Parents of Groundswell

Dianne Lee-Hansen 

Resource Manager

Age of children: 15 and 19 

What does it mean to be a parent? 

The role of a parent has a very broad definition and can mean a number of different things to different people. As a full-time working mother of now two teens/young adults over the years, it has been one big juggling act between working, meetings with the schools, medical appointments, sports, fundraising and volunteering, and keeping up normal household activities.  I am the queen of multitasking and who really needs sleep ;o)

Being a parent is a huge responsibility and requires a lot of patience, love, understanding and flexibility.  I want my children to be both physically and mentally well while being well-rounded people and who are accepting of others and have good values. Trying to navigate all of the above and with social media and everything else young adults get up to can be hard. I didn’t have to really deal with social media while growing up so I am always learning, and it’s not easy. 

To be successful, you have to be a role model. You can’t do one thing and tell them to do another. I try to teach them the best I can and hope that they take that learning and make good choices when they are out on their own. They will push the boundaries; that is normal and it’s a part of their growth, so I try to support them as best as I can (even though sometimes they drive me crazy – hence the need for unconditional love and patience). 

Being a parent also means sometimes life is tough, and you have to make tough choices and the best decisions you can with the knowledge you have at that time.  Sometimes you make mistakes, and that is ok as no one is perfect, and what works for one family doesn’t necessarily work for yours. So do what is best for you and your family and cut out all the white noise. 

Finally, being a parent for me means that life is never boring. There is always something going on, whether it’s something that warms my heart or something that keeps me up at night, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 

João Paulo de Lima

Salesforce Developer 

Age of children: 4 and 15

How do you balance Parenting and Working? 

Parenting is, as in our professional lives, something we are always learning how to improve on. Sometimes, the challenge is huge, but it’s the most important project we will ever have and the funniest too. 

Balancing these two perspectives of our lives is not easy. Having two kids of distant ages (4 and 15) adds a new level of difficulty. But everything is about love, discipline, and flexibility. We need to specify a time for work when we should try not to handle anything related to family and a time for family when we should try not to look to the work apps on our phone (very hard sometimes). And finally, be wise and flexible sometimes to work after-hours, or ask for a quick leave at work to handle some very important stuff on your family side. And for this last topic, partner with a “human-like” company like Groundswell is a must-have.

We should always remember that parenting is a job you do for the kids and benefits the entire society. Kids raised with love and attention become awesome adults for the world.

Ben Nguyen

Sr. Developer

Age of children: 2 and a newborn!

What’s the best way to unwind and spend family time together? 

How we like to unwind after a day of work is we get a few books and toys and sit on the bed or couch for about an hour with our family. Sometimes, if it’s been a really long day, we may watch some YouTube kids.

Olga Israfilova 

Sr. QA Engineer 

Age of children: 13 and 15

Are your children interested in tech?

Sure, they are! The modern world offers so many devices and technologies that teenagers can enjoy! 

Gregory is very much into building 3D things, so Minecraft is one of his favourites. I am often amazed by the towns and farms he puts together in these imaginary worlds. I am very glad that it encourages him to research on his own and provides a space for creativity. Anna is an artist. She uses her drawing tablet and can spend hours bringing fantasy characters to life. Each character is unique  and has its own backstory! She has also made friends on Instagram with like-minded people and exchanges ideas and artwork with them. 

Online co-op games have also really helped them keep in touch with their friends during the lockdown times, and it’s not only for entertainment. I hear a lot of strategic planning happening when they play and see them learning social skills. Yes, technology can offer a lot. I hope my kids will keep their passions and will add some good to the technology industry and benefit further from it when they grow up. 

Tushar Kumawat

Technical Consultant 

Ages of children: 1.5 years old

What’s the best parenting advice you have?

Aarush is our first kid, so we were fairly new to parenting. Before that, we used to observe our parents and how they handle kids. From our angle, parenting seemed easy, but now we realize it is not at all a simple thing to do. We were blessed that our parents were there to guide us. In our parenting journey so far, we realized that learning how to balance work life and family life is really important.

For the last eight months, I have been working from India. I worked in the PST timezone to fulfill the project’s demand, which is nighttime in India. My wife was also a working person, but she left her job a few months before we had a baby. I usually start my work at 5 PM and work until 2 PM. Once my work is done, I can get some sleep and wake up at around 8 to get some playtime with my son.

As we were restricted in our home due to covid, my wife turned our bedroom into a small playroom where she organized small games. We purchased a few fun and educational games for him and also added a TV screen there. We purchased educational games like color identification, shape identification, number and ABC blocks, and a few storybooks we read. 

Everything was smooth for us except for one thing, whenever we used to go out for my son’s vaccination, he used to cry a lot. We discussed it with our parents; they suggested that this is because he had stayed at home since the day he was born, so he was afraid to go out. Lockdown here was partly at fault for this situation. We realized that we would have to do something about this soon; otherwise, it can affect him socially.

So to make him comfortable, we started to take him out. Earlier, we took him to isolated places like nearby small hills to get someplace to play. As soon as he got comfortable playing outside, we started to go out where he can find fewer people and get comfortable. Then we started showing him some other places, which gradually increased his confidence to go out, and now he can’t wait to go out and play in the playground.

Overall, it is the best experience of our life, and we are still learning new things as our son is growing old.