too little. And with the ADHD brain, your brain has the ability to do such complexity. And if your systems don't have the right level of complexity for how you think the systems are not going to work. And so again, it's this lesson of like embodiment and expansion. Like how much room can you take up? Because you deserve to take up room and your brain requires more space than just a simple. Does this go into, you know, keep or toss keep or toss. It's, you have so many more layers.
Laura: Yeah. Oh I really like that. Okay, so one of the things that I've been noticing in my family and this is, I mean, one of the benefits of getting to have your own podcast where you have experts got money, you get to ask them questions for your own family. I, you know, I've seen echoes of this exact thing happening in my kids' rooms where they, they have their special hobbies and interests and sometimes they like, bleed out into the house. But oftentimes they do their special stuff that they're kind of their safety, their self care in their rooms for one kid that's reading and the other kid that's drawing or playing with these little figurines that she has her with dolls. And so for one kid, it's a stuffy explosion in her room more than we can ever hope to store. You know, all these little like doll things that don't have a home and the other one is just piles and piles of books with an completely empty bookshelf, like the books come off, they get read and put in a pile and not back on the bookshelf.
So what can I do as a mom to help my kids? Because I don't want to be, I don't want to be in there in their space that they have ownership bugging them, nagging them. I periodically go in if they ask me to and help them get reorganized. But the systems that I put in place make sense for me. And I think that they don't maintain them because those systems don't make sense for them. You know, I've managed, you know, when I'm doing their playroom, I, I sit down with them or they're playing usually and I'm doing it, but I asked them if you're going to go play with this, where would you go and look for it? You know, and then I put the things there where they say. You know, but I don't know how to do that in their rooms and their tolerance for doing it in their rooms is really low because it's their private space and they feel like I'm like getting in there and controlling things and they don't want me to do that. So what can I do?
Star: No, you're doing it. Great job. I mean, the questions that you're asking, how would you use this? That's a great question. Like, how would you use this? Where would you link to look for this? It's so often people are focused in organizing about putting things away, not the retrieval and your system should be based on retrieval, not necessarily making it pretty.
Laura: See, I didn't even know I was doing that. But that's what my ADHD has made me do.
Star: Super genius. Like, super genius. Well, one of the things let me lead with the, don'ts. So like, don't tell your kids to clean their room in some blanket statement if they've never learned how to clean their room. Right. That's, it's so stressful for kids and it's, and I'm not saying that you're doing this. But I think just in general, I have so many memories from my childhood of being told to like clean my room, but I don't have any memories of being taught how to clean my room. So when it comes to kids, we really have to do two things. One, we have to impart that wisdom on them, which is how to do it. Most of us were never taught how to organize or clean and we just expect them to do it because they've watched us and role modeling is big. But so that's a big part of it. The second part of it is we have to meet them where they are. So every kid is different. I've had kids, I've had siblings where one of them needs three categories for the items in their room. One of them needs 13 categories for the items in their room. And we want to meet them where they are. And I think it's tricky because we want to remove ourselves from the, the desire for the outcome to be the star of the show, the outcome is not the star of the show.
Their room being cleaned is not important when they are under your roof as a, you know, as your child, they are learning how to do the world. They are learning the skills that they need to launch. And so what we need to do is we need to be able to show up for them and with them and say, let's create a bedroom that feels great for you. We're not cleaning up your room, we're not organizing your room. Does this feel great to you? Do you like? So the one, you know, your daughter who has the book stacked all over? What if she loves that? And then what if instead of trying to use that bookshelf, you get rid of the bookshelf and instead you do intricate creative fun stacks around her room and it gives her that feeling of being, I mean, and maybe there's stacks that are on shelves on the wall from everywhere, from like knee height all the way to the top of her head and she's surrounded with interesting configurations of books.
Laura: What's fascinating to think about, you know, we were in Vienna for spring break last year and we went into this bookshop that was this old tiny bookshop with just like tunnels of books and she was in heaven. You know, she was just, I mean, she thought it was the most amazing, like it was the only place that she really wanted me to take pictures of her in it.
Star: And it's so interesting because when books are on the shelves, they feel like they're demonstrative. I'm here. Look at me, don't touch me. When books are stacked. It's like, oh, your mind, like an invitation. You can have all different styles. You could have reading, you know, trays, set up those cute little like nooks that they have now where you can, like lean a book over it, but you can just set up the whole room where the whole theme would be. I mean, get rid of the bookshelves and switch the style and see what she thinks. And what will, what's interesting is she'll probably think you're redecorating her room and what you're doing is is allowing her more access to the things that she loves the most and teaching her. So like obviously what we're, what she's going to be learning in that scenario is the floor has to be able to be cleaned. So we need to not have books stacked on the floor because I can't clean when there's stuff there. It makes because that's a long life lesson. We need to be able to clean the space and we need to be able to walk through our spaces without injury. We need if there's an earthquake or something and someone's in a rush that we're not gonna trip and break something. So we want like safety to be there, but we also want their imagination and their creativity to be present and to say yes, like something about her system is working and what you're saying is yes and yes.
And let's take it to the next level, let's play. And then what we also have to do is this is not a one and done. Like, right now she's obsessed with books and in six months or five years, she might be obsessed with something else. And if her room still looks the same as it does today, it's going to feel like an incongruity. And so maybe once a year when you all have a little time in the summer or in the winter, then you reimagine like, okay, great let's see how do you want to evolve your room? And then it doesn't feel like, oh, I have to clean and I'm in trouble and I'm doing it wrong, but it feels like let's evolve the room to evolve with you. Does this still feel good? What do you want different? How does this go? And then you can also, you know, open up the kids to see the different layers. So you get a lot of kids in their teens and twenties who instantly want to purge everything. I don't need that anymore. I don't want it anymore. No. Thank you. Get rid of it. Get rid of it. And then you talk to them at 26, 27. I regret getting rid of that stuff. Because they didn't know that they could create a memory box for items. It doesn't have to be out. They can be in a memory box that they take with them when they move into their own place. But we want to start, like, teaching them the different layers of engagement with their stuff. What's decoration? What's memorabilia? What's active functional stuff? What is for the future someday stuff? What gets rid of, you know, it's like this is like a wonderful experience to learn with them.
Laura: Hm, I love that. My, my mom gave my sister and I each a, a hope chest when we were, when we turned, I think 12 is when we got, got it for just that purpose to start kind of putting away some things from childhood. And, you know, we both took it with us when we bought our first homes, finally took longer than I think my mom was expecting it to take effort.
Star: But it always does.
Laura: It always does. But I really like that idea. I like that idea of, you know, kind of asking the child, how do you want to feel in this space? What purpose do you want the space to serve? What do you like to do in here? And kind of really understanding how they're using the space? Okay, so what about the kiddos with the tons of stuffies all over the place? Because I know lots of our listeners have stuffy explosions in their room too.
Star: Yes, I know. And there's a real attraction or connection to the stuffies. Like I have a name and yes, and they know where they belong and what they do. So, I have clients who are in their sixties who won't get rid of their stuffies. And not only that, but they need their stuffies if they go in a plastic bin to be facing out because they don't want their stuffies to be shoved in a box. They want them to feel like they're an active, engaged part of the world. So it's, it's very normal to anthropomorphize objects in our lives. This is, we all have done it and many of us still do it. I definitely do it and when it comes to the stuffy, so I feel like it's, it's the exact same thing. Tell me about your stuffies, like, tell me about, do you want them all in your bed or who gets a space in your bed? Do you want the rest of them, like on a really high shelf along the perimeter of the room looking out for you? Do you want to hide stuffies in different places so that they're infusing the room with their stuffy energy? Like again, like it's like, how do we approach it as a play is a play game? And one of the things that as parents, it's sometimes very hard to do because we're so busy and there's so much going on is we really have to take the time. We have to invest our time in playing with them and exploring with them. The idea of clean your room if I could eliminate anything from the conversation. Yeah, I would be like, just eliminate the statement, go clean your room because that it so does nothing. And at a certain point, they will be able to go clean their room. But most of the time we have not given them that foundation.
Laura: No. And even if, I mean, just, I also really dislike that phrase because it's super unspecific. Like, I mean, it's so important to give kids really crystal clear expectations and cleaning your room is a complicated endeavor. You know, there's lots of steps that go in it. Lots of people have different ideas about what clean your room means. So yes, I, I always inform parents being more specific on what our expectations actually are and then setting the kids up for success. So they actually know how to do those things. Oh, go ahead. Sorry.
Star: I was just gonna say, yeah, I know tracking the routines, like the difference between the one off cleanups, right? Like you vacuuming once a week is different than every, every morning, making their bed or every night re reassigning where stuff he's got like, like baselining the room. So it's, yeah, you're right. It's like exactly like how do we give them the small bite size tasks that they can accomplish and feel good about accomplishing.
Laura: Okay. So what are the steps of clean for a kid of cleaning their room? Like what is, how do you clean your room when you're a kid?
Star: Yeah, I mean, so the first thing and the most important thing is they have to have a baseline. And what I mean by baseline is a state where everything is in a home. So if you have never, if you and most of us when we move, we just land and we're like good enough and we just like barely unpack our boxes where like it landed. But you want to really make sure that there has been an initial organizing, that's happened that every object has a home. And I'm just going to name I am talking about a very idealistic world right now. My beautiful listeners because I understand that's not always the case and many times we haven't had that, but imagine there's no foundation for your kids to build a house on every time you say clean your room, you're asking them to construct a house. But if there is no proper foundation, it's very hard for them to do it. I think about when I go into someone's house and I want to help them unload their dishwasher, but I have no idea where their bowls go. I end up acting like a Roomba like this way, this way, like, you know, so we, we want to offer them like the stability of like okay, great, this is everything has a home and there's a clear idea of where we're going.
Laura: And even I just want to like, can I interject you, please? Even if that home is something that does not look perfect for Instagram? Right? So like home for your child's clean clothes could be a laundry basket that they just stay in and pull clean clothes out of like it could be that, you know, so there's lots of possibilities of what home looks like.
Star: The other. Yeah. And like I just want to say the other thing I'd like to just like, remove from our vocabulary is like, or the concept of this world is like the idea that like a Pinterest completed Instagram completed version is what it's supposed to be like. That's absolutely not what it's supposed to be like, you're like, we need to, yeah, you're not. It's like, like we need functional. I'm always very leery. You'll never see anywhere on my website or IG or anything before and after picture. My after picture is you living your best life, spending time with your family. That it's like, I don't care what your house looks like. I care that it's not hurting you, but it's more about like, how do you set it up so that it's functional for you not so it's pretty for someone who is never going to step inside your house. That's our values are just a little skewed at the moment with this external demonstration of style, like this demonstrative world we're in. But yeah, like setting it up.
So it's like, okay, great and knowing again the systems just like you so beautifully explained earlier, it's how are you going to find things when you need them? And is it easy to put them away? Not how do you put it away in a beautiful way. But so you want first and foremost to have everything has a home and then secondarily, it's like, okay, when I think of it, if you tell me, go clean your room, I'm picturing I'm dusty cleaning the windows with, you know, glass cleaner vacuuming. But a kid you're talking tidying, you're basically saying, put everything that's out and where it doesn't belong away where it belongs. You're not probably asking them to dust into their windows and baseboards, right? So like, and kind of explaining that and maybe there's even a, a reframe there of like, okay, let's go tidy your room and I call this a lot of times with clients baselining. I want to take things back down to zero. I want everything to go back to where it goes. Like take every like let's put everything in its home so that they know.
Laura: That’s what I say. I want you to go to your room and make sure everything's in its home.
Star: Totally. And that makes perfect sense. Make your bed, make sure everything's on its home, clear up your desk, put things back in your backpack, prep for the week ahead, lay out an outfit for school like whatever it is. Yes. The more specific we can be the better and really taking the time to reward the effort not the outcome. If you know, depending on the age, like a lot of times we don't let our kids clean or tidy up because they're not going to quote unquote do enough compared to what we would want to do. Reward them for being a part of the family and doing it. Like have it be that okay, everyone for the next 20 minutes, everyone's going to tidy their room and then the whole family goes, not just the kids, but the whole family goes and then maybe you do show and tell. Oh wow, look at mom. You did this. Okay. Great. What I really love about your room being done is this and you know, it's like you really can start to play with and see what they've done well. And then they feel like they're part of a community and they're being rewarded for doing it, not for doing it perfectly or doing it just right because everyone's version of done looks so different and we need to start normalizing, embracing whatever that is for each individual.
Laura: Yeah, I love that. I really like the idea that, you know, a family is a community and we all pitch in. We all have, you know, important jobs to and contributions to make, I really like that a lot.
Star: Well, and, you know, it's funny, like, so I don't know about you, but no one has paid me for making my bed as an adult. Not a single time. So, like, there's such danger in, like, teaching kids that, like, they should do these activities that are just day to day hygiene because they'll get paid or a reward.
Laura: I so agree.
Star: And I, right, like, it's like, no me for doing my dishes, although it probably wouldn't make me want to do my dishes anymore. But, but, like, just, and then knowing, like, some of my favorite times growing up or when we were cleaning the house as a family or doing dishes with all of my cousins, like, and then they learn, like, I learn that I do dishes better if I'm playing music and talking to someone that I love, like, that becomes like a cheat that I used to make me want to do the dishes when I don't want to do it.
Laura: Yes. Oh, I love those things too. I think it's so important that we recognize that we're modeling how to be adults. Right? And that if we can figure out how to make it fun and enjoyable and not grumble the entire time while we're, like, putting away their toys and stuff, then that would make it easier for them to also have a positive attitude about the kind of sometimes not great things that come with being human.
Star: And the idea of leaning into the good enough, you know, I know you talk a lot about perfect imperfection like that's a concept I love in my own life. It's what's your good enough version? Hey guys, we have 10 minutes. Do the best. Good enough version you've got in you and that will teach them not every time has to be Instagram movie.
Laura: Yeah, I really like that. Okay. Star, this has been really a fun conversation and super helpful. I'm wondering if you can just make sure that all of our listeners can know how to find you, where to find you and connect with you and learn from you.
Star: Absolutely. So I'm everywhere, I'm everywhere. You can find me at on, on all the major platforms @StarHansen. But if I also wanted to offer your listeners a gift, so a free download of my book, if they want to get a free copy of my book, it's available on Amazon and audible and all the normal places. But if they go to starhansen.com/podcast, and that’s HANSEN.com/podcast, they can download a free copy of my book and learn all the, all the wonderful juicy details for how they can get out of that, you know, chaos cycle with their clutter.
Laura: Oh, awesome. Sorry. Thank you so much. What a gift. I really appreciate your time and your wisdom. It was really fun talking with you.
Star: Thank you.
Okay, so thanks for listening today. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and if it was helpful, leave me a review that really helps others find the podcast and join us in this really important work of creating a parenthood that we don't have to escape from and creating a childhood for our kids that they don't have to recover from.
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All right. That's it for me today. I hope that you keep taking really good care of your kids and your family and each other and most importantly of yourself. And just to remember, balance is a verb and you're already doing it. You've got this!