Sitting by the fire sipping coffee while reading a good book or checking out your favorite bloggers new blog post, sounds wonderful right! That’s how stay at home parents start their day. 🤣🤣🤣 HA! I wish! Don’t get me wrong, I love my gig, being a stay at home mom, but it’s not all roses and unicorns.
I loving being home with my kids. Not having to rush off in the morning and letting them sleep until they are ready to wake is great! I would not trade the chance to raise them, teach them, and be there for them everyday. It is a blessing. But just because I love it, and wouldn’t change it, doesn’t mean that it’s not hard.
I do have a few tried and true tips that help me to be successful at home and keep the sanity, most days!
Get Out Everyday
This one is the most important of all my tips! And it’s simple. Just get outside of your house everyday. It could be as simple as playing outside in your yard or heading down to your local park. On the other hand, you could get wild and go to the library, grocery store, Target, or anywhere that is just not inside your house.
Personally, we love to be outside. The fresh air and wide open spaces recharge us all. So, I try to take the kids outside everyday. It’s a real endorphin booster.
Make a Friend Who is Also Home
Ok, this one might be the most important tip! Find a friend! Someone who is also home. It is so important to have that one friend or group of friends you can text or meet up with during the day. When you are home all day with the kids, you need to have some sort of adult interaction.
When scheduling our week, I like to be sure that we have a play date for the kids and mom alike, at least once a week. I truly look forward to these days. I love watching the kids play and interact with other kids and getting to know other parents has been so fun and encouraging to me as a parent.
Have a Plan
This may be the teacher in me, but I like to have a plan for the day as well as a long term plan for the week. By keeping some sort of schedule, we keep our sanity. I think that not only do I, but also the kids, crave a routine. We have two types of routines that we run during the week; home days and busy days. They are pretty similar except that on busy days we are often gone all morning and home time for nap. Here is what a typical home day looks like.
⭐️ This is a typical winter schedule. In the summer we often spend most of our playtime outside!
Home Day
Wake up and free play
7:30 Breakfast
8:00 Free Play
9:00 Daniel the Tiger (Screen Time)
9:30 Art and School Activities
10:15 Snack
10:30 Outdoor Play
12:00 Lunch
12:30 Screen Time (kid’s choice)
1:00 Nap/rest
2:00 Big kid play time and activities with mom until the others wake up usually around 3:00 or 3:30
As the kids wake up we play and sometimes have a snack until 4:30
4:30 Quiet independent play time while I cook dinner
5:30 Dinner
6:30 Bath, Jammies, Teeth, Books
7:00/7:15 Kid Shows and Snuggles
7:30 Baby to bed
7:45 Big kids to bed
Another layer to my plan is that I like to make a to do list for the week. I picked up a super cute planner to make notes and make lists in. I know I could do it all digitally, but seriously, physically writing down my to dos and crossing them off makes me feel powerful and accomplished. I like to plan out a few big house chores per week, ok like maybe 1-2 and then of course laundry. Check out My Spin On Laundry post to see how I tackle that beast!
Rotate Your Toys
I recently started rotating our toys. It has made such a difference in the kids’ play, the vibe of the house (more relaxed), and the tidiness. Starting our toy rotation was a process. We bought matching bins from the dollar store, went through all of the toys; sorting them, and found a spot to store toys when they are not in use. I am working on a detailed blog post on how we exactly did it. Stay tuned!
Take Care of Yourself
Remember to do something that YOU like doing! Whether it’s with your family or by yourself, do it for you. Being a happy parent is the best kind of parent.
So take some time and take care of yourself. For me, sometimes it’s just an extra cup of coffee, or a quick dive into town by myself to grab something or absolutely nothing from the store. I also look forward to my monthly girls night out with my besties. Good friends and conversation can’t be beat and are a great way to recharge!
Whether you are a working parent or stay at home parent, raising children can be so much fun and yet very challenging. These five strategies help me to be the best mom I can be. But what’s most important is to do what works for you.
Check my stories out on Instagram for tons of fun parenting tips, toddler activities, and family meal/snack ideas.
