Family Routines

01:24 - The ladies are hype to be here today, it is a bit chilly outside, but sunny. First, before we move forward what tea are we sipping on? Meek is sipping on some raspberry leaf tea with a half teaspoon of agave, Nique is sipping on a matcha green tea latte, she went latte style this time, so it’s with oat drink, it isn’t super sweet but she brought a chocolate bar to balance the sweetness.   02:40 - Nique reveals this episode's theme, “Family Flow”. They are both routine queens and Meek does not feel like you can be as successful if you do not have a routine. Nique has to swap the word routine with flow, and Meek says she calls it a guide. There is always room to divert from your flow or guide for the day, audit or edit.    03:45 - Today’s talk will consist of five techniques that help their families thrive. This week’s theme is actually brought to you by someone who attended the podcast launch and submitted an idea.    04:42 - Meek begins with one of her techniques “Meal Prep”, she made meal prep for the entire month and it really helped her know what was for dinner, now she does also admit that it has fallen off, but she recommends breakfast for dinner in case you don’t know what you are going to eat. Meek shares a funny story about her son’s love for eggs and the process and time required for boiling an egg that he doesn’t understand yet.   06:32 - Nique piggybacks of Meek and shares her blue apron days, where she felt like there was so much packaging and everything had its own bag, and the food was a bit fine dinning for her kids. None of those meal preps is any joke including mincing garlic, dicing and simmering and she felt she often put it on the table and had her children tell her this looks gross and it took 30 mins!! She feels like her family is finally aged enough to enjoy the days of food subscription and the food prep required behind it. Nique shares a tip, everyone in her family is helping cook and Meek agrees, the kids eat it when they are invested in cooking the food as well. Meek shares a funny saying she has when her kids don’t want to eat what she has prepared, “Either you have this, or you can have an air sandwich”, and it has not failed her yet.   09:40 - Nique’s technique # 2 is having a school routine. Meek says she doesn’t have a big school routine, but the one thing that does simplify the process is that they wear uniforms. She is making sure her children are reading because they do not do screen time throughout the week.    11:00 - Nique says, “ I think in our house, we make school the main event for the week, it is Monday through Friday so it is the main event and we hype it.” Nique loves the morning, the drive, leaving the house and the flow of the morning is nostalgic for her because she drove in a car to school with her siblings every day. She makes it a priority to talk about their days at dinner, they go through the roses and thorns of the day. She makes it a priority during the drive to do the daily bible verse of the day, they do their mantras and goodbyes, and she loves that.   12:15: Meek confesses that the drive to school is a sore subject, they drive about 45 mins each way, and traffic can be unpredictable. Sweet Maverick does not like to be late, he often asks, “Are we going to be late today, because I do not want a tardy” haha.   13:25: Meek goes into her next technique which is Alexa alerts. There is a morning Alexa alert, to get ready to leave and an Alexa alert at night around 7:30 PM, then a wrap-up alert for bathtime, with an 8:00 PM alert to get your buns in the bed and start reading, 8:30 PM alert is lights out for her children. She has a personal alert on her Alexa that says “Goodnight Herald family”, and it tells them the weather for tomorrow. She believes it helps move through the morning and evening, almost like school bells moving kids through classes.   14:45: Nique uses alerts as well, Quad City DJ’s song Come on Ride That Train is her children’s morning 7:30 PM alert to get out the door and into the car. Both confess that their alerts help them to not feel rushed, which both dislike.   16:35: Niques next technique is that the weekend is sacred time, one of their implementations is the screen-free zone until 9:30 AM in the morning, this helps keep them on a routine, they ask the kids to do their morning flow, get up like your normal school day, make sure your hydrated and get dressed, be a human and then zone out for a little bit.   18:45: Meek next technique is to have a trusted village to help you assist with your children, her village is Nana and Poppa and Auntie because they all live in the same area. Having people that they can trust allows her and her husband to go on date nights. It helps that they have their own space at Nana and Poppa’s, they enjoy using their tablets at their grandparent’s house. Meek tells a funny story that Axle is in love with his tablet and he counts down the days of the week until Friday because he gets to play with his tablet then.   21:00: Nique and her husband recharge with date days. They have been soaking in their bible time, they are on day 57 of reading the bible every day. They have a bible study, it is part of their nightly routine, they have tea and popcorn, sometimes they watch a show, it is a great routine to end their nights with God, Nique sleeps better afterward.    23:00: Meek gets into her personal routine. She has her away time, me time, “Meka time”, this means she can be a better wife and mother to all her children. She got away to Charlotte, trusting her family and she really let herself be present and not check-in all weekend with her children.   24:35: Nique gets into her personal routine. She is really into her health routine for her family and keeping them healthy. She finds that hand washing is the one thing we can all day to make a huge difference in staying healthy. She tells a funny story of a flight attendant misunderstanding their travel routine.   28:30: Nique mentions her UV wand. Meek shares her first experience with the UV wand, where Nique scanned her phone to show how dirty it was. Nique advises that you Lysol or sanitize your phone regularly..   29:30: Meek’s last technique is that she loves sharing her iPhone calendar with her husband, it helps her mentally prepare for what is happening each day between both of them and their children. Anytime she adds anything to her calendar, it updates her family’s phones. She makes sure they all have 2-hour alerts before any even, so they can prepare. Nique agrres says it helps you stay in sync with your husband and family.   31:20: Drive Tracks!! Nique has come up with a term, PWPT, Predominately White People Tracks, she added one for this week Drive Tracks, Imagine Dragons, on their Origins soundtrack the song Burnout. Meek’s drive track is dedicated to her daughter, her team has won five volleyball games in a row and she gets hype listening to her pre-game track, Justin Biebers Yummy. Make sure to follow Meek and Nique on social media!  Meka’s blog is Hanging with the Harrells and her instagram is @xomekaharrell. Nique can be found at White Coat Wifey and followed at @whitecoatwifey! Make sure to follow the show at @teawithmeekandnique on Insta to see behind-the-scenes and more content, say hello to your fearless hosts at meekandnique.com,  and tune in for the next episode!