The 1 Genius Way Working Mom Joanna Gaines Makes Time For Her Kids
Given how much Chip and Joanna Gaines do – in addition to their hit HGTV show Fixer Upper, they run Magnolia Market and Silos Baking Co., design their own lines of home decor and furniture, own a real estate company, release a quarterly magazine, and recently wrote a book – it's easy to forget that they're parents of four (count them, FOUR) children.
The couple recently got candid with us at a press event for the Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines paint collection and revealed their trick for fitting in family time: they include the kids in what they're working on. Joanna explained that as a full-time working mom, it's important to her that the kids understand what she's doing when she's being pulled away from them. And, more than that, they feel like they're a part of it too, which is why the couple finds creative ways to involve the children in their work – and therefore get to spend more time with them.
To that end, Chip said that the couple set a new family policy: "A couple of years ago, when travel became part of our [job] requirement, we made this concession for our kids that each time we traveled, we would take one of them with us, almost like a date time with them. Jo has been real religious about that." The kids love the idea and always know exactly whose turn it is to go on the work trip.
Joanna said her next trip is taking the girls to High Point Market, the preeminent home furnishing trade show held in North Carolina. She explained, "to some degree it's hard because I'm trying to think business, I'm trying to think creatively, and then you've got the girls asking, 'can I have a snack? Can I have a snack?' but I think that's just the life I'm in." Some people might find mixing work and family to be too much, but Joanna explains it's just right for her. "At the end of the day, the people who inspire me the most are my kids and my family, so they're there with me. It's not this pain in the butt deal; it's actually just part of the equation that it just works well for us, so and it's also just fun time with them and I hope they'll remember this when they get older."
Their plan seems to be working! Whether or not the kids decide to make a career out of the family business, they're having a lot of fun following in their parents' footsteps right now. Sons Drake and Duke love to help their dad with the construction component, the couples says, and daughters Emmie and Ella are shining in creative design roles. Ella even got to go to a lab in California and help Joanna create paint colors for her collection. Sounds like the Gaines have found a win-win solution!