Before your child even steps out the door every day, their emotional baseline for the day is already set — not by color-coded routines, but by how safe and connected they feel in your presence.

As a conscious parenting researcher, I’ve studied more than 200 kids, and I’m a mother myself. I’ve found that the happiest, most resilient kids are raised in homes where connection matters more than control, especially in the morning.

Parents who raise happy kids practice nine morning rituals to create emotional safety and support their children’s developing brain:

Before your child wakes up, take just 60 seconds to check in with yourself: Take a few deep breaths, a moment of stillness with your coffee, or a quick meditation.

Children learn how to be calm directly through our nervous systems. When you begin in a regulated state, you provide a sturdy emotional foundation for your child’s day.

Before asking about teeth-brushing or backpacks, create a moment of genuine connection, like eye contact, a warm smile, or physical touch. Your message should be: “You matter more than the morning rush.”

This brief emotional attunement regulates your child’s nervous system and sets the stage for cooperation and calm.

Integrate small rituals that slow the pace, like playing soft music during breakfast, sitting together without screens, or implementing a 30-second family huddle before heading out.

These micro-moments teach kids that calm is available even on busy mornings.

Even in the midst of spilled milk and mismatched socks, find opportunities for playfulness, like a silly voice, a 10-second dance party, or a shared inside joke.

Laughter reduces stress and reinforces that mistakes or morning mishaps don’t overpower emotional safety.

Before diving into the day’s logistics, pause to check in with how your child is feeling: “How’s your heart this morning?” or “What’s one thing you’re looking forward to today?”

These brief emotional check-ins build emotional literacy, which is one of the strongest predictors of lifelong resilience and happiness.

A morning hug, a forehead kiss, or a moment of snuggling releases oxytocin and increases emotional security.

Choose three specific moments in your morning routine where you’ll pause for intentional physical connection and affection, regardless of how rushed you feel. It’s one of the fastest, most effective ways to regulate a child’s nervous system.

Make mornings a device-free zone for both parents and children for at least the first 20 minutes of waking. No phones, tablets, or television.

This digital boundary creates space for natural conversation or even comfortable silence together.

Children live at a different pace than adults. That’s just their biology. I recommend adding five extra minutes to one morning transition and match your child’s pace.

When we slow our movements and expectations, we help regulate their nervous systems. What looks like “dawdling” is often a child’s natural rhythm: their brain processing the world at a developmentally appropriate speed.

Instead of rushing out with a quick “Let’s go,” pause for a real goodbye: eye contact, a hug, reassurance.

Then add a “connection bridge,” or something to look forward to later: “I can’t wait to hear about your science project tonight,” or “Let’s make pancakes tomorrow morning.”

Let go of the idea that every morning needs to be rushed, or that the day is in shambles because they didn’t finish their homework the night before. Focus on creating emotional safety. Even adopting one of these habits can help shift your child’s entire day and support healthier brain development.

Reem Raouda is a leading voice in conscious parenting and the creator of the BOUND and FOUNDATIONS journals, now offered together as her Holiday Emotional Safety Bundle. She is widely recognized for her expertise in children’s emotional well-being and for redefining what it means to raise emotionally healthy kids. Connect with her on Instagram.

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This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Six-Figure Side Hustle series, where people with lucrative side hustles break down the routines and habits they’ve used to make money on top of their full-time jobs. Got a story to tell? Let us know! Email us at AskMakeIt@cnbc.com.

When Tayo Lanlehin was planning her son’s first birthday party in April 2022, she bought yellow and blue signs, balloons and a cake with 3D planets. Every detail fit the “First Trip Around The Sun” theme, except the chairs.

She only found one rental seating option near her home in Oakland, California, she says: adult-sized white plastic chairs. She borrowed a picnic table with benches instead, and ruminated on the gap in the market for weeks. In May 2022, she sourced and spent roughly $2,000 on 48 kids’ chairs from a manufacturer overseas, and stored them in her basement, says Tayo.

Those chairs became Bay Area Kids Rentals, a side hustle that she runs with her husband Dolu Lanlehin. Now a full-fledged party rental business, the company has brought in over $295,000 in 2025 revenue as of Nov. 25, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Bay Area Kids Rentals has been profitable since the beginning, but the couple doesn’t take an income from the side hustle, and is instead reinvesting those funds back into the business to expand its rental line, Dolu says. It now offers ball pits, mini bumper cars and multiple colors and styles of furniture.

Tayo and Dolu’s first party was for an event planner, who found the company on Instagram and requested pink chairs for a Barbie-themed party for her daughter in August 2022. She posted photos afterward on Instagram and the review led moms in Hillsborough, an affluent nearby town, to the business’s social media accounts, Tayo says.

Word-of-mouth “spread like fire,” and by October, Bay Area Kids Rentals was supplying decor for parties celebrating professional athletes’ and Silicon Valley executives’ children and grandchildren, she adds.

The rapid success of the side hustle was initially “a little jarring, because of the level of celebrity,” Tayo says. “My day job would end, then I’d go and work on parties for Silicon Valley CEOs’ children.”

The couple works a combined eight hours per week running Bay Area Kids Rentals. Tayo, a strategic partnership principal at health-care company Blue Shield of California, oversees the side hustle’s marketing and customer communication, and a portion of its work with manufacturers. Dolu — the head of product for Chegg Skills, part of education tech company Chegg — manages the company’s accounting and finances.

They outsource tasks like delivery, running painting and jewelry-making stations, and equipment maintenance to six contract employees, they say.

Here’s how Tayo and Dolu started their luxury party rental business, how they attracted high-profile clients and how their individual skillsets make them strong partners:

CNBC Make It: Do you think the success of your side hustle is replicable?

Dolu: 100%, but there would be some prerequisites. If someone is creative, detail-oriented and in a market somewhere in the world that supports this, I don’t see anything stopping them. But Tayo does a nice job of seeing around the corner a little bit, staying connected to market trends and seeing where there are gaps.

What kind of skillsets does someone need to run a luxury rental business?

Tayo: [My inspiration] comes from a place of empathy. I’m a parent, so I’m always thinking operationally about [their experience], the services we can provide, having a website that is easy to book from, what we can do differently and more seamlessly than other companies.

Kids are so visual, too. I’m always thinking like, “Wouldn’t it make sense if a princess’s birthday had cute pink chairs and a cute pink bounce house?”  

Dolu: Tayo is entrepreneurial, and I tend to be analytical because I come from consulting. I wanted to do market research, so we sent out a survey, just to get a signal. Other than a mortgage, kids are the biggest spending line item for parents. People are willing to be irritational for their kids and spend money they maybe don’t even have … because your kids tend to be the embodiment of your dreams, your visions that maybe you didn’t get when you were younger.

How did you attract ultra-wealthy, high-profile clients to Bay Area Kid Rentals?

Tayo: We’ve had to do some marketing [and search engine optimization], but we really haven’t been pressed because very early on starting this business, we hit our ideal client — with high net worth families and their event planners — like right away.

I followed [NBA player] Andrew Wiggins’ partner Mychal Johnson, and she had posted about one of her daughter’s parties on Instagram. I did research and noticed that her next daughter’s birthday was coming up in October [2022]. I direct messaged her with a link to our website saying, “We have luxury kid party rentals, and we would love to be a part of your kid’s birthday, if you’re doing a party.” She responded in 25 minutes and put us in touch with her event planner.

We did four events for their family until they moved to Miami [in 2024].

What makes ultra-wealthy clients different? What do they like about your services?

Tayo: Flexibility and having limited touch points are very important in the luxury space. We don’t send our rentals out for just four hours. We schedule our services around when the client wants to set up and tear down, when they want you to come and leave.

They’re not looking to go back and forth, either. A lot of our competitors will take deposits to make sure people don’t damage their rentals. I don’t do that — I just incorporate these costs into our pricing. That way, we don’t have to have another conversation to process the payments and the refund.

What’s it like running this business together, in addition to your full-time job?

Tayo: Running this business has given me some confidence that I’m building something of my own. I’m building something that could last and the potential of generational wealth.

It’s also just really nice to work with Dolu. This is like our third baby. Partnerships in business don’t really work out a lot of the times, and the fact that we’re married and raising kids on top of having a business, and we know how to resolve all kinds of issues, gives me the confidence that [our relationship] is going to be fine.

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Chris Broomfield, 50, had been a carpenter contractor for decades when he decided he wanted to focus on building a future for his family.

“I realized that carpentry is a knowledge and experience-based. I couldn’t really hand that down to my kids,” Broomfield tells CNBC Make It. “So I needed to build something that at least would give them a head start on something to borrow against or something that creates additional income.”

In 2015, Broomfield and his wife bought a five-acre property in Remsen, New York, for $27,000. It was close to where Broomfield grew up and not too far from a property his brother owns nearby.

Shortly after closing on the land, Broomfield says he started commuting from his family’s home in Connecticut every weekend to work on an A-frame cabin he was building mostly by himself.

“I always knew it was going to be an Airbnb property. I knew I was going to put multiple cabins on it,” he says. “I chose this property because it was close to the lake. It was very wooded, and it had rolling hills. I saw its potential with multiple cabins.”

After three years, Broomfield finished building the one-bedroom, one-bathroom A-frame cabin for a total cost of about $90,000, he says.

He hired outside help to drill a well, an electrician to wire the cabin and somebody to hang the sheetrock.

Broomfield says one of the structure’s standout features was inspired by his wife: A motorized king bed that slides out into the woods, allowing guests to sleep under the stars. The A-frame also has a fully equipped kitchen, fireplace, fire pit, and multiple decks.

When the cabin was first listed on Airbnb, the going rate was $60 a night. Now, Broomfield uses dynamic prices, so the rate ranges between $380 and $700 a night.

In 2024, the A-frame cabin had a revenue of $119,337 and its estimated revenue for 2025 is $143,504, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

“The process was amazing for me. I loved being up here. I loved being able to build anything that I wanted to build,” Broomfield says. “Something that came from my mind and not a blueprint. The free rein was really enjoyable.”

Broomfield says building the A-frame was challenging because he was commuting 8 hours round-trip to work 12 hours over the weekends, all while still working as a full-time contractor.

When he opened A-frame cabin for rentals via Airbnb, it went viral. It’s one of Airbnb’s “most-wishlisted” rentals the state of New York. It’s also a guest-favorite listing and earned Broomfield the title of “superhost,” according to an Airbnb representative.

Broomfield then moved on to his next project on the property: a treehouse cabin.

Broomfield hired a team of people to help him build the treehouse. After 13 weeks, it was completed in November 2019 for a total cost of about $175,000.

“I wanted to get the treehouse done as quickly as possible, so I hired some help. I knew the model was there and it worked by doing the A-frame, renting it out. The response from the guests was overwhelming,” he says. “I didn’t want to miss the window of opportunity to continue this wave of guests and potential guests’ interest.”

What makes this cabin particularly special is that it sits 14 feet in the air. To reach it, renters must cross a suspension bridge on the property.

“I wanted to create something that would bring in young families.”

The Treehouse has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a private pond with a small dock, a covered porch, and a fire pit. The living room and primary bedroom also offer views of a waterfall.

In 2024, the treehouse cabin had a revenue of $151,966 and this year, Broomfield estimates that number will be $150,562.

The treehouse is one of the top 10% of homes on Airbnb based on ratings, reviews, and reliability, according to an Airbnb representative.

The treehouse cabin was an instant success, he says, and he was ready to get started on his next build.

In 2021, Broomfield completed the Birch Falls Spa Cabin, a studio with a king-sized bed, kitchenette and spa room for a total cost $160,000.

The spa room has an 18-foot-long indoor waterfall, a massage bed, and a soaker jet tub. The cabin also has a private deck with a fire pit, BBQ and picnic area.

In 2024, the Birch Falls Spa Cabin generated $120,227 in revenue, and Broomfield’s estimated 2025 revenue is $120,890.

Broomfield named his business Evergreen Cabins.

As of September 2025, the Evergreen Cabins have brought in $2.1 million since the very first property was listed for rent in 2018, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Broomfield says that monthly costs for operating Evergreen Cabins come in at $700 a month in utilities, $8,000 for operations costs, including payroll, and about $18,000 a year in property taxes.

He says that today he brings in about $400,000 a year with revenue from the rental properties. He retired from contracting in 2021.

Now, Broomfield’s day-to-day consists of overseeing his staff, designing new cabins, and developing future plans for the Evergreen Cabins.

Since retiring, Broomfield says it’s important for him to keep busy and keep building for his family.

“There’s always going to be something that is going to be pushing me to do the next thing. I can’t sit back and do nothing. My family is a huge part of my inspiration and my drive; eventually, they are going to be the ones owning this,” he says.

“The legacy of Evergreen is, I don’t really have a plan for it [but] I do know that it is going to inspire and help people. My kids are going to be a part of that.”

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Cat Goetze may be a tech founder, but she’s on a years’ long journey to reduce her reliance on devices.

Two years ago Goetze, who goes by CatGPT on social media, wanted to swap her smartphone for something more low-tech.

“I was kind of just sitting around [thinking] it’d be so cute if we still had landline phones and you could twirl the cord and talk with your friends,” she tells CNBC Make It. “That just felt nostalgic and chic to me.”

Looking into it, she didn’t realize getting a landline for her apartment would require getting a new number and paying for a phone line. So, the 20-something zillennial built her own version from a phone she thrifted: “I literally just hijacked a landline phone and made it Bluetooth compatible.”

The pink clamshell handset quickly became the most talked-about feature in her apartment. Whenever someone buzzed into her building’s security system, Goetze would let them in from her landline. She could also place outgoing calls from the set.

After two years with it, Goetze unveiled the phone to her online audience in July 2025 to see if anyone else thought it was a good idea.

Within hours, hundreds of people commented on the video within hours saying they needed the device. She set up an online shop to collect pre-orders thinking 15 to 20 people would place actual orders and she could make the devices by herself in her apartment.

Goetze’s project, Physical Phones, passed $120,000 in sales in its first three days, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. The business has sold over 3,000 units and made $280,000 in sales by the end of October.

“It literally felt like we had captured lightning in a bottle,” Goetze says.

Physical Phones currently has five styles of phones that range from $90 to $110. Goetze partnered with an electronics manufacturer to produce the phones, and the first batches are set to ship to customers starting in December.

Physical Phones connect to both iPhone and Android devices via Bluetooth and will ring when the smartphone receives a phone call, or an audio or video call from platforms like WhatsApp, FaceTime, Instagram and Snapchat; the audio of the call then routes to the Physical Phone.

Users can place outbound calls by dialing a phone number or pressing the star sign (*) to activate their smartphone’s voice assistant and instructing it to call a contact’s name.

Goetze says the success of her business aligns with a growing movement of people trying to reduce their screen times and reliance on smartphones.

She points to the Covid-19 pandemic as having a major impact on how people use their phones today. People were stuck at home and away from people, so they turned to apps like TikTok to fill the time and feel connected.

Now, as some consumers grow skeptical about tech companies’ hold on their attentions, and are getting tired of navigating AI and AI-generated content online, people are trying to course-correct, Goetze says.

“Our attention spans are shorter. We feel more anxious. We’re less present and unable to enjoy our lives. We’re going through a total loneliness epidemic,” she says. People are now “starting to put their foot down and realize, ’You know what, I actually don’t want this, and I’m going to go ahead and choose a different future.”

Goetze stops short of “demonizing” technology, however, explaining that it’s “what brings us sustainable forms of energy and vaccines and a bunch of really good things for for the world, but it’s like, OK, how do we live in harmony with it?”

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Despite slower job growth compared to the last decade, the U.S. economy is expected to add 5.2 million jobs from 2024 to 2034, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest employment projection report. Total employment is projected to grow by 3.1%.

Based on the report, the top-growing industry sectors for 2034 are health care and social assistance and professional, scientific and technical services, which have projected growth rates of 8.4% and 7.5%, respectively.

Within those sectors, the fastest-growing occupational groups are health-care support, which includes roles like nurse practitioner and physician assistant, and computer and mathematical roles, such as data scientist and information security analyst. These groups are expected to grow by 12.4% and 10.1%, respectively.

One of the main reasons that the health-care industry is expected to grow so rapidly is because the American population is aging, according to Emily Krutsch, branch chief at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“That’s really what’s driving that trend: the older population tends to need more of this type of care and services,” she says.

Computer and mathematical roles will become increasingly important with the rise of AI technology, according to Krutsch.

“We are expecting a boost in employment growth for occupations that would be involved in developing and testing and implementing these types of tools,” Krutsch says.

Relatedly, information security analyst roles are projected to grow significantly due to the “larger need to protect data and develop systems and tools to secure it,” she says.

Krutsch emphasizes that the growth rate for each job isn’t the only important data point to consider.

For example, wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers are the two fastest-growing jobs, but both occupations combined will add under 20,000 jobs by 2034.

“Just because we’re talking about fast growth doesn’t necessarily translate to lots of jobs, because it could just be a very, very small occupation,” Krutsch says.

Based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data, these are the fastest-growing occupations for 2034, as well as the expected increase in jobs by 2034 and the current median salary for each role.

1. Wind turbine service technicians

Growth rate: 50%

2024 median pay: $62,580 

Jobs added by 2034: 6,800

2. Solar photovoltaic installers

Growth rate: 42%

2024 median pay: $51,860

Jobs added by 2034: 12,000

3. Nurse practitioners

Growth rate: 40%

2024 median pay: $129,210

Jobs added by 2034: 128,400

4. Data scientists

Growth rate: 34%

2024 median pay: $112,590

Jobs added by 2034: 82,500

5. Information security analysts

Growth rate: 29%

2024 median pay: $124,910

Jobs added by 2034: 52,100

6. Medical and health services managers

Growth rate: 23%

2024 median pay: $117,960

Jobs added by 2034: 142,900

7. Physical therapist assistants

Growth rate: 22%

2024 median pay: $65,510

Jobs added by 2034: 24,500

8. Actuaries

Growth rate: 22%

2024 median pay: $125,770

Jobs added by 2034: 7,300

9. Operations research analysts

Growth rate: 21%

2024 median pay: $91,290

Jobs added by 2034: 24,100

10. Physician assistants

Growth rate: 20%

2024 median pay: $133,260

Jobs added by 2034: 33,200

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