Time to Parent By Julie Morgenstern

I would like to share a great resource that I discovered a month ago. It’s Julie Morgenstern’s new book Time to Parent. Samantha saw it on the library shelf and I read it right away.

In this book, Julie helps us organize our lives to bring out the best in our children and in ourselves. Such good timing because we just had our first baby girl 2 weeks ago! 

I LOVED this book so much and I did learn a LOT of new strategies that I will certainly use in my personal life, and will include them in my tool kit to use while helping others.

One of the main challenges that all parents are facing is time management. Having a child is very demanding (I just discovered that 2 weeks ago 🙂 ) and finding time to get it all done could be very overwhelming (but possible…).

On top of this chaos, we all know that we “should” include time for self care to recharge our own batteries. Self… what? Give me a break! I don’t have time for that! (if that’s your brain reacting… keep reading and you will find a few great ideas to make it possible).

Well, that’s what Julie has done in this book. She has created an instruction manual to manage yourself and your kids efficiently. She has created a very clear and practical job description for parenting.

If you are not a reader, Julie has also created a wonderful podcast that you can enjoy on the go. I have included all the episodes below for your convenience 🙂

Julie has created a very practical blueprint where she divides the time into two main categories:

1. Raising a Human Being
2. Being a Human Being

Raising a Human Being

These are the four core responsibilities you need to allocate your time across to be an efficient parent:

• Provide (basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, safety, education, money)
• Arrange (schedules, transportation, paperwork, activities, social life)
• Relate (listening, soothing, reflecting, talking, enjoying, playing)
• Teach (values, life skills, self-control, social skills)

Everything you do as a parent falls into one of these buckets.

Being a Human Being

There are four essentials of self care required to make sure that you are taking care of yourself, so that you can be the best parent for your child.

• Sleep (enough rest to rejuvenate your body, mind, and energy)
• Exercise (physical activity is essential for body and mind)
• Love (romance, friends, adult time, and extended family)
• Fun (hobbies, passions, things you care about)

You may not be able to spend as much time on each of these as you did before kids, but you must find your own recipe that includes the things that you need to feel better and be the best parent you can be. 

We wrote a hardcover book to help you find your own recipe to live an extraordinary life. Combining our method with Julie’s approach, you can find the time and the strategies to make it happen. Learn more about our book “A Recipe for an Extraordinary Life” here.

Julie has done a lot of research and has invited a lot of professionals into the podcast, so that you get their opinions and what the experts say.

Conclusion

If you want to be a better parent and manage your time better, you can benefit from reading the Time to Parent book. Even if you are not a parent, you can still learn a lot of strategies that will help you improve your life.

The free Podcast is a great addition, Julie talks about every part of the book and then she invites people into the show, they share their specific challenge(s), and Julie helps them find a solution (I have included all the episodes below).

It was very inspiring to me, so I am sure that you may find a lot of value in this resource.

Enjoy and please let us know how it goes!

Time to Parent Podcast Episodes

Parenting strategies and tips to manage day-to-day family life with CTV News Quick Fix at Five. 

The challenge of getting organized and staying organized.

It’s normal to have clutter and feel overwhelmed when you have a young family, work full-time, and want to maintain a social life.

In order to prevent the clutter and overwhelm from interfering with your health, physical or mental, we agreed to offer advice for CTV News Kitchener’s Quick Fix with Rosie Del Campo. Rosie called us and informed us about the new segments they were producing to provide helpful advice for their viewers. 

Setting yourself, and your kids, up for success with these tips.

Video Break Down

Minute: 0:21 – The Secret to Success

Minute: 0:30 – Vertical Storage

Minute: 0:53 – Closet Storage and Labels

Minute: 1:50 – Children’s Paperwork and Artwork

Minute: 2:35 – Talking About Letting Go of Art

Minute: 2:55 – Professional Organizers in Canada

Organizing from the Inside Out for Teens.  

(with Julie Morgenstern and Jessi Morgenstern-Colon)

Organizing from the INSIDE OUT for Teens

I would like to share with you some comments about this great book.

Many of our organizing projects involve teens. It’s really important to involve them in the process. Organizing is a lifetime skill. By including them in this journey you are helping them learn how to create their ideal life. 

We have seen amazing transformations!!

Teens are very smart and they will learn and adjust to changes very quickly. 

We have worked many times with clients decluttering and organizing their spaces and, at the beginning, their children were not interested in the process. And this is totally fine. You can not force anyone to change. But you can lead by example :).  Once we were done transforming our client’s space into a very nice, functional and inviting space, they saw the benefits. Let me tell you that most times, a few days later they are very interested in the process. They want their bedroom to feel the same way and they even get started on their own! 

“Organizing from the Inside Out forTeens” is a great resource to get started. When I was reading it I really enjoyed the way they show real examples with real before and after photos showing the ideal solutions.

“Organizing is not about how the space looks, but how it functions”

We can’t stress how true this is!! Space has to be inviting and functional for YOU! And everybody will function in a different way. So finding how you love to function and creating a space that reflects that is your final goal.

“Organizing is about discovering what’s important and giving yourself access to it”

I love how the book describes symptoms, diagnosis, and prescriptions about:

• Homeless items and tasks.
• Inconvenient storage.
• Overly complex system.
• More stuff than space.
• The “Out of sight, out of mind!” mind-set.
• Disorganized family.
• Fear of losing individuality.
• Belief that organizing is boring.
• Sentimental attachment.
• Unclear goals and priorities.
• Lack of confidence.
• More tasks than time.
• Unsatisfying activity.

There are three steps to success: Inside-out Organizing:

Analyze – Strategize – Attack

I invite you to read the book to learn more about all the great step by step suggestions. We use a similar approach with our clients and it’s DYNAMITE!! 

The book will show you how to organize your space and also how to organize your time.

These are some great before and after pictures included in the book. I have included some below.

You can find more info about this book and purchase a copy here. You may also find it in your public library.

Have you read this book? What is your favorite organizing book? You can leave a comment below.

Do you know of anyone who can benefit from reading this post? Feel free to share it!