How busy working parents can stay connected

Lee Hausner, PhD Clinical Psychologist & Author, shares advice for parents ways that they can stay connected with their families despite being busy with work
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How busy working parents can stay connected

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The challenge for a busy, working parent to stay involved in a significant way has a lot to do with how that parent is going to organize their life and their time. If, in fact, you're a traveling parent, you have to call home every single night to talk to your child because children feel that when parents are traveling for business, they think they're in Disneyland. They don't realize that it is very difficult when you're on a business trip. So when your parent calls you every single night, that becomes very, very important. And when a parent calls, and they are on the road, they call and they keep a piece of paper by the phone. So anything that a child says that is important - I have a test, I'm going to go to Johnny's house - the next time you call the next day, you remember to ask about that event, so you just got double credit; you called, and you were really listening. So that's if you're physically gone. When it's a question of being very involved in your career, and you're going to be a parent, I think you have to understand that children are not going to bond to a stunning picture of mom and dad in a silver picture frame on the mantel. They're going to bond to live, warm people. And so the time that you spend with those children is going to have to be quality time, and that means that when you are present, you are not on your Blackberry, you are not doing other things, you are not on the telephone - you come and you say, "I'm available to be with you." I've worked with a lot of entrepreneurs who were building businesses and they feel, I'm building my business so I have to be at my business. But after we've done some work, they realize that they can work smarter. It's not a question of so much time; they can work smarter, be able t be home, give quality time to their children and get both accomplished. And quality time means that when that child is with that parent, they leave saying, "Wow. That was fun," "I really felt connected," that means that you may be reading to that child, you may be playing a game with that child, you may be doing a project, but it means that you are actually, physically there and involved.

Lee Hausner, PhD Clinical Psychologist & Author, shares advice for parents ways that they can stay connected with their families despite being busy with work

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Lee Hausner, PhD

Clinical Psychologist & Author

Dr. Lee Hausner is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist, business consultant and family wealth advisor. She served as the senior psychologist for the Beverly Hills Unified School District for 19 years. She is currently the Senior Managing Director for First Foundation Advisors. An acknowledged expert on psychological issues involving wealth and wealth transfer, she was a presenter at the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, and is a frequent participant at the high wealth/private client conferences for major financial institutions. She is a frequent guest on national radio and television and a quoted expert in national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Times, Forbes, Fortune, Privilege, Town and Country and Worth Magazine.

Dr. Hausner is the co-author with Doug Freeman of A Founder's Guide to the Family Foundation, published by the Council on Foundations and is the author of the seminal work regarding wealth and the family; Children of Paradise: Successful Parenting for Prosperous Families. In addition, Dr. Hausner incorporated her unique six-step transition model for succession in family business in the critically acclaimed family business resource book Hats Off to You 2: Balancing Roles and Creating Success in Family Business, of which she was a co-author.

Dr. Hausner is a graduate of Northwestern University (BA, Psychology), San Francisco State University (MA, Psychology), and Kensington University (PhD, Psychology).

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