By Renee Martinez, Founder of Raising Boys World
There is very little about having a bigger family that frustrates me. All and all, it’s a manageable task to be the mother to 4 young boys, as long as I stay organized. Sure, I buy a lot of groceries and do a lot of driving, and yes, I realize that it’s only going to get worse.
Here’s one of the things that is challenging for me – when one child gets sick. Before you know it, the entire crew is plagued by illness. This happened recently and it wasn’t pretty. First son #2 had a fever, cold and a terrible headache, then it turned into a sinus infection that lasted for days; he was miserable. Soon son #3 followed suit and snot was flowing from his nose constantly. He too was up all night…for days. Fortunately, it didn’t turn into an infection. Then, just when it seemed that the coast might be clear and illness had been evicted from our home, son #1 and son #4 were sicker than dogs. Same drill. Add in that the baby is teething too. What fun! Needless to say, we went through a lot of fever reducing and pain relieving medicines. I don’t think I slept for days and coffee was a staple in my diet.
When kids are sick, it throws such a wrench in the schedule. Going to the doctor, picking up a prescription, yet still managing to help with homework, make dinner, pack lunches, do laundry, organize the house and do some kind of work. No wonder there’s no time for sleep. I used to think that 30-hour days would have been better, but I don’t think it would help much – just more time to manage.
What’s amazing is how we lived our lives before computers, email, cell phones and Internet. How did any work get done? Now, there’s so much more expected because we are capable of immediacy. I think the pace has increased ten-fold. Do we like this pace or was it better before?
At the current pace, are we as mothers more or less stressed? When our kids are sick, we can still accomplish some things because of technology. What message do we send our sons if we continue to live at this pace?
Next time the children are sick, maybe it’s a good idea to turn off the phones, don’t touch the computer, keep your pajamas on and veg out in front of a good movie under a blanket with your son (or sons). Maybe this way, family illness won’t be as stressful.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK, on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in the internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
