3 Parenting Ideas You’ve Never Thought Of

Have you ever dreaded going home to family chaos after a successful day at work?

It is not easy for me to admit my parenting dread or even ask that question but I feel a strong emotional need to share a story with you that has changed the way I look at parenting — and how Ann and I have joined forces in building a successful family life.

Here are three parenting ideas you’ve never thought of!!

From Business Success to Family Success:

I used to joke with fellow business leaders who wanted to become better parents that it was much easier to be the CEO of my business than it was to be the CEO of my own home.

When I left the office each day, I left a world of rules, strategies, and success and entered a world of chaos, drama, and raging hormones.

I’ve been blessed to enjoy some success in business. I’m the President and CEO of the company I co-founded fifteen years ago—Cottage Garden, Inc. We are the #1 supplier of musical gift products in North America. In 2009, Cottage Garden was the National Small Business of the Year Runner-Up. We have over two hundred sales representatives in ten countries, and our products are found in tens of thousands of retailers worldwide. In other words, I knew what I was doing when it came to running a business.

But, to be totally candid, the chaos at home left me bewildered and confused. I found myself staying away from home, traveling more frequently—up to half the year—so I wouldn’t have to deal with my own sense of inadequacy. Even though I loved everyone at home, I lacked the clarity and confidence to be a better parent. Or so I thought.

After several years of this crazy pattern, I knew I had to find a different way to manage our family. Our legacy was just too important to let drift aimlessly. We needed a fresh approach our kids could embrace that made sense to my wife and me.

3 Fresh Approaches to Parenting:

The solution hit me one weekend as the kids were discussing starting their own business. My initial reaction was that I could show them how to start, build, and run a successful business, as the odds are good that at least 50% of my children will choose the entrepreneurial path.

I wish I could tell you I figured out how to become a better parent all at once as if an apple fell from a tree and knocked the idea into my head. The reality is that it started with a desire to prepare my kids for the future by using what I already knew how to do.

What happened next was nothing short of life-changing for every member of our family.

Parenting Approach #1:

To better demonstrate business principles for our kids, I began thinking about our family as if it were a business.

And it changed everything. I discovered that what I already knew about succeeding in business worked just as well for succeeding at home.

Ask your parenting self this: How would you think differently if you thought of your family as a business? 

Parenting Approach #2:

It started with the most basic of business practices—meetings.
Frankly, the first family meetings were not well received. We definitely did not have buy-in from the team. And so we resorted to bribery. We began conducting meetings outside around the campfire with S’Mores as the main attraction. That did it. Soon the kids were asking for more.
Your Family is The Most Valuable Business in the World

As the meetings gained momentum I began looking for a way to get more buy-in for approaching our family as a business. It was then the next idea hit me: why not incorporate our family?

And so we did.

Parenting Approach #3:

We went through the entire legal process of formally setting up a business and awarded each member of the family a stake as a shareholder in the family business—2BTimms, LLC.

Of course, mom and dad still held a majority of the voting stock, but suddenly everyone had ownership, everyone had skin in the game. Check out our family logo and click here to learn how to create your own family logo!

Win at Home

Check out our Timm Family Logo!

With that ownership came responsibility for maintenance of the family, the house, the yard, and more. Perhaps most importantly, each family member knew they had a vote, a voice, and a stake in improving what we call “our bottom line”—a stronger, healthier, and happier family.

Now I use what I already know—how to lead a successful business—to lead and grow my family every day. And I love it!

The purpose of this story is to share more of what we’ve learned from thinking of our family as a business.

Ann and I want you to love going home to your family and we know that this fresh parenting approach, that you’ve probably never heard of, will help you have a successful and rewarding family life. Why not get the whole family involved…… by using the business tactics that you know so well?

I am now proud to say that I am not only the CEO of the company I co-founded over fifteen years ago, but I am also the CEO of the most valuable business in the world—my family.

You can follow along and learn more about our fresh approach to building a family you can be proud of by visiting me over at my site. When you do, you’ll get my eBook Win at Home Like You Win at Work for free.

What issues are your greatest challenges and sources of frustration as a parent?

2019-10-14T15:04:13+00:00

2 Comments

  1. Carmel October 12, 2019 at 10:25 pm - Reply

    Spending long hours at work then coming home and trying to motivate people to help with household chores.
    Or even to motivate them to get off their technology and get out in the real world :/

  2. DeMommy October 13, 2019 at 3:13 pm - Reply

    Our challenge right now is moving our family forward towards greater success and towards greater meaning. It feels like we are in a rut, just stuck and no one seems to be united in efforts to make life better. It feels like we are too busy and have too many commitments, and therefore our family life is in the category of “getting by”. We have many happy times together, but there are still some underlying issues that we seldom talk about or address–mostly due to being too busy to even have discussions to make plans or goals, which leads to minimal time spent putting plans into action.

Leave A Comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.