Do you get the winter blahs? Seriously! Every stinking year… January and February are so hard for me to get motivation or want to do anything. This year, it started out ok. The beginning of January seemed like I would be fine. Then the end of January hit and something was off. I did add the Usborne Books & More business which has added a new commitment. Not in a bad way. Actually it is a lot more prosperous than I think I have ever been with a DS/MLM business. But it is also what comes natural to me. Books and kids… kinda a no brainer for me. But still it was something else I added to my plate.
February hit though and life got hard. I don’t know why. I don’t know what changed. I didn’t want to clean. I didn’t want to craft (What?! I know…) I didn’t really even want to get out of bed. Yet, children needed to be fed, and schooled, and shuttled places… Groceries needed to be bought, orders had to go out, but I still just wanted to be in bed. I definitely think I have a mild Seasonal Affective Disorder thing going on. I am like this more winters than not. Being cooped up because of the never ending snow, rain, and ice this month has been horrible. However, the kids loved the snow! Mermaid even sledded for the first time and she LOVED it. She is such a little dare-devil. She may get many things from me, that is not one of them.
We even took an extra week of homeschooling off just because. I couldn’t motivate myself, how could I think I could motivate them. One of the joys of homeschooling though. If I don’t want to, we don’t have to. If they don’t want to, we don’t have to. Snow day? Take off. Finally a sunny day? Take off. Family coming to visit? Take off. We always catch up. We always finish. Some years just look a little longer. But it is one of the reasons we do what we do.
But I just wanted to remind you all, even if you are having a hard day, hard week, hard month. The warmer days are right around the corner. Things are opening back up. Life is going on. Don’t forget to live it! Happy March! May your spring bring life back into your blahs!
Yep. I did. I signed up for ANOTHER Direct Sales company. I know, I know.
BUT you already are part of one! (Yes, but I do that for me. Sales were never my primary goal and honestly, I wasn’t passionate about it)
BUT you already run a business! (Yep! and I will continue to craft to my heart’s content and continue growing that business because I LOVE it and it is my baby)
BUT you don’t need to work (You’re right, my husband and I are blessed and he has worked really hard to make sure that I can stay home and raise and homeschool our kids. But I still like to contribute financially because that is just who I am)
BUT you have never been successful before, what makes you think this is any different? (First off, whoa! Don’t judge me. LOL. Second, you’re absolutely right but this time it IS different)
Here’s why…
I get asked probably weekly, how I get/got my kids to be readers. They (mainly Monkey) devour books almost as quickly as they do food. I can’t keep books in the house because they will get read. I have to hide books if I want them to be saved for something like vacation or a holiday.
So how did I get them to that point? It started before I ever had kids. I am an AVID reader. I have learned of places, and people, and events I could have only dreamed of all because of books. During certain times in my life, books were my way of escaping and living a life I thought was better than what I was dealing with in reality. Because of the things I have learned, books have been so important to me. Reading became the most important skill in my life. I wanted to pass that on to my children. My husband was/is similar and also believes in the power of reading.
So when we had kids, reading to them was natural and constant and non-negotiable. It started early. I mean within days of them being born, early! I didn’t care if they were looking at the pictures or already asleep. I didn’t care if they were playing on the floor or in my lap snuggling. We have books in practically every room in our house. They are always at a level where the kids can reach them. If they ask me to read a story, I usually will stop what I am doing and read to them. If they asked to buy a book, I rarely, if ever, said no. Bedtime stories are a daily ritual. I don’t care how tired I am. I don’t care if it takes us 2 minutes or 10 minutes or 30 minutes. We read SOMETHING before bed. And we are surrounded by people who feed their appetite for learning and reading by giving them books and who feed their curiosity for learning.
Monkey started Kindergarten in 2016. Well, technically we delayed his formal schooling for a year in 2016 and I decided to take that year to focus with him on a strong foundation of reading and math. We had a lot of other things going on, so I didn’t want to stress him with all the other subjects. We used a book called Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He and Monster both used this and I will use it for Mermaid and I will recommend it to ANYONE who wants to teach their child to read. There were days where it was hard. There were days that we stopped in the middle of a lesson. But then all of the sudden around lesson 80, it clicked. And I haven’t gotten them to stop reading since. (Not that I am complaining).
So many new books from the party I hosted! This wasn’t even a quarter of the ones I got!
Books, obviously still remain an important part of our lives. They are still as accessible to my children as they always have been. We have 8 bookshelves in our house. Bins of books in our basement. Almost all of them have been read multiple times by at least one of us. This is where that direct sales company comes in. I “went” to a party in December that a friend was hosting and remembered how much we love their books. Then I hosted a party last month. I signed up the next day. This one is already different. I love my kids reading. I love books. I love helping other people’s children have access to incredible books. I love helping others build their libraries. I love that Monster, finished a series of 4 books in about 3 weeks and since then his confidence in his reading has gone through the roof and he is reading things he wouldn’t have even picked up a month ago. I love that now I have a reason to talk about reading. I love that I get to share a true passion with others. Usborne Book & More is giving me the ability to get books into the house, make some money, and help others fall in love with reading. I can’t think of anything more perfect!
(Disclaimer: If you click on any link it will direct you to my Usborne website and I will make a commission off of any sale made)
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