Work-Life Flow Podcast

California’s Department of Education proposed 4 possible scenarios to safely reopen schools in the age of face masks and physical distancing. But what is lacking in this article is any proposed solution for working parents on how to reconcile alternating schedules with work. 

Proposed models:

• "Two day rotation blended learning model": For example, grades K-3 attend school Monday/Wednesday, while grades 4-6 attend on Tuesday/Thursday. All students do distance learning Friday.
• "A/B week…

I realize now, I had not been identifying with white privilege as much as I should have. Almost half of my life I have lived outside my country, in the Netherlands, Spain and now the US. I have made friends and worked with people from all over the world. I came here to the US on a J-1 Visa to do research at UC San Diego. I am still an immigrant, not a citizen, and I think this is part of the problem of not identifying that much with what has been happening in the US. I felt powerless.

I can…

This crisis has thrown our lives over, like a birthday cake that landed upside down on the floor. We’re picking up the pieces and putting them together like a puzzle to make things work. We struggle with the uncertainty. Working from home (if you’re lucky), remote learning with kids, emotionally supporting the kids, cooking, checking our finances, keeping the house neat and clean,... it’s been a lot. We humans are adaptable and women especially give a lot. Often by not taking the rest and …

Oh man, I can tell you this pandemic is getting me good. The first two weeks of sheltering in place I was optimistic, feeling well and even grateful for having to slow down. 

I found myself contemplating all the good that would come out of this crisis. How we humans will emerge stronger, more creative and inventive through this experience. How we would learn to not take everything for granted and become more collaborative. And I am still hoping for all this to be true once we’re going to ve…

You might not have chosen to homeschool like we did, but rather have been pushed into “doing school at home”. I’m going out on a limb here and argue that our situations might be more alike than different right now, so bare with me.

By taking away “school” we immediately eliminated the two hotspots of conflict and frustration in our home. One: getting ready in the morning on time and, two: getting ready for bedtime so the kids could get up in time the following morning. By breaking this vicious …

A recent article on LinkedIn recounted one dad’s current reality: two parents working from home while managing the distance-learning needs of their kids during the stay-at-home order.  The dad, Brian Rich, described their work week and the inherent challenges of both parents attending simultaneous online meetings.  He also shared how they struggled to finish their workload, even when working through the weekend. Rich pleaded with childless coworkers to understand his situation, and requested t…

Editorial Note: I wrote this blog post a while ago and thought to publish it in late March. I realize that with the onset of the CoVid-19 Pandemic many find themselves struggling to work remotely for the first time. In times of high stress it is even more important to implement the 4 Best Practices for working remotely and to seek human connection in a physically distant world.

I recently joined a webinar to learn about virtual teams and how to boost their performance. Virtual teams are no…

In times of Covid-19 and a stay-at-home order, we are possibly facing the challenge of our lifetime.  While our individual circumstances may vastly differ, having our kids around all day long and making them feel safe in a time of great uncertainty is hard. Your kids will need stronger and more compassionate leadership from you than ever.

Make self-care a priority

I urge you to make self-care a priority as you need to be healthy in order to take care of your kids. Your physical and me…

I’ve raised the leadership flag repeatedly in my life, yet felt like it wasn’t leadership if it didn’t come with a big paycheck, a name tag, and the status. I had the impression that you needed to be a Type A personality to lead. But, to those whom I guided through fundraising campaigns; to those whom I supervised on research projects; to those for whom I created experiences in nature, it damn right felt like I was a leader. 

I was the one who created an opportunity for them to sign up and …