We all have hopes and dreams and one of the things that I hoped for exactly three years ago was to be a Hands-on-Parent. Why exactly three years ago? Because on July 2012, I found out out I was pregnant. It was a different feeling — a great and incomparable feeling to realize that you’re bringing in life to this world. I know that I have young readers and believe me, when you get to that point, you’ll remember this article and say, shucks, she was right! haha! You really can’t compare the feeling the you feel when you find out you’re pregnant and especially that feeling you feel when you see the baby for the first time to anything else.

When I found out I was pregnant, that was the time when I made the huge decision that I wanted to be a Hands on Parent while Earning (HOPE). I wanted to be there with my daughter during her formative years. I wanted her to grow up with the right values and these would be that values that we parents have shared. I used to think that the greatest fear I would have as a parent is not having enough to put her through school, but now, the greatest fear that I have is if she grows us to be a kind-hearted, independent and happy individual. Now, thinking about that is something that I’m scared about, because with money, you can find ways and means to solve that problem. When it comes to teaching values though, that I find to be more challenging. The question that ran through my mind during the time before I decided to take the leap was how can I teach her and be effective in sharing my values if most of the time, I’m not there with her? My  work before really required me to be out a lot of times. Plus, the stress that I got from it made me think that I would be so tired and won’t be mentally “present” when I talk to her at night.

Fast forward to today, after almost three years as a hands-on-parent while earning, I think I did the right thing and made the right decision. Now, I have a business (actually, businesses… haha!) and at the same time, I get to spend time with my daughter whenever I want to. When I was invited by Teresa, my good friend who came up with this idea of the HOPE summit to be one of the speakers, I immediately said yes. I said yes because jumping into being an entrepreneur is challenging and having a support system and having someone to talk to is crucial.

I said yes because I want to share how we, as a couple, made it work as hands-on-parents while earning as an entrepreneur and as an employee (for my husband). I also want to share the challenges that we faced. My talk will focus more though about being a hands-on-parent / entrepreneur.

I’d like to know more about what you want to hear from me, so please feel free to leave your comments below. I haven’t created my presentation for this because I wanted to answer real questions from real parents. Please let me know what you want to learn from this talk.

If you want to hear more from me and from other hands-on-parents, sign up for my friend, Teresa’s summit. You can check out the details in this link: http://www.fulllifecube.com/hope-summit-2015/

Please please let me know what your questions are and leave it at the comment section below! Thanks a lot!