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Abstract

p id="db15">For example, my husband put a stop to my way of trying to get our son to eat his meals and stop being fussy because it just wasn’t working. After a certain period of time of him implementing his own way of doing things, which was firmer and stricter than I would’ve liked, I started to see some changes in my son and how he would sit down to eat the entire plate of food in front of him.</p><p id="21fa">Now, Andriel looks forward to sitting down next to his parents and mostly eats his entire plate, including the veg. My husband was right, and I was wrong — at least for a period of time (because no one knows the future and kids are unpredictable!)</p><p id="60fc"><b>But my husband didn’t say “I told you so”.</b> He didn’t discredit me as a mother, even if I did question my own decision making. He understood that being wrong is not a bad thing, and also, that <b>I wasn’t “wrong” to begin with</b>. Some things work, and some things don’t work for our children. And some things work for a while and then need to be changed. And that’s OK.</p><p id="4e9d">Parenting, while continuous, is flexible.</p><p id="ec93"><a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-successfully-wing-it-d39222a3d808">And we are all winging it.</a></p><h1 id="101b">Lowering Expectations Is Empowering</h1><p id="cde5">I have this constant need as the main caregiver to simply know what to do and get it right — especially after all the research I do on many aspects of parenting. But the thing is, it is only because of my own expectations that we get upset when things don’t work out. We paint a picture of how things will go, and when they don’t go our way, we self-criticise.</p><p id="3b33">Recently, I have been struggling to make the decision of whether to send our son to daycare. Because of the recent lockdowns, I feared that he wasn’t getting enough social stimulation and he needed to spend more time with other children. We decided to send him to a local nursery two mornings a week.</p><p id="fec8">But that wasn’t my only reason for wanting to send him there. I also needed more time to really step up my game as a writer, begin marketing myself and really work on my book.</p><p id="fa4a">But I’m tired of questioning myself, and <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-get-what-you-want-1973fd008ecb">since taking the road to self-care</a> in order to be a better mother and person, I decided that my reasons were as good as any to send Andriel to daycare at the age of 27 months.</p><p id="d466">It has only been a few weeks, and so far, he does not look forward to going there. I feel in fact he has become shier and clingier than usual. This makes me question once again whether what I am doing is right, and whether the caregivers at the centre are doing right by my son.</p><p id="93a8"><b>I’m ready to assign blame and judge because this is what we do as people growing up in today’s society.</b></p><div id="5778" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/learning-to-enjoy-motherhood-guilt-free-966e7fa38d58"> <div> <div> <h2>Learning To Enjoy Motherhood Guilt-Free</h2> <div><h3>undefined</h3></div> <div><p>undefined</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*o44YftcYVXjSo_va)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="d0f8">But I have to remember that it will solve nothing. I need to readjust my expectations and remind myself that everything takes time and that obstacles are all part of the journey, including my son’s settling in time at daycare.</p><p id="1231">He will get there because he is a strong and sociable little boy. He will be fine because he will still have an abundance of love at home waiting for him when he gets back and throughout the rest of the week. But I cannot decide how and when he will be running happily into nursery in the mornings — that’s a picture I need to let go of, but treasure if it happens.</p><p id="b15a">Sometimes, it

Options

is our expectations that need change, not our circumstances. We have to be OK with hiccups in parenting. Rather, we need not see them as hiccups, but as part of the process of bringing up children. After all, we are only human.</p><h1 id="7806">Takeaway</h1><figure id="facf"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*0ZLtDIAU40LQtOeo"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@drezart?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Andrae Ricketts</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><p id="f3a0">I believe in a mother’s instinct, but I don’t believe in the expectation that it will be there when we need it. If that expectation isn’t met then we will be more than ready to assign blame, and it won’t help us grow as parents or as individuals. In fact, I think that the constant need to meet these expectations is what causes us to feel like a failure at some point in our lives.</p><p id="b5d4">Instead, I recommend a more supportive plan, where advice can be handed out without coming across as all-knowing and dismissive of the parent. We can learn not to feel offended at others’ suggestions in the same way that others can learn not to be judgemental. I advise that others do get involved in taking care of kids, in a non-judgemental “I-told-you-so” way when the main interest is that of the child — not of themselves.</p><p id="1680">Most importantly, we have to learn that <b>mistakes are normal</b>, and most of the time, they’re not life-threatening. We are all human after all, and that makes us susceptible to countless errors over the course of time. In modern parenting, most parents are learning not to scold their kids when they make mistakes because it’s detrimental to their confidence building. <i>We should take that same approach with ourselves and other adults.</i></p><p id="93d5">So, let’s cut ourselves a little slack, and lower that pressure to get it right. Nobody is born a parent with experience.</p><div id="2a67" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/redefining-the-concept-of-happiness-16e5524c2b2d"> <div> <div> <h2>Redefining the Concept of Happiness</h2> <div><h3>How I’m learning about fulfilment from my toddler son.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*6xDaJcMnjn9r6Bow)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="88c4" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/my-battle-with-anger-as-a-parent-24e7837c5fac"> <div> <div> <h2>My Battle With Anger As a Parent</h2> <div><h3>Ensuring our son feels loved regardless of our feelings.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*Me4slkvdZGGCbsbjqQ_7bg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="c95b" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/my-husband-is-a-damn-good-father-de20d1ef2217"> <div> <div> <h2>My Husband Is A Damn Good Father</h2> <div><h3>And he deserves praise.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*Oqw-YSI_IVOLn-k0)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="7dcc"><b><i>Sylvia Emokpae, thinker and philosopher, is passionate about self-love, relationships, and motherhood. <a href="https://medium.com/@sylviaemokpae">See more work like this</a>.</i></b></p><p id="f728"><a href="https://twitter.com/SylviaEmokpae"><b>Follow her</b></a><b> on Twitter.</b></p></article></body>

4 AI Side Hustles I’m Trying in 2024

Let’s see if robots can help me make money

As a chronic side hustler, I’m always looking for REAL ways to make money.

Not “spending hours doing survey qualifications to make a few cents every few days” type of money (though I’ve tried and failed the survey route), but some genuine extra income.

While I’ve seen some results from dog-sitting on Rover during college or clothes flipping on eBay, those ventures require a lot of constant effort and physical presence.

All work takes some effort, but I’ve been aiming for “passive income,” where I can spend some time setting something up and then let it run without exorbitant, constant effort.

Given the way AI has streamlined writing for me, I began to suspect it could do the same for some other ventures. That, and I’ve seen plenty of other people claiming it can.

So, this year I want to put these AI side hustles to the test:

Selling AI-Generated Digital Products

Selling digital products via Etsy or personal storefronts has been all the rage lately. It requires a low startup cost (especially if you use AI for designs) but a great potential for long-term income.

I haven’t decided exactly which types of digital products I’m most interested in selling, but some ideas are:

Downloadable prints
Digital calendars
Fonts
eBooks
Planners

If I were doing something like downloadable prints, for example, I wouldn’t want it to look too “AI-y” if that makes sense. For example, I think a watercolor-type design would be ideal for some poster images.

I helped one of my clients generate some watercolor-style prints for their website and loved how they turned out. You can see the example via the link below.

40+ Watercolor Style Hot Air Balloon Illustrations & Prints

Explore captivating watercolor hot air balloon prints and illustrations in our latest blog post. Dive into a world of…

hotairflight.com

Dropshipping Print-on-Demand T-Shirts

Graphic T-shirts are one of those things that’s never 100% in or out of style, which is why selling them within a niche can be profitable.

Since I’m not exactly a graphic designer, using AI may be the route to go for T-shirt designs.

The idea here is to sell T-shirts without inventory (aka drop shipping).

The basic process would be:

Choose a niche. Decide who you’re designing shirts for. What do they like, what’s the shtick? Market research is key to a successful store.
Create design concepts by prompting ChatGPT with DALL-E3. Ask ChatGPT to come up with t-shirt ideas for my niche. Based on responses, choose some of the ideas and then ask them to create designs without showing the t-shirt.
Improve the images. Ask ChatGPT for the gen_id of the image and then provide the gen_id back when asking for changes. “Generate another image identical to XYZ but change the color to blue.” You may also have to increase the size and quality of the image, for which I recommend LetsEnhance.io/boost.
Set up a print-on-demand shop. I’ve heard the best things about Printful and Teepublic. Create and customize an online store on TeePublic or Amazon, or connect your own website to Printful. Be sure to know the design requirements and fees associated with the site.

One of my clients (a website all about drone content) already set up a store for this, concept. While I’m not personally a drone enthusiast, I have to admit that the shirts turned out pretty cool, and I’m excited to see how their store goes!

Shop - DroneSourced

Products Archive - DroneSourced

dronesourced.com

Faceless YouTube Channel

Back in my teen years, I had a “beauty” YouTube channel with over 13,000 subscribers. I currently have a channel hosting my ACL recovery videos and soccer content.

I monetized both of those channels but made relatively little with AdSense, like a few hundred dollars every now and then.

Safe to say, I’ve seen firsthand that YouTube takes a lot of work and a lot of “guts” to put yourself out there.

But a faceless channel… I might be able to get behind that.

Here’s how it works:

Define the niche
Use ChatGPT to help write your bio
Use an AI image generator to create the profile image
Write video scripts with ChatGPT
Create videos with an AI video generator like invideo.io or Synthesia.io
Edit and upload the faceless videos
Make money by monetizing the videos with Google AdSense and/or brand deals or affiliate links.

Editing AI-Written Content

This one’s not really “passive income”, but editing AI-written content is something that’s already taking off in the content writing industry.

As I wrote about in my recent article on how AI affected my writing career, it’s something I’ve already been doing. A lot of my client work has shifted from 100% human writing to including AI in the workflow, including editing, optimizing, and humanizing AI content.

How AI Impacted My Freelance Writing Career

AI hasn’t taken over my job as a content writer, but it has changed it.

medium.com

However, I don’t yet offer a dedicated service for AI editing, nor have I tried to get clients specifically for this. Yet, I’ve seen some others offering it on Fiverr, and think it’s something I should more heavily pursue this year.

Caveats to AI Side Hustles

All of the above sounds easy peasy at first glance. As a seasoned side hustle attempted and abandoner, I know the truth isn’t that simple.

Is it possible to make some money with those side hustles? Yes, definitely.

But does everyone? Absolutely not.

There are other factors to consider, like actually marketing the products or YouTube channel. I know that if I want any chance at one or more of these side hustles working, I will have to dig a bit deeper into setting them up correctly and keeping them going.

Wish me luck!

If you have any AI side hustle ideas that have worked for you, I’d love to hear them and add them to my “try” list.