As well as creating original content for you we like to share inspiring, thought-provoking news and feature articles that we’ve come across on other websites. This week we found them on The Pool and The Guardian…
At The Early Hour, we’re all about fresh content: interviews with inspiring people (like the illustrator Brooke Smart) and articles about improving your mornings (15-minute morning yoga sequence, anyone?). Plus a load of other pieces to make you think differently about your life.
But we can’t cover everything so we love having a look at what other websites are up to. This week, there have been some interesting parenting articles on The Pool and The Guardian: travelling with your family, why being a parent is good for business and how better public facilities could make everyone happier…
Parenting News…
The happiness gap for parents, and how to solve it
The brilliant journalist Robyn Wilder (regular columnist for The Pool) wrote an article this week about the ‘happiness gap’ that exists between parents and those without kids. Basically, new research reveals that people without kids are happier.
If you live in the UK, this might not come as a surprise (you’ll be au fait with how tricky public transport can be, how unfriendly some establishments are to families and with the lack of public spaces for kids to play).
But it’s still fairly depressing. So Wilder suggests ways we could improve family life that will increase all round happiness levels. We think it makes perfect sense, what do you think? Have a read of Robyn Wilder’s article on The Pool.
Also on The Pool this week –
Normal life is a full-time job – but it really doesn’t have to be
Journalist and Digital Mums content strategist Rachel Mostyn wrote about packing up her home and taking her young family (three kids, aged eight and under) on a six-month trip around South America. Mostyn and her husband both have flexi jobs that will allow them to work on the move.
This is surely something we all dream of? Waving goodbye to the mundanity of a 9-5 life (even for freelancers Monday-Friday exists to some extent, as everyone else is working conventional hours).
The kids’ school will keep their places until they get back, so come January, they’ll all return from the adventure of a lifetime and slot back right in. Prepare for wanderlust…
Read Rachel Mostyn’s inspiring article about travelling with her family on The Pool.
How being a parent and an entrepreneur can be good for business
For anyone thinking about having kids, or with kids and contemplating starting a business, this article by Heidi Scrimgeour, Emma Howard and Claire Burke for The Guardian will give you a nice boost.
In it, they discuss how your business objectives might change after having kids, resulting in different – perhaps more attainable – targets. Therefore, ‘success’ will look different. It might look like earning a decent income rather than being on the Sunday Times Rich List.
But your network will also change – you’ll be part of, or at least have access to, a new parent community. This can be great if you’re looking for support for your business, or seeking other working parents to share successes and challenges with.
Have a read of this Guardian article about how being a parent and entrepreneur can be good for business.
What have you seen/read/heard about in the news this week that made you stop and think? We’d love to hear in the comment section below…