Giggling Through Motherhood: Parenting, Preschool and Playful Entrepreneurship with Kay Paschal

In this episode of Mom to MORE™, host Sharon Macey is joined by Kay Paschal, entrepreneur, early childhood educator and author.

After leaving a corporate career to raise her two  sons, Kay and her husband founded a preschool in Atlanta…with no previous early childhood experience…what could go wrong…which expanded to two locations, and thrived for over 25 years.  Kay served on the Georgia Child Care Association Board, contributed parenting articles to local publications, and wrote her book entitled Insert Giggle Giggle – Laughing Your Way Through Raising Kids and Running a Business.  Kay now speaks nationally on motherhood and business.

Join Sharon and Kay as they explore Kay's journey balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship, her early challenges, and the joy of building a supportive community for parents and educators. 

Tune in for an inspiring conversation filled with lots of laughter, wisdom, and the spirit of reinvention as Kay encourages moms to explore new opportunities, remain open-minded, and embrace every stage of motherhood!

[00:00] Introduction
[01:26] Kay's unique journey from motherhood into preschool ownership
[05:46] Building a community-centered preschool
[07:00] Early challenges and growth in the business
[11:16] Creating a family atmosphere in the preschool
[16:16] The inspiration behind Insert Giggle Giggle
[25:43] Advice for moms considering their next chapter
[29:29] Where to find Kay online

Meet My Guest Kay Pascal:
Instagram: @insertgigglegiggle
Website: insertgigglegiggle.com
Buy The Book: https://go.sylikes.com/eNqScgnF6R7Z
Want to connect with Kate or have her speak to your group? Email her at:  insertgigglegiggle@gmail.com

Looking for More? Follow @momtomore on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.  @Sharon Macey on LinkedIn.

Keep an eye out for episode #26 of the Mom to MORE™ podcast where Sharon is joined by the very talented Nancy Travis, actress and mom who is creating her next chapter. Coming soon - you won’t want to miss it ♥

• Episode Transcription

  Kay Paschal:
  so many of my faculty were moms that brought their children. And we offered a wonderful salary above market salary for the people and also free childcare. So it was just a wonderful balance. We had such a longevity of that staff because of those two things. And the people that came there maybe as empty nesters, they were really such mentors and grandmother type situations with these younger moms that were working there and could really show all of us, myself included as a young mom, different things about childhood development.

  Sharon Macey: Welcome to the podcast where motherhood meets reinvention. I'm your host, Sharon Macy, and this is Mom2More. I'll be speaking with remarkable moms who have embraced the art of transformation crafting their more by leveraging the skills they hone as stay-at-home moms. They'll share their experiences, struggles, and successes as they return to a former career, pursued a passion or hobby, or charted an entirely new path, giving you the clarity, motivation, and inspiration to help you answer the question, what do you want to do when your kids grow up? Welcome back to Mom 2 More. My next guest, Kay Paschal, has a really interesting mom storyline. So after taking a two-year break from the corporate world with a four-year-old and the birth of baby number two, she decided it was time to wait for it, found a private preschool in the Atlanta area, Ta-da! And it grew into two preschools and was a vibrant community for 25 wonderfully educational years. During this time, Kay was on the board of directors at the Georgia Child Care Association and a monthly contributor to numerous publications across Atlanta on parenting tips and trends, as well as business practices. Retiring five years ago, and she's not really retired, folks, He then wrote a book based on those articles entitled Insert Giggle Giggle, which is what we're going to do this entire episode. Laughing Your Way Through Raising Kids and Running a Business. Today, she manages a robust cross-country schedule, speaking to women's organizations, mom and parent groups, and leading breakout sessions on various mom, parenting and business topics at conventions. Kay is an op-ed contributor to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and she also hosts the podcast, Kay's Gigglecast. Well, welcome, Kay. I'm glad you're with me. We have to come clean and just say it's now 45 minutes later than we were originally going to start recording because we have just had one tech issue after another. It was just one of those days. I've always said I'm an avowed tech boo, but now I really feel like it. He's saying here. We're on the same page there. Anyway, here we go. I start with my essential mom question, and that is, how many kids do you have and where did you raise them?

  Kay Paschal: I have two boys, Hayden and William, and I raised them. They were both born here in Atlanta. And one still lives in Atlanta. One's in New York City.

  Sharon Macey: Nice, nice. So you have a really unique storyline. That's what really attracted me to you. You were a stay-at-home mom with your boys for the first couple of years while you were developing your business plan. You wanted to be with your boys, but you also wanted to work. So how did you come up with the idea and conclusion that you and your husband needed to open a preschool not having any background in early childhood education? It's like, what could go wrong, right?

  Kay Paschal: what possibly could go wrong with this plant? Well my husband's company was moving him or moving us to Singapore and we decided that that was not really what we wanted to do. We were in our young 30s and it just seemed too adventurous for us at the time even though that sounds so wonderful now to have maybe taken that that leap and and have done something like that. So we didn't and if you had told My 30-year-old self, me and Steve, we had been married 10 years before we decided to start a family. We were both very entrenched in the corporate culture and enjoying that. And five years later, the fact that we had two children, and the owners of two private preschools that we built out of scratch, knowing nothing about running a business or early childhood development. I mean, it would be more believable that we'd be the first couple walking on the moon. I mean, it's just that laughable that we found ourselves in that situation. But what a joy it was for 25 years and being involved with so many moms that were in so many different stages of their motherhood, some coming back to work, you know, after their children maybe going into school or some older people entering the workforce, being an empty nester. Moms bringing their children to my preschool to be with them like I was with my boys. It was just such a wonderful mom-centered and then ultimately parent-centered because then fathers became so much more involved as the years went on. So it was just kind of a You know, when the mom to more, when we became acquainted, that topic was just or that brand was just so right on with me because when you become a mom, you just become so much more and you just have to open yourself up to what all those possibilities might be that I would never have saw myself in.

  Sharon Macey: True. Thank you for that. And what I thought was really interesting about yours is that, you know, you have this thriving business and you had your boys alongside you and you were raising them in this really unique academic and loving environment, which, you know, sounds like the best of both worlds.

  Kay Paschal: Right, right. I mean, at any given time during the day, I could go down the hall and find William. He was two years old when we opened, and Hayden was starting kindergarten. So, Hayden was in our first after-school program. So, he got there every day, 2.30, 3 o'clock. But I was involved with William all day long from the time he was two. He went all the way through our private kindergarten and private first grade. There were good and bad things about that, him being with me all those years and growing up with the teachers that had a lot of access to me to tell me exactly what was going on with him.

  Sharon Macey: Yeah, whatever.

  Kay Paschal: Yeah, there was good and bad mixed in with that.

  Sharon Macey: So Kay, as we all know, growth and success don't come easy. So talk to me about the struggles and missteps and mistake that were undoubtedly made in this process and what you learned from that.

  Kay Paschal: Well, I think it was really interesting when we first started the business in 1995, the different climate of parents of those days. I mean, it was no secret to anyone that brought their children to our preschool that I did not have an early childhood degree. We had never done this type of thing before. And it was just such a homey type feeling. I mean, people felt like they were actually bringing their child for me to take care of right alongside with my child. And it was a kind of a standing joke all the years that as long as they were behind William, everything was going to be perfect because I was always going to make the best environment, hire the best teachers because of William. So everybody was very you know, involved in that type of way. And we were just all friends growing our children at the same time. I was the same age as most of my parents there. I had children the same age. They were all friends. And then as the 25 years progressed, obviously the parents of my school could have been my children. These could have been then my grandchildren. So that partnership with the parents really changed from us kind of making our mistakes alongside each other and growing as moms to me then all of a sudden becoming this expert and this mentor to these young moms as the business grew. And there weren't that many mistakes made in the later years that were made in the beginning years, but the parents felt like they were making those along with me and we were kind of growing along together. And I think that's what made the business such a success and had such a great reputation in the communities to start with.

  Sharon Macey: What's really cool about your business model is that you created, like you said, a real extended family, you know, with the people at the preschool and you created a space that allowed other stay at home moms to work and make money and still be with their kids. I think that's a brilliant idea. Everything all going into one big pot and it all, and it all worked from that perspective. So to me, this is the embodiment of it takes a village.

  Kay Paschal: Well, so many of my faculty were moms that brought their children and we offered a wonderful salary above market salary for the people and also free childcare. So it was just a wonderful balance. We had such a longevity of that staff because of those two things. People that had children there were making a really good salary plus the beauty of having their child grow and learn and make friends. and the people that came there maybe as empty nesters, they were really such mentors and grandmother type situations with these younger moms that were working there and could really show all of us, myself included as a young mom, different things about childhood development. And I think it just worked In all the different facets, no matter what age of a mom that I had there, including myself, we all just grew together. And the success of the business really depended on the type of faculty that I had there and people that would come in knowing some, I mean, some of these people were their neighbors. And not only did they feel like they were bringing their child directly to me as the owner and that they felt like I was going to watch over everything completely, they even had neighbors working there that they were bringing their children to. You know, things began to change as the years went by. And of course, I wasn't the same age as my customers any longer. And so that partnership and that relationship really changed. But in the beginning, that is really what cemented that success of that company, is just the mom-centered feeling when you brought the children in there, that you weren't bringing them to some institution or maybe a franchise type situation. It was very personal from beginning to end.

  Sharon Macey: Which is wonderful and what you want, you know, if you want that sort of situation for your kids. And also what's really lovely about that was you had the wisdom and the maturity and the insights of moms from different generations. Yes. In different decades. And so everyone was bringing different bits of wisdom all to the kids in their own unique perspective. So conceptually, really fabulous. So congratulations on what you built. So Kate, let's talk about some mom skills, because I know that over all these years, you have developed a gazillion. What skills did you hone as a mom that helped you not only run two wildly successful preschools, but what skills did you learn from running these preschools that also helped you raise your boys?

  Kay Paschal: Well, it's very interesting because just yesterday I was listening to one of my favorite podcasters and she had a expert, a parenting expert, a PhD something, telling her all about her coaching of young parents on how to, you know, parent And some of the things I did agree with, and some of the things I thought were so overanalyzing, and I think with me, and I don't know if being an older parent, and that's kind of funny now because I was 30 when I had my first child, that's almost young these days, but back in the 1980s, that was like old, you know? I mean, most of my friends had children already, and we were, you know, they might have been in elementary school, and we were just having a baby, but I just felt very relaxed when I was a mom. And maybe it was because I didn't feel like I knew a lot. And also because when you have a baby, all of a sudden you do become an expert, like nobody else can do the things that you can with your baby. And so you have this kind of dual feeling of, I don't really know that much, but yet I'm an expert. And I think just kind of relaxing with your children and not overanalyzing everything you're doing with your children made me a better mom and I think made my children not so anxious and kind of stressed. And that really kind of filtered down to the moms that I was coaching, even though I wasn't an expert. And I think that we all just kind of relaxed and grew into our motherhood and made mistakes. And some of the mistakes are some of the most loving things that my boys remember about me and that we still laugh as they're in their 30s about me being a mother. And I think that's great that those are the most endearing things about me, some of the mistakes that I made.

  Sharon Macey: Right, right. Well, there's something also just about being real. And if we're relaxed, our kids are relaxed and just trying to sort of pass that serenity down. I understand that. I think my kids are a little younger than yours, especially my youngest. And I see that in terms of my demeanor and how that reflects and how that makes her feel.

  Kay Paschal: Well, you know, when you talk to anyone about birth order, they always talk about, you know, how the first is a little bit more anxious and more, you know, motivate, you know, all those different things. And as you go down, no matter how many children you have, they get more relaxed. And I think that that's not just birth order. That's the journey of the parent. You know, you become a little bit more relaxed. Everything that Hayden put in his mouth, I had sterilized, you know. And, you know, by the time William came along and we were building the business, I mean, you know, Juice Cup was here. He would pick it up there and whatever. And that really reflects, I think, in your children's personality, how you are as a parent. And you can't help but be so concerned about doing the right thing with your first child. I used to joke with some of my second-time moms when they would go get their three or four-year-old out of the classroom, they would all come running up to the infant suite, pick up the infant, And the four-year-old would practically climb into the car seat loving on this baby. And I would say to these moms, you would have died if someone had a, you know, a child would have been crawling all over your firstborn like that. But look at how your secondborn is just loving it and everybody's giggling and enjoying it, but you aren't that relaxed with your firstborn. So those things you just kind of have to learn to kind of take a moment and relax.

  Sharon Macey: Yeah, you know what this reminds me of? Remember that joke that, like you said, the first child, if they had a pacifier, it fell out, you would sterilize it, give it back to them. Second child, you would rinse it off and give it back to them. Third, you just sort of lick it off yourself and you throw it back in their mouth.

  Kay Paschal: Absolutely. Absolutely. And you really see that come through in their ultimate personalities, I think.

  Sharon Macey: Oh, interesting. So your book, Insert, Giggle, Giggle. So how did you come up with that title?

  Kay Paschal: That dovetails right into the tech problems that we had earlier. So here's a story on myself. I would type information emails to my admin staff and I would always put in like insert kissy face emoji or insert red dancing girl emoji or Whatever. I mean, with the word insert. And I would, you know, this went on for a while. And finally, one of my younger admin girls, she came into the office one day, and she said, you know, you can actually insert that emoji right into the email, right? You know that, right? And I'm like, no. I didn't know that. That's why I typed in.

  Sharon Macey: I have no idea how to do that. There you go. Yeah.

  Kay Paschal: I knew you could do it in a text, but I didn't know you could do it on an email. So she showed me and I said, you know what? No, I'm just going to continue to do insert laughing emoji or whatever. So when I wrote the book, A lot of the things that I thought were funny or that I had made a mistake in, or maybe I was unsure about while I was writing the book, I would just put, insert, giggle, giggle, so that people would know this is a moment where I'm not really sure what I'm saying, or y'all need to laugh along with me because this was something crazy that I did. So all throughout the book, that insert, giggle, giggle, is in there. instead of just an emoji.

  Sharon Macey: And so your various chapters when I got the book you had told me how did it get so late so soon about kids graduating. How did you come up with these various topics like social media in today's workplace or techno savvy kids, not just geeks anymore. It's essential. My kids are so much better at this than I am. So how did all of these topics come to you, resonate with you enough to write whole chapters about in the book?

  Kay Paschal: Well, for about 15 years, every single month, I wrote short articles, you know, just the little dumb articles that are around 800 words or something in numerous magazines and newspapers throughout Atlanta. And I just chose a subject maybe that was seasonal, possibly, or something that I was discussing with parents over and over. Eating issues with children, healthy eating, how to get your child to eat healthy. Do you raise your children the same? the social media situation. What kind of mother are you? What is your parenting style? Do you even know what your parenting style is? And so I would write these short little articles all these years every month. And when I retired, I thought I would make a scrapbook of a lot of things throughout the years, articles that I had written, just different things. And so I started reading them. And all of a sudden, I had a lot more to say about that particular subject. So it just kind of evolved into a chapter. I just started playing around on my computer. It was COVID. There wasn't anything else to do. And it just gave me a hobby to do. And then I started inserting funny family stories of these particular topics. how they related to me raising Hayden William. And it was funny because, I mean, it was like two weeks before the book was published that I finally got the two of them to give me their okay. I'm like, you know, I've put all these stories about these certain things that I want to talk about, about you guys. And if you don't read it, I've been telling you, I've been feeding you this information. you know, don't yell when it gets published and you, you know, didn't want that story to be told. Mom, what did you do?

  Sharon Macey: Yes, exactly. They had a refusal. So yeah.

  Kay Paschal: So I think that like when I was a young mom with the preschool, the book has, um, you know, been somewhat successful and has been interesting to talk about in all these speaking engagements that I have, because I really show how, how much I learned being a mom, and how all the advice that I gave all of those years to thousands of families, it's so easy to give advice. It's much harder to take it. And it's always clear what everybody else should be doing in any given situation. And in this book, I really showed this is the good advice that I gave all these years to thousands of parents over the same things over and over again. And I didn't always take my own advice. And you know what? It was OK. It was OK. My voice turned out great. Those were, again, some of the funniest parts of the book is when I'm giving all this great advice. And then I'm like, and then this is what happened with me when I didn't take this advice. And it's OK.

  Sharon Macey: And you learn from it. You learn from it. Yeah. So you have had numerous reinventions. Do you even have any idea what number you're on right now? No. No. OK. So numerous reinventions.

  Kay Paschal: I've done everything from in the corporate world to a real estate agent, Mary Kay cosmetics, everything. I had a aerobic instructor.

  Sharon Macey: They've all been great. They've all been great. And so now you're present. Well, actually, two things. If someone had said to you five years ago or 10 years ago, you're going to have a book five or 10 years from now, you would have said?

  Kay Paschal: Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. And one of my dearest friends, she's in the book quite a bit, she was helping me at one of the larger conventions that I've been at. And it was just a whirlwind. I mean, it was people coming up, talking, selling the book, answering questions, whatever. And she's like, wow, I mean, you're supposed to be retired. I mean, why are you working so hard? I mean, it's like you're having to pay the mortgage on the sale of this book.

  Sharon Macey: You know, that's just so laughable. It's who you are, it's your essence. You could argue that, forget corporate K, this is who you are. That's coming across loud and clear. And you have a super busy schedule, right, where you just speak all over the country. Tell my listeners just some of the things that you're speaking on.

  Kay Paschal: Well, you know, most of the time I meet with the leadership of whatever organization that I'm talking with, and I give them a book because I just love doing that. And they normally pick out a topic for me to talk about, something that either compliments other speakers that they've had or something that maybe their moms have spoken about. And I've spoken a lot also about just women issues. Do you have it all? What does it mean to be a strong woman? Who tells us who has it all? I think I've got a great life. Somebody else may think it's very mediocre. you know, who's to say? So some things have dovetailed away from being strictly about parenting to just supporting women in whatever part of their parenting journey that they're in. A couple of weeks ago, It was wonderful to talk with a group of business professionals at a rotary club because they chose a topic from my podcast about work-life balance. And I really enjoyed developing that presentation. And it got a lot of giggles and a lot of head nodding because we talked about the evolution of the corporate world that I was in. to the corporate life now, and that was a lot of fun for me to do. So, it's kind of gone the whole spectrum from parenting topics that all of us go through, probably the exact same type of things, and I've enjoyed talking about that, to just strictly women issues, to now workplace issues. So, I'm really having a good time developing all these different types of speaking presentations.

  Sharon Macey: I love that. And I'm sure you have quite a fabulous reputation in that arena. So kudos to you. Hey, y'all. Time to talk about my sponsor, Ally Shoes. Hands down, the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. The way they're designed by women, of course, and engineered with this cushy insole design and perfectly placed padding, I can literally wear these shoes all day. And I cannot say that about other brands that I have worn. But don't take my word for it. Ask InStyle, Business Insider, and CNN, who are saying the same thing. And I'm sharing the love with all of you. Head on over to ally.nyc, where new customers and listeners of the pod will get $40 off your first pair of heels. classic, kitten, bold block, or sexy slingbacks with special code MOMTOMORE40. And 10% off your first pair of boots and flats, so 10% off of each, with special code MOMTOMORE10. Check out your ally in fashion who are reimagining how comfort and function support women every day, ally.nyc. So let's talk to the moms who kids are still in school, maybe they're middle school, high school, and they are trying to figure out what are they going to do, you know, as their kids start to grow up. So what is your advice on what they can do now in figuring out what their next chapters are going to be?

  Kay Paschal: Well, you know, I'm really not sure because I would never have thought that I was going to be where I am. So I guess the best advice that I would give is if there's a certain hobby or an interest or something you're good at. I mean, for years, I loved running and exercising and doing things like that. So a lot of moms are really interested these days in health and fitness. Maybe that would be something that they could really spiral into something that gives them a sense of purpose in that arena, because I know that's very important to young people these days. But I just say keep your mind open because you just never know where one thing is going to lead to another. My husband sometimes tells me, how did you find that out about somebody? Just communicate. You never know how one thing is going to lead you right into another if you ask questions and just communicate with people. I'm just very interested in people's stories. And someone came into my brother's hardware store that I help him out a couple of days a week. So that's just another thing. And he was talking about his mom going into assisted living. And somehow or another, it ended up where I lived, which is where his wife works as well. And she and I now are going to hook up. And I was telling my husband about that. He went, how did that come up? an hour away from here. And I said, you just start talking to people.

  Sharon Macey: And that is another mom skill, right? The ability to communicate, to be open, to be inclusive. And you see where it takes you. What a really unique journey you've had, Kay. So I really have so enjoyed learning about that today. So as we are coming to the end of our time together, I have a question that I ask all of my awesome moms. And that is, Kay Paschal, true mother of reinvention, what is your more?

  Kay Paschal: My more, I think, is just staying very connected to other moms, whether it's moms my age, women that are now empty nesters, and we're just enjoying a whole new life. And that's why I directed you to that empty nest chapter, because like most moms, I was very depressed and upset. And what am I going to do now when my last child left the house? And wow, the world just opened immensely. And by the time they both came home from college that first winter break, my husband and I were looking at each other after a few days going, when are they ever going to leave? You know, so I think that more for moms and for me is just to really stay connected to whatever stage you're in. Don't yearn for the next stage so that you're missing out on the stage that you're in to live fully because that next stage is coming. So you need to enjoy that next stage without having any regrets on the stage before that, that you missed out on something. Just enjoy every single stage you're in and live that to the fullest because the next stage is coming. And that can be so much more.

  Sharon Macey: That is true. Great ending. Thank you for that. So where can my listeners find you online? And also, maybe they're interested in having you come and speak to a group. How would they get in touch with you for that?

  Kay Paschal: You could email me, insertgigglegiggle at gmail.com. You can reach me on Instagram. I'm on that way more than I should be. So that's insertgigglegiggle. And I have a website that I used to pay a lot of attention to, but that's kind of fallen to the wayside with all the other things that I've got going on. But there's a lot of great things on my website. There's book reviews and different things like that. Some of my favorite things that people like to get interested in, that's insertgigglegiggle.com. So those are the three ways. Terrific. And where can people find your book? Amazon. You can call me. I'll mail you one or get in touch with me. Barnes and Noble, Walmart, Target. It's on ebook. It's everywhere.

  Sharon Macey: Fantastic. So we'll have some of those links up and I could probably also include the Barnes & Noble link. So we'll do that. Thank you. Kay, this has been so fun despite our many starts and stops today. What a classic mom. We just like power through. We're going to get this done. We're just going to keep going.

  Kay Paschal: Just like nothing ever happened.

  Sharon Macey: Exactly. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for your time and your wisdom and your giggles. This has been so much fun and I really appreciate you coming on.

  Kay Paschal: Well, Sharon, you're just doing a great thing showing moms what more can be when you become a mom. It's endless.

  Sharon Macey: I'd like to read a review from L.A. Mom of Three, who wrote, I highly recommend listening to Sharon Macy's Mom 2 More podcast. I have thoroughly enjoyed the podcast I've listened to, and I've also been inspired by the stories of these marvelous women. Well, thank you, L.A. Mom of Three. Appreciate that. Before I sign off, a quick favor. Following the Mom To More pod means you'll never miss an episode and it really helps the show to grow. And if you'd be willing to leave a five-star rating and review and share an episode with another mom, I'd be super grateful and appreciate your support. Thanks for listening and see you next time.