Parenting is an incredibly important responsibility and so we wanted to get a conversation going with input from parents in the community. We asked them: what is the most important thing you’ve done as a parent? We’ve highlighted some of the responses below.

Shanna Blackburn | North Georgia Family and Wedding Photographer

While I am not a parent quite yet, I am expecting my first, due on January 8th, 2022! My husband and I are very excited for this addition to our family. As I think ahead to having him home and raising him, the idea of a “regular” 40 hour-a-week office job is not appealing to me. I look forward to my photography business continuing to grow, and for it to offer me the flexibility to stay home with him for a majority of the week and book myself fully for evenings and weekends with sessions and weddings. It is a dream and desire of mine to have a sustainable schedule with photography that would allow me to do it full time. I love the idea of spending my mornings with my baby editing while he is napping on my lap or next to me… and maybe it will eventually even help him develop his creative side! And as every photographer knows, it is also very helpful to have someone trained up to carry their bags! Read more>>

Frenchie Burks | CPT, ASPT, Owner of Burks Phlebotomy On The Go, LLC

Being a parent, I believe the most important thing that I have done as a parent in terms of the impact on my children is push through anything to get to your goal and to never give up. In life, there will always be obstacles and challenges trying to prevent you from your goal. Don’t let nothing or no one stop you. Children watch their parents and imitate what they see. I want to teach my children to not give up on their dreams. I didn’t give up. A year and a half ago, I would not have thought I would have two businesses. It just shows you can do anything if you put your mind into it. I had to push through regardless of my situation. You have to stay focused. It will be worth it at the end. Read more>>

Rob Riley | Entrepreneur, Recording Artist, Filmmaker

The most important thing I’ve established as a parent to impact my children was creating generational wealth through educating my kids in entrepreneurship. As I set up an umbrella company, I set up DBA (doing business as) companies for my children to own and release media related content. My oldest daughter, age 15 composes music and my youngest daughter, age 7 creates children’s books Read more>>

Aisha Sayles | Owner of Stallunique

I am a single mother of 2 amazing young Kings. In their eyes, everything that I do is great. In my eyes, however, I feel that the most important thing I have done would be not giving up. There were so many times that I wanted to throw in the towel, not just on my business, but on life. Being blessed to be able to look into their eyes daily gave me all the motivation that I needed to keep going. It no longer mattered how many nights of sleep I would lose, how much I wrecked my brain, or how bad I wanted to pull out every strand of hair from my head. I will never give up on myself, my dreams, and most importantly, my children. Read more>>