Parenting and Work - for Leadership and Life in Balance

1. Parenting and Work
for Leadership and Life
Meeta Sengupta
September 26, 2013
Saturday, 28 September 13

2. Meet Anne Marie Slaughter..
• President and CEO, New America Foundation
• Former Director of Public Policy at the State
Department
• Professor Emerita, Princeton
• Mother of 2 teenage boys
• “Having it All” to “Movement for Men”
• From Competition to Care
Saturday, 28 September 13

3. Meet Sheryl Sandberg..
Saturday, 28 September 13

4. Meet KC...
• Global Leader
• MNC career
• Three children
• Hectic Travelling schedule
• Parental Support
• Routines
• Holidays
• Is there any which way to win?
Saturday, 28 September 13

5. I wonder how she does it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn_OrhwIidA
Saturday, 28 September 13

6. What do we have in Common?
• The desire to do the best by our education,
for our children’s education
• The ability to be organised
• But also, the inspirat...pressure to be...
Multi tasker!
Problem
Solver!
Multiple Roles!
Perfectly
Turned out!
Have perfect
Relationships!
Calm and in
Control!
Always
Victorious!
Have perfect high
achieving children!
Saturday, 28 September 13

7. It really is about..
•Quality Childcare
•Reliable Support Service
•Enabled Men and Women
•Good Advice Organisation
Saturday, 28 September 13

8. Leadership, Parenting and ECCE
• “Parental Engagement enhances student performance”/(More senior
time makes a better project)
• “The mother is the first teacher”/ (The project manager has to show the
way)
• “I don’t want my children to learn from them”/ (Let us not outsource,
even if we don’t have resources)
• “See how clever X’s child is! Reciting English poetry and only three
years old!!”/ (Look at that other project! Their excel sheet is better than
ours!)
• “What do you do at home all day?”/ (Oh, you are on the probono
project and still work so many hours?)
• If you heard statements like this in your team, what would you do?
Saturday, 28 September 13

9. Role of Parents in Early Years
• To not be ‘guilt-tripped’
• To base decisions on evidence, aptitude and
resources
• To trust yourself
• To share resources, not ‘comparisons’
• To invest in happiness
Saturday, 28 September 13

10. Harried Parent Do’s and Don’ts
• Do smile and Hug
a lot
• Do Tell stories
• Do Lead by
example
• Do Set structures
and boundary
conditions
• Do Listen. Listen.
Listen.
• Don’t get stressed
• Don’t reward what you
dislike e.g. tantrums
• Don’t micro-compare
• Don’t limit education
to schoolroom
demands
• Don’t take over (e.g.privacy,
achievements, looks)
• Don’t Give up
Saturday, 28 September 13

11. Remember..
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.”
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
- Khalil Gibran
Saturday, 28 September 13

12. So ... Don’t Worry, Be Happy?
Nyaah.. never that easy.
Put the Child at
the Centre
Weekends
are Work
Share your
work
Parent
Networks
Team Teach
Holidays and
Learning
Be Hyper
Organised
Saturday, 28 September 13

13. Which means..
Put the Child at
the Centre
Weekends
are Work
Share your
work
Parent
Networks
Build
Your own
Traditions and
Rituals
Holidays and
Learning
Be Hyper
Organised
(i) Plan Themed
Holidays in Line with
curriculum
(ii) Learn a new skill every
holiday
A Place for
Everything, Everything in its
Place
With your children
too!
(Let them join in!)
“Tell me the story of
your Day”
“I’ll always come back”
It takes a Village to grow a
Child...
Take all the help you
can get
Enlist and organise your
resource-persons
Schedule the
weekend
Remember to Schedule fun
and rest too!
(i) Timetables and Lists
(ii) Be FlexiFirm
(iii) Have a plan, have a back-up
A Stitch in time, saves nine
Freedom is the freedom
to do good
Saturday, 28 September 13

14. Everyday Education
Routine Task Embedded Education Enhancements
Getting Ready for School Goal Setting, Task focus, Planning Share the work, make it a race, gamify!
Have you reached home?
Reporting, Safety checks, Emotional
safety net, reassurance
Set up rituals
Have you had your evening milk?
Reporting, Food Awareness, Touch base,
Communication channel
Listen. To the words said or not said
Do your homework. I’m coming. Independence. Responsibility. The Daily Homework News Telecast!
I have a call. Be quiet. I’m here. Postponement. Awareness. Sharing.
Plan a task for a scheduled call time. Or
a movie.
Shall we play? Edutainment. Scheduling. Flexifirm
Have a plan for the quarter. Build a range
of skills and attitudes.
Let me check your homework
Hmmm.. Do we want to??? Randomly or
routinely?
Play games based on school work
standards, not tasks.
Time for Bed
Routines, structures, Planning for the
next days, Priorities
Build personal traditions that build
values and memories
Reading Together (when travelling?)
Builds security. Facetime, skype, phone,
recording?
Play word games. Choose fun books. Let
morals be embedded, not explicit
Saturday, 28 September 13

15. Thank You!
( (C) Meeta Sengupta / meetasengupta@gmail.com)
Saturday, 28 September 13