Creating an “On and Off Switches”

One of the carry-overs from the Pandemic is the blurred lines of home and work boundaries. With our smartphones constantly barraging us with notifications pinging all throughout the day and night, it can be challenging to be present with those who are right in front of us. The fact is, for many of us, our to-do lists will never be completely finished and the notifications will continue to cover us up with a mountain of tiny, yet relentless, messages. 

Something I have since learned to implement into our days is embracing visual and physical reminders to help me turn off the “teacher” switch. Doing a load of laundry as soon as I walk in from the garage has been my “work off switch” since 2020. When the dryer door opens, it’s like my kids receive an imaginary signal in their brains warning them to avoid the laundry room at all costs:

I kindly ask them when we walk inside the laundry room: “Do you want a granola bar or poptart?”

Quickly, my children chime in, “No thank you, Mom!”

It’s like their brains have this internal dialogue telling them: “Abort, abort. Mom’s in the laundry room, and she might ask us to help her fold clothes!”

Even though most of their after school snacks are in the pantry in the laundry room, it seems like they split up into other areas of the house and hide until they can tell all of the clothes are folded.

My hunch is I am not the only Mom with kids who do not enjoy folding clothes. Worse yet in their opinions, when I ask them to put their clothes away in their drawers and hang them up in their closets. Although folding a load of laundry may not seem like a very relaxing way to transition from working mode to Mom mode, the predictability of folding each garment gives my thoughts time to settle and soak up a few moments of solitude. These few moments of predictability help me finish thinking about the school day, and prepare my brain to be all in with my children.

As I prepare for this new school year with teaching 3rd grade and online courses for undergraduate and graduate students, I recognize the need to embrace a visual and physical reminder of turning off “Mom mode” and switching on “teacher mode.” With all four kids riding to school with me, I want them to know that when they are with me, I’m all in and when they are in their own classes, I’m all in for my students.

In this new role, I need to have easy access to  my cell phone for our school safety app, a walkie talkie, name badge, keys, whistle, sunglasses for recess duty, flair pens, and post-it notes. I knew that I needed a way to keep track of all of these supplies. Last year, I used a rolling cart to keep track of everything. This year, I am embracing a teacher apron.

Now, before you start to giggle at the thought of me wearing dresses and a kitchen apron, teacher aprons have come a long way in the last 17 years. 😉 So, although my older kids think this apron is silly, I am fully embracing this much needed strategy for keeping everything close. 

Although I didn’t realize it at the time when I added the teacher apron to my Amazon cart, as I get ready for school to begin, it was like a light bulb went off in my mind, helping me see that this teacher apron can be a daily reminder that as we get ready to head out of my classroom and walk to the gym for the morning assembly, when Mom’s teacher apron is on, she’s in “work mode” and fully present with my students. With our kids used to me being in my flexible roles and schedules in the past twelve years, we are all benefiting from this visual and physical reminder that if they have needs during the school day, their teachers are their best people to ask for help. Then once my students head off for after school pick-up or to load up on the bus and I finish preparations for the next school day, I will take off my teacher apron and switch the “teacher mode” off in my mind. 

Friend, I am wondering which areas would you like to put a visual and physical reminder in place to help you turn “off” certain areas of your mind, so you can be more fully present with those right in front of you? What tips could you share that have worked well in the past that we could learn from? 

I’m still working on a way to turn off both the teacher and mom switches for a bit and just be “me” for short pockets of time. Self-care is something that I know I need to implement, but I haven’t figured out how to implement it consistently. Maybe you can help me figure out how to turn the “just me” switch on?

As we begin this new school year, I am stopping to pray for us, that the Lord will give us the wisdom and physical capacity to be fully present with those right in front of us and to discover intentional and practical ways to fill each of the roles the Lord has us in right now.