Lisa Bricker, Chief Talent Officer at Celebree Learning Center joins Richie Huffman and Ali Kraus to talk about balancing work, parenting, and the importance of taking time to yourself on this week’s episode of the Parenting and Teaching Podcast.
Lisa oversees over 800 team members at Celebree by helping provide the plans, resources, and training to achieve goals in their careers and beyond. This includes professional development plans for teachers, content for them to learn from, and class options.
Richie and Lisa discuss how caring about the well being of so many people all day may drain on you when you have to go home, become Mom, and take care of a household, but Lisa explains it as well as anyone.
“It’s all about how you walk in the front door.”
The phone goes away and the email goes down as soon as she walks in the door and its family time says, Lisa. The importance of the routine for both Lisa and Richie cannot be exaggerated, for these parents. Richie has five kids.
For Lisa, she explains why putting that phone down is easy, “What caused me to become that way was when my daughter said, ‘Mommy put down the phone’.”
It’s not just about their routine, but also the adults. Both recall how each of their routines changed from when their children were first born to when they first dropped them off at daycare, and how that differs for Moms and Dads. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes it’s hard.
For Richie, it came after a bubble bath, a book, and about a week after his first child was born that it clicked. He still reads and enjoys a bath but the timing changed. And Lisa reveals a secret about why her car is her sanctuary and how that helps her get some time to relax with some throwbacks she loves. Queue Tupac and Biggie.
Mom vs. Dad: Parenting Court – Guilty or Not Guilty
Parents experience these life changes very differently and it’s never an easy transition into childcare. Lisa remembers vividly a decade ago when she dropped the first of her three children – her baby girl – off at Celebree.
“I remember the first time I dropped her with Mrs. Vicky.”
She continued to explain that she left that day crying in tears. Feelings of guilt. Feeling as though she had just abandoned her child. The worry and anxiety that she had crippled her for a week just like it likely is for most mothers.
After a week Lisa recalls realizing how much her baby was learning and started to relax as teachers helped her feel comfortable by sending photos and explaining how her daughter’s day went.
Contrasting that to Richie’s perspective, that likely most father’s would agree with, you see a stark difference in approach.
“I remember when I used to drop off Camden and my children at school, Dawn was alway like, ‘So how was drop-off?’ And I’m like, ‘Fine.’ I don’t know, I dropped them off.”
The perspectives are different, but not dissimilar. Both Richie and Lisa recognize the importance of adjusting and the quality of the early education they’re receiving. The struggle is tough but the benefit to the child is the reward.
Daddy Doesn’t Know: Doing things differently
Lisa stresses the importance of switching things up and has proof that it helps her kids stay happy and her marriage stay strong in multiple ways.
Everyone knows that surprising your spouse with a day home early or a surprise date night is fun for parents and gives the relationship a type of recharge.
But Lisa’s experience showed her a different benefit when only her children were in on the secret that Mommy was leaving work early to take Daddy on a date. The whole thing had the kids bright eyed giggling and smiling.
A more direct example of how she tries to keep the positive “front door” mentality comes down to one question. Instead of asking her children about school and their day in one of the standard sitcom manners, Lisa does something different.
“What made you smile today?”
The shift in approach helped her know they’re happy and opens them up to be happy too. Different ways of learning. Different ways of thinking. And a different approach to motherhood, fatherhood, and parenting altogether.
Find more from the show wherever you find podcasts and reach out to Richie Huffman and Ali Kraus by clicking their name and send them an email about future show topics or thoughts on this week’s episode.