Donna: Let me formally introduce you to Angela Lockwood, who has superpowers when it comes to understanding kids and supporting teachers and parents, to ensure that our kids are nurtured and happy humans.
So, for the last 20 years, Angela Lockwood has been working in classrooms, alongside teachers, providing school based occupational therapy services and while supporting parents and children with additional and diverse needs as a health professional, who's always worked in schools, her whole career.
She's been bridging the gap between the health and the educational needs of kids and Angie's work developing and implementing school based programs, serves to streamline services between the health and education sectors and they have been used in Australia and Canada with a commitment to forging new and innovative paths and was the national manager of community engagement with a local area coordination service for the rollout of the national disability insurance scheme, often known as N D I S.
And was CEO of the child safety organization, Kidsafe NT. So, why did I bring Ang onto the podcast when this is a podcast for moms in business? Well, Angie's purpose is to help kids have the best start in life and so today, we chat about how as we parents can support kids along that journey.
And also we talk about the importance of being a business owner and how that can positively influence the way that we parent our children. So, get ready with your cup and let's dig into this really interesting topic.
Welcome to the She's In Business Podcast. I'm your host Donna Hann and today I'm joined by the fabulous Angela Lockwood. Welcome, Ang!
Angela: Thanks so much for having me, Donna. I love this. It's like I'm getting to speak to the people I really would love to speak to. So, Thanks giving me opportunity to do it.
Donna: Yeah. Well, I am excited to ask you to tell us about yourself. Introduce yourself who is Ang and tell us about your business journey thus far.
Angela: Um, Angela Lockwood, my professional background, I guess is I'm an occupational therapist and I've always worked in the pediatric space. So, that means kids for about 20 years.
I've been working in schools, just trying to bridge that gap between the health and education system and supporting kids with additional and diverse needs. I'm a bit of an interesting OT, which is occupational therapist, because I've never worked in a hospital setting before. So, although occupational therapies and allied health profession, my work's always been in education and in sort of supporting parents, kids and teachers.
So I'm very blessed to have had the opportunity to do that. But in terms of business, I got a really interesting background. Mine started as a kid actually in myself and it's funny even just saying that out loud, talking about this because when I was seven and I can really vividly remember this, I guess I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit.
And... um, I remember making coat hangers. Now, if your audience remembers this, depends on how old they are. There used to be these nylon covered coat hangers. So they were like your normal wire coat hanger and you'd tie nylon around that and like, you would know exactly this it's and it was like what the rah-rah skirts used to be made out of.
So I used to cut all of that, that up and spend hours sitting in front of the TV, ridiculously making these coat hangers and what I would do is I'd go out and I'd door, knock around our, our street and I would take orders for them. Now, Donna looking back, they were so ugly. Like they were that bad.
Thank you to my neighbors for always supporting me in my business journey, but I'd sell them for like $3 and they were awful, but for me at that time, I thought it was amazing and then that sort of went on to selling chocolates. So, before Mother's Day or before Easter and Mother's Day, I would then go around and hit up my poor neighbors again and, uh, and I would take orders for these chocolates and I would custom make with the little molds chocolates.
And my parents, can you believe this have still got my order book? So, the order book that I had when I was a kid, they still have, so I guess my journey as a business woman started way back then, but ever since then, I've always being in business, even when people probably thought it was a bit too young, I started in private practice as about three years out of being a therapist.
So occupational therapist went straight sort of into private practice and ever since then, I've been really fortunate to have won awards. I'm inducted into a customer care hall of fame, which was up against banks and all these crazy people that had systems and all this stuff, but my philosophy's always been, you lead with your heart and your head.
And so, I always made sure I had good business acumen and I knew what I was talking about and then I used my time well, but I always knew that underlying all that was actually to deliver a really quality heart led service. That sort of, I sold that when I was 30 and I had a whole heap of centers, allied health centers, that my vision was always, I wanted to create therapeutic environments for kids that felt like they were coming home.
I didn't want them to feel like they were going to some sort of sterile environment. So I feel like I could go into so much more detail about my business journey, but it's pretty much my life business has been my life and my dad owned, you know, he was a bank manager and then owned his own bit swim school and...
I just feel like business has always been a part of me and a part of my DNA. I always have worked for myself. I had a couple of little jobs at uni when I was at university, but other than that, I've been my own boss, pretty much my whole adult life.
Donna: So much of what you said in your story resonates with me and going back to what you said about your coat hangers and your chocolates. I used to make earrings. So, I would sit for hours with like fishing line and beads and string stuff together and it's really funny because a few years ago, my dad must have been clearing through some of his stuff and he bought me up.
Like a couple of packets of these earrings that I'd created and I'd totally forgotten that I'd even done it. And he was like, do you remember you used to make these and here are these like earrings inside of these little Ziploc bags and then I'd created these little cardboard cards that kind of stapled on top and like, so tacky.
But I used to sell them all the time and like you, my parents were always in business and I too always led with my heart through business as well. So we have lots of like commonalities there, but yeah, really, really interesting to hear about your business journey and something that I do with every guest when they come onto the podcast, because I do believe it's so important to share our journey with other women who are also on a journey of business because, there's so many layers to it and there's so many different things that we experience as business owners, but at the end of the day, we're all on the journey together and so it's nice to understand what other people are doing and how they got to where they are now.
So, thanks for sharing that.
Angela: Oh, that's okay. I'm, I'm hoping this is only like a pressing pause moment in my story that I've got plenty of years left of being in business, whatever that looks like.
Donna: So clearly you're really passionate about working with kids and helping parents and educators to understand where kids are at, which I think is so important.
I've got two primary age kids, and I know that you've got two kids as well and many of the women that will be listening will also have kids too. So, I don't know when I was preparing to have a chat with you today. I started thinking about what did I, before I had kids, when I was thinking about that was the kind of parent I was going to be, in regards to reading my kids and understanding how I could help them.
And I always thought it would just be quite natural, but my eldest is now nine, nine and a half and it's just starting to creep into that stage where he's really developing his own view of the world and his own place within that and it's not always as simple as I imagined, it would be to help him to navigate through that.
So, where do you see the role of the parent in helping kids make sense of where they're at in the world and what their place is within it? Can you talk to us about that?
Angela: Yeah, what a great question. Well, the role of the parent is primary. It's the number one and I, I say that not to add to the overwhelm of parenting.
Because I think sometimes when you go, my gosh, my child is my whole responsibility. It can feel overwhelming, but it's not that it totally falls on a parent shoulders either. One of the things that I know with kids is they are constantly watching us. So even though our kids never like, it can feel like they never listen to us.
One of the things that they do is, and I think this is really important for parents to sort of hear this and take it on is that they are always watching us and what I mean by that is that they're finding social cues from us. They're looking at how we deal with stress. They're looking at how we are in our devices. They're looking at how our relationship is with people around us, the comments we make about other people.
And again, it's not to add to any overwhelming guilt, but what I... want parents to look at is go, actually, I am really important, this child's life and how can I look after myself? So that I am the best version of me.
And it's not about having the right, doing the right program or having top three ways to be the best parent in the universe. It's not that at all. It's actually just being about, being really mindful about who you are in the space of your family and by being that I often say, oh my gosh, am I like my parents?
And I would always be like, no way am I like my parents? And then the older I get, the more I realize I'm like my parents, but I think that's a great thing because I was very fortunate to have parents who were pretty phenomenal and still are pretty phenomenal human beings, but it doesn't mean that they always got it right either.
You know, there's parts of us that we're not always exactly like our parents. We just take our learnings from them. So our kids will become who they are, but they do need us to be their beacon of light. They do need us to be their sort of safe space and know that no matter if they do stuff up, if they do mess up, we have their back, no matter what.
So it's sort of, my answer was a bit long winded. I get a little bit emotional when I talk about this, but parents are number one in a child's life, but the responsibility doesn't completely fall on us all the time.
But we do really need to look after ourselves so that they can look and go, ah, that's how we do it. That's how I navigate this world and that, that hopefully will, um, show parents the importance of looking after themselves.
Donna: Yeah and I love that, cause a lot of what I talk about in my program and on the podcast is that self-care element, which is quite easily the thing that falls off our list first as moms, because we're so busy in all the other areas.
So I love that you brought that up because it's yeah, paramount. The other thing I wanted to ask you was about bringing up and opening up conversations with our kids, so that we can become aware of what's going on for them and doing it in a way that allows them, as you said to speak up and speak their truth without feeling like they're gonna get in trouble for it, even though there may be consequences dependent upon what has potentially happened, that I find quite hard to navigate sometimes even with my kids at the age that there are now, like, I can't imagine what it's gonna be when they're teenagers.
And maybe we can talk about that a little bit later. But what are some good questions or some good techniques that open up those conversations with our kids so that they feel safe in coming to us as their parent?
Angela: I know at any age for kids, they need to feel like they're heard. So it doesn't matter if you've got little kids who don't quite have those refined language skills yet, or you've got teenagers now. I'm just, I'm in the teenage space myself. So I am learning as I go as well, as we all are as parents, but I think judgment is a really big factor when it comes to communicating with your kids and that quick to jump, to give strategies of how to deal with it.
I love this sort of analogy that I use when parents are talking to their kids. It almost needs to have a Teflon respond like Teflon, that's covered on our cooking. We hope, you know, not great for our, our health apparently anymore, but Teflon's like it allows food to slide off and what I mean by if, if your child comes to you and wants to talk, asking them the questions back that will allow the conversation to open, like, well, how did that make you feel?
Or so how did you feel when you were in that space or when they said that, what did you think? And asking them questions rather than going, what do you mean? You said that, or I can't believe that and like, you jumped to make your interpretation on it or to give the solution quickly. Because, particularly I've got a son and a daughter and my son and daughter see things so differently.
And particularly my son he'll, he's a very hopefully, uh, intuitive boy and young man, and he will still talk, but if I'm not careful and if I quick to judge, he'll just stop, like dead stop and like, he'll just, won't continue the conversation and he is not being rude. It's just like, well, what's the point?
So like any type of relationship, if you can feel heard and feel safe and it doesn't mean that there won't be negative consequences. So if they've done something that they shouldn't have, of course that's down the end, but that space of going, I feel safe enough, not to be judged right now and to be heard is the number one thing.
Now I've gotta quickly say this though, donna. This is really, really important, particularly as working moms, okay? A conversation can't be had when you're distracted. So it is so much more powerful to say to a child, if your child comes to you, I've heard you. I've got you, but can you just give me five minutes and I will be with you, because what you have to say is important and whatever language you wanna put on it, it's not a script thing.
Because the worst thing you can do is be on your phone and pretend that you are listening or be on a call and, or cooking or whatever kids need to know that you are listening and that, that's just a part of that being heard and, you know, you know, when you're trying to talk to a child and they're on a device, they're not listening to you at all.
Like, you know that, so that that's really important for working moms to think about is to be present with your child when they are sharing something important. It's okay to say, I like to stop what you're doing or to say to them, I will be with you as soon as this finishes and then you've got me, but the important thing is, is making sure that they've got your undivided attention.
Donna: Yeah, absolutely and it's that thing of being a hundred percent present in whatever it is that you're doing with work in that moment and then a hundred percent present with your family or whatever it is in the other moments and being really clear about that, trying do two things at once. It doesn't serve either.
And also probably I know for me, if I've ever tried to do that, it just creates an internal stress as well, which then means you are reacting, not responding to the situation and the, the conversation that you're having as well.
Angela: And we'll only hear just like our kids do. We'll only then hear snippets of what they say and so our feedback or our conversation is only based on snippets.
It's not based on the whole picture, so we could be totally wrong in what we're saying and that's, and then the child gets confused and so, yeah, I think that, that communication, how do you open that channel up? It's through no judgment and being present with them and knowing that they're safe now, it doesn't mean that you are gonna agree with them, but if they know that that you're with them and that they're heard, that starts an amazing conversation.
Donna: What I'm seeing a lot at the moment and I know a lot of my friends are the same with their kids, and I imagine that it probably never ends as they grow older, but navigating friendships.
This is something that I really struggle with because as you said before, like being a heart led person, I'm like, oh my god, like the idea of my little guys feeling like they haven't found their flock and feeling as though they are being pushed out of friendships and things like that, which happens, right?
It's kids we're talking about. Them discovering and learning the social etiquette of being a human and all of that kind of stuff and one minute they're best mates the next minute they're not, but nothing breaks my heart more than hearing my kids say that they've had a terrible day because, they felt that they were left out or they were pushed out of the friendship circle.
Do you have any tips there from an OTs perspective in how to help them navigate through that and emotionally regulate through those experiences so, that they don't take it personally and that it doesn't have a prolonged effect on their confidence?
Angela: I'll try to answer that as simply as I can and I think it's an important question.
We are very social beings and having really positive peer network has so much of an impact on our self-esteem our, self-worth just our joy as well. The, the fun that we can have as kids. So it's interesting because social connections and having good positive social networks is probably the number one thing that I see in my work in schools, that a lot of kids struggle with and it's the most complex skill set as well.
And I'm gonna go back to the previous question about, if your child does come home and shares this with you, is not being quick to judge and not infront of your child saying that kid is so naughty, like how dare he? And I've heard those conversations so many times, so many times where people are, they jump straight, parents jump straight in and it's like attacking the other kid.
And that just adds fuel to the fire for your child and so, no one wants to see their child alone and I see it all the time in playgrounds. I'm on playgrounds so often hundred percent, yes and do you know what I've gotta tell you this story, really briefly that often what I do is if I see a child, particularly, you know, I'm really targeted into kids who are, who are socially struggling and it may, their child may have a disability, they may not.
Is I'll often go up to a child that I see sitting on their own or playing on their own and I'll ask them, I'll say, Hey, you know, how are you doing? They'll say, you know, good, whatever, and I'll go, would you like me to go find your friends with you? Or I might say to them, how are you feeling right now?
Would you like some company or whatever the question is, and often and I would send a majority of the time. Kids will say, no, you know what? I just wanna be on my own right now and then what that does and sometimes kids actually need that space because, lunch times are a really stressful space for them.
So sometimes and I'm, I am prefacing sometimes, kids do actually wanna be on their own because lunchtime and recess are actually the only time where they're on their own and I know for me, even though I'm somebody that speaks at conferences and is always with people, I love my own space. I need my own space. So for kids, when they're on their own, it's not necessarily a negative thing.
They're actually showing some amazing self-regulation strategies when they do that. Now the flip side of that are the kids that are ostracized by their peers. Okay. That's a whole nother conversation, but what I would say to parents, if your child is coming home, sharing that with you, is asking them how they, that makes them feel in that space.
What did they do about it? What was it that the kids did? And just be fully aware that their interpretation of events may not be exactly what happened or it could have been exactly what happened. So, unless you have that open dialogue with them without judgment, you'll never get to the, the point of what actually happened now.
And of course, if it's a long term struggle, your child might need some support around social skills or it might be worth having a chat to their teacher and just asking them, Hey, are they, you know, connecting? I often have donor parents will say, oh, I'm really worried about my child at school. They're never with anyone. They come home and they say that they were on their own and I'm like, no, no, they weren't.
They were actually with a whole group of peers today. So, aloneness is also a very individual concept for kids. I feel like that was a long winded. So I could talk about this for days and I have so many resources for parents on, uh, social connections in my program.
So I feel like I could talk about it forever, but hopefully that, that part helped.
Donna: Yeah, I think it's really helpful and because it is one of those things that your heart does go out to them and you, and you can't be there to solve the problem for them because they have to go to school and navigate that space.
Not on their own, of course they've got teachers and friends and all of that kind of stuff, but you can't be a fly on the wall. It would be so good if you could, because as you said...
Angela: I get to be a fly on the wall a lot, and it's so interesting.
Donna: Yeah, it would be, because the, the stories that you hear back may, as you said, may not be the actual thing that happened or maybe it was, but you it's just, you're trying to puzzle together and figure out what's been going on.
And I've done that before. I've reached out to the school teacher and said, Hey, I'm just, and if it's been consistently over a, a couple of weeks or something, or you've been very upset about it, then I will reach out and say, could you just let me know what's happening? And is there anything I can do to support at home?
Angela: Which is a fantastic thing. I think as a parent, you need to be your child's biggest advocate, no matter what, but advocacy isn't about being forceful and saying, Hey, what's the school not doing to support my child. It's actually try trying to come up with a solution together and trying to find out the best way together to support your child.
Donna: And it's interesting that you say to be an advocate for your child, because I believe that, that's really important as well, but I don't think it's always easy to do that, like it can be, I know, um, again, talking about my eldest child, when he did prep, the first, he actually repeated prep the first time that he went through, no, there was a lot of social challenges, but there was also, you could see that he just wasn't ready.
He wasn't taking in the information and by the time it kind of came towards the end of that year, his reading level wasn't where, it was required to be for his age and I think had, I have not been an advocate alongside his teacher in supporting him because we'd had a big open discussion about, is he ready for grade one?
And she sort of said to me, well, actually I'm kind of on the fence with whether he is ready or not and I said, well, I feel like he probably isn't. So I will a hundred percent support you, if we can voice this with the principal and take it to the next level and being the advocate for him. I think if we hadn't had that conversation or perhaps I had been resistant, worried about the stigma of repeating and things like that. He would've just blown onto the radar and he would've gone on to grade one and I don't think he would've coped at that time for him to step into that age group.
And so I got an OT to come in and assess him in the classroom, there was different assessments that they had recommended to do alongside like hearing and vision and all of that kind of stuff and in the end, I did have to kind of be a little bit forceful and say, look, I'm his mom. I see a lot of what goes on at home, I've had a conversation with his teacher. She feels like he's not ready. I feel he's not ready.
What about this situation is not clear for you that this kid needs to have another year in prep before he is ready to go up and thankfully in the end, they did agree to that, which was great and I think it was hands down the best thing that we did for him. So, and I don't see that as a failing as a parent that he had to repeat or that when we spoke to him about him staying down and, and repeating prep, we did it in a really positive light.
And the biggest thing was, unfortunately, his friend, he had to develop new friends again with the next age, the cohort coming through, but we framed that in a really positive way and said, but you are gonna know older kids ahead of you that you're gonna have friends in grade one, and you're also gonna make more friends in prep again.
And so that's gonna be really great for you and so now he still, you know, very openly says, yeah, the first time I did prep or second time I did prep and I have friends who, who are from the first time and he's comfortable with it, which is awesome, but yeah, being the advocate, I think is super important as a parent.
Angela: And you bring up a really important point around how you deliver this stuff to kids. If kids, if you, your children are struggling with an area of their childhood , whatever that area is, your response and this is going back to what we started talking about, how they're watching us all the time, your response is so powerful and so important. So, if you are putting your negative feels to your children, they will pick that up.
And it's not about being fake. It's not about trying to paint this happy rosy picture. It's about being real with your kids because they're so clever. Donna, like kids are so clever and when you can communicate with your kids at a level that is, that they'll understand that is age appropriate and in a way that you are painting the picture that look sure.
It might be a bit difficult ,but how good is all of this and showing them all the things that is gonna be really useful for them and it's gonna help them, then there's no other way that your kids can see. Whereas, if you go, oh, this is really hard and they hear you on the phone. This is a big one. If you are on the phone to mom, like someone else's mom or you're having a conversation with your partner and you are talking about the stuff that's really bad about it all, or really down about it, all negative, you are seeing in movies.
Sometimes the child that's sitting on the staircase and they're, they're listening to their parents fight downstairs, really powerful image because your kids are listening. They are watching and you can't be talking to other parents about all this negative stuff, and then turn to the child, your child, and try to paint this happy rosy picture, because that becomes really confusing for them and confusion means they feel really overwhelmed and alone.
Donna: One of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and your business is to surround yourself with like-minded women who will support you, inspire you and celebrate with you, when you reach your goals. I'm creating a community of savvy women in business, and I'd like to invite you to join my free Facebook group.
In the group I share free templates, I check in with the members of the group on a regular basis and I jump in live every week for coffee and coaching and that's where I share some extra business tips. I answer any burning business questions you might have and help to connect you with other members of the group. It's free to join and I'd love to see you there. Use the group search function in Facebook type in She's In Business with Donna Hann and you'll be sure to find it.
So as we've kind of slid into classroom talk, I know this is a big area that you are super passionate about, and I'm very lucky that I feel like I've got some fabulous friends who are also incredible classroom teachers.
And I do think my kids have had some have been really fortunate with the teachers they've been placed with, but it's not always that way. Is it? Unfortunately, it's not always the case. So, can you share with us where you think the classroom system or the educators, maybe we are falling short and how as parents, we can either support or respectfully challenge teachers to the benefit of our kids.
Angela: I love teachers. I think teachers are amazing, but like any job, any profession, any industry, you've got your really great ones and you've got ones that need a bit of extra support. I can put it like that. So my program it's called the Inclusive and Holistic Classroom and it's an online program that I developed for teachers to help them sort of understand what does inclusion really look like?
And the holistic part is that our kids just aren't academics, our kids whole beings and just because they're not great at maths doesn't mean they're not gonna be contributing wonderful members of, of society and that really is a big driving force for me, because just because a child doesn't get straight A's, doesn't mean they're less than it just means that, that's not a particular skill set.
And with the first module, it's interesting. I actually go through and it can be a little bit confronting for the teachers. Is I actually talk about inclusive beliefs. So, what are the beliefs around? Because a lot of people, well, don't believe that particularly children with disabilities should be in mainstream schools and there's a whole range of different ideas around that.
But what I wanna do it's disability it's additional needs, diverse needs it's just needs and how do we better support as an education system, as a health system, as a family unit?
That child, what that child needs. So whether or not there's a whole range of schools of thought, which I won't, we haven't got time to go into, but my, my focus has always been what does the child need and whether they have a diagnosis or not, every child has a different need and there, and the challenge for teachers is unlocking the stuff that makes them grow and thrive.
And I understand teachers, are so busy. We, you know, we're seeing these statistics of the amount of teachers that are leaving the teaching profession, because they've got so many things now that they have to do paperwork they've gotta do, and I get it and I do see that. I do see it in my time in schools, but I think majority of the teachers are doing the best they can, but it's not easy.
Donna: And so, how can we help our kids at home to support them in the school environment when it comes to their school work and, and their mindset in, because I think sometimes if they're feeling like they're not achieving, they're falling short of where all the other kids are at, perhaps that motivation to keep trying can become really low.
What can we do at home as parents to then support them to cope in that school environment?
Angela: One of the programs I runs called Calm Confident Kids and I will have to answer it through the lens of that because when we have an environment at home that's calm and I don't mean not active. It's not that it's, um, home environment's active and, and busy and everything, but when you can create spaces that allow your children to feel calm, then they start to feel confident in what they're doing now that it may not be the best, they may not, you know, find it easy.
But when you can sit alongside them and support them for where they're at with what they need and with no comparison to other kids or other families or anything, kids feel that they know that, and that really can unlock, unlock so much for them.
So, for kids that are feeling stressed about school, a couple of things and we've touched on it actually a few times is the language that you use around school and being open with them that school's not always easy, but there's things that we can do. There's habits that we can create. So things like, it depends of course, on what age.
So whatever age will be dependent on how much support, but I, my kids in high school, some of the subjects, I don't even know what they're talking about there.
Donna: So , yeah, that's what I'm worried about. Like even now you mentioned before when you're at school and you are really bad at math. Well, that was me and so already we're in grade three and I'm going, oh, well where's mine calculator , it's terrible.
Angela: But honestly, Donna, I've gotta share this because it only came to me very recently. So I've always had that backstory that I was not good at maths. Okay. I was great at English and near society and culture and all these things.
I've always told myself I was not great at maths. Now, my kids have heard me say all the time I'm not great at maths. Now I've ran a very successful business my entire life. I have to have something good about numbers, right? But I've always had that dialogue.
So my, both my kids, they do well academically. They have, I've heard them say recently to me with the midyear exams. Oh mom, I'm not gonna ask you about math, because you're not good at math. Now it hit me so hard, Donna and I thought that to me, this was a little conversation to myself. It like time stood still and I thought you did that image and you created your kids to think you're not great at, they have no idea if I'm good at maths or not.
I could, I could be amazing at it for all they know, but because I've said it. That's now become their reality. So mind you, I do look at their homework and go, I have no idea what they're talking about, but they don't need to, but that's an example of like your kids know, like the language that you use, the frames that you use as a parent, do ripple to your children, they do have an effect on your kids.
So, to be able to support your children is making school feel like it's should be fun. It that learning in stretching outta your comfort zone and if that's just a part of school. It's not the end point. It's not the result and then when kids get whatever results they get or when they're, you know, in the debating team or when they're doing something and they choose a subject, when they're older in high school, they love and lights them up.
Then that's what school is all about. It's the experience of school, not the labels that you give them or the labels that you give yourself or them, or it just, it's gotta be a positive experience for kids and the only way you can do that is meeting them that where they're with the skills that they've got and knowing that they're safe and secure.
Donna: Yeah, love that. I think too, going back to what we were talking about, helping them to understand that it's not like school is not the end, like there's more after school and all of that kind of stuff in finding where your sweet spot is in what it is that you enjoy and what you wanna do as a career is acknowledging that that career may not always be that career, that it might switch and change, and that that's okay.
And really healthy and really normal, but also that you can create your own dream, your own destiny, your own business and as a working mom, I know that there's a lot of sometimes guilt that can rise up that we are trying to build an amazing profitable business that's really, and at the same time, juggle a family and make sure we're raising really brilliant little human beings.
And that, that can be a really tough gig sometimes, it's not easy. Certainly there are different things that you can do to make the journey much easier, which is what of a lot of what I teach. But I do believe, and I know that you share this with me, there are actually benefits to being a working mom for kids.
Do you wanna tell me what your take is on that?
Angela: Well, we know our listeners know right now that being in business is not easy and life is not easy and so when you are, again, when you are sharing this with your kids and they're seeing that you are focused and that you are doing the work and they know why you are doing it.
And you may not get the results that you want, you share that with your kids, of course not the nitty gritty, but they are seeing when it's tough that you keep going, that you've got the resilience or they also see I've had times where I've just been absolutely bummed by what, you know, something that's happened in the business.
I've shared that with the kids, mom's feeling really flat right now because I had this thing happen today in my work and it's made me feel really sad. Sometimes it depends on the age of them, you, you have that open conversation and I know for me, that comes from my upbringing. I can remember sitting around the table with my parents and they would do the same, and I can't remember details of what they talked about, but what I can remember is that the ups and downs of emotion, which I talk a lot about emotional regulation in, in my life and the realities of, of hard work, but also the joys that hard work can bring.
That stepping out of your comfort zone. These are all, when you have your own business and your kids are living in that environment, it's real life teaching. You don't need to pull off the show handbook for that, to teach kids that stuff and some of some great ideas I've had with my kids that they've got, Hey mom, have you tried that?
Like, they've never run an online business. They're not health professionals, but they're living and seeing it. So for kids, they're seeing your ups and downs, but also I just think guilt for moms and I know we talk about it a lot. Actually my book switch off, I started doing that and exploring the concept of guilt.
And it ended up just going, you know, moving down the track of switch off, but it was interesting because how guilt, how much it overrides, how we make our decisions. We do things like we should do that or everybody else is doing that, but when we actually tap into what our family needs and what you need as a working mom, that's where the gold is.
And if your kids can see you thriving and being in your business and, and being of service and loving it, nor the joy of the ups and downs, that's where they'll learn their life skills.
Donna: Yeah, I'd never really thought about it before, until you just were talking there that a lot of parents would like my husband, he goes to work and it's not a workplace that my kids could ever visit because it's a high risk workplace.
And so working from home and running your own business, actually get to understand what the job is and what it means to be a working parent. So, and I'd never really thought about it in that way before, like a lot of other families, they would have parents who perhaps both work, but it's at work and you can't take your kids there, whereas yeah.
When you're working from home and they get to see a little bit of what you do, obviously they don't understand the full depths of it all. But I certainly talk to my kids about different things within my business and, um, I've shared before on the podcast that my kids have chickens and they sell their eggs.
And so we talk about that as a business and they say, oh, I, I have a business. Actually, my youngest crawled into bed with me before we left to go to Uluru ,because Angie and I were both at a recent conference, which was held in Uluru and they were asking me, oh, can we, can we come? And I said, no, no, it's actually for business moms, like it's only if you have a business that you can go, it's like a business school type of thing.
And he crawled into bed with me the morning that I left and said, mom, I can come to Uluru now, because I've thought of a business idea. He is six, right? And he was just so cute. He just, in his mind, he's like, I've got a business idea. I need to come to business school and learn how to do it too, so yeah, they're little brains.
Angela: I love that, but you see, that's what, that's exactly my point that our kids are watching us. How amazing to teach entrepreneurship to little tiny kids in whatever that looks like, right? That they're having a crack. Like they're, they're having a go, they're coming up with an idea. They're implementing it. They might drop it and go to something else or it might just keep going and it becomes an interest and a passion area.
It's funny, Donna, I often will say the stuff that I talk about with kids is exactly the same that I talk about when I do my work with parents and teachers and, and adults. It's just in a different, more complex way.
I say it to teachers and adults, because really what we wanna be doing is finding joy and simplicity in our lives, doing the work we love with the people we love and that's all kids are wanting. They just wanna be joyful. They wanna do the stuff they love with the people they love at school, have a good social network and just be feeling like life is great.
That's all we want as adults. So when we peel it all back, it's the detail that makes it all boring. It's all the detail and the complexity that we put on all of it. But if we just scale it back and go, kids are actually wanting the similar stuff that we want in life. It's just the details different.
Donna: Oh, well, that's a beautiful way to finish up our podcast today.
You just framed that gorgeously. So, and I feel like we've probably only just scratched the surface of your wisdom today. I'm sure there's so, so much more that people can learn and discover from you with all of your resources. So how can people track you down to get their hands on some of those?
Angela: Oh gosh, it's too easy to track people down nowadays. Isn't it? It, the easiest, the easiest and most central places angelalockwood.com.au. And there's, if you're a teacher there's, um, or somebody in that space, there's the programs about schools. I'm actually not far off and you mentioned the retreat in uluru and I will have a whole Netflix style parent membership that will just, hopefully the end of July, it will be launched and it's will be a space where parents can jump on and get the information they need when they need it.
So it'll all be on angelalockwood.com.au and if you wanna stay connected, the best thing is just to join the newsletter and, or follow me on Instagram. I'm not massive on Facebook, but Instagram I like to .
I like to show up there, but look, thank you so much for having me on here and I think for all the listeners, the work that you do is important work and your kids will only thrive and benefit by watching you be the very best passionate and excited inspirational person that you are, they can only benefit from that.
Donna: Aw, thanks so much Ang for sharing all of your wisdom. I can't wait to listen to this back because really hard to take notes and interview at the same time, but I definitely will be because there was so much that I've learned and certainly in spending time with you this weekend, Uluru it's been incredible and to have you one on one to share this with everyone, who's listening. I'm really grateful for your time today.
Thanks for having me, Donna. Thanks so much.
