How do you manage???

mha3484

Wed, Jul 15 2020, 7:40 am

I think a lot of it comes down to mindset. The housework is not going anywhere. As my kids get older less falls on me so thats helpful but its here for the long haul so I try to make the time feel less like drudgery. I turn on music, I listen to podcasts, watch youtube vidoes and I feel less stressed. Im not a phone person but if you are talk to a friend while you clean up. The time goes faster and you feel good!

I think I was burning the candle at both ends so I sat down and tried to think about when I feel most energetic and then I made my schedule around that. Once my kids are asleep I am toast so other then folding laundry or very basic cleaning up from dinner, Im done but I have a lot more energy motzei shabbos or in the mornings so I figured out how to get the chores I need done then.

I also taught myself to multi task. My oldest is a 9 1/2 year old boy and he loves to talk to me when I am cleaning up. I think its because I am not making direct eye contact so he feels more free to tell me stuff. My three year old LOVES to help me clean up.

Hatzlacha OP! My oldest is 9 1/2 and he is much much more independent and it has made life a lot easier. This is a stage that is really hard but it does get better.

FranticFrummie

Wed, Jul 15 2020, 7:59 am

mha3484 wrote:

I agree with all of this!

What saved my sanity, was getting DD involved with everything I was doing. A 3 year old can fold washcloths, a 6 year old can match up socks, fold small towels, and sort one kid's clothes from another so you can put them in the right drawers easily.

If there are spots on the floor, give them baby wipes, and praise them a lot for being such big mitzvah helpers. (This works great on lower cabinet doors, too.)

While you are doing basic chores, you can talk to them, sing to them, and find other little ways they can feel involved with what you are doing.

One thing that worked great for DD, was that if she wanted me to come and do something, and I couldn't, I would say "My HANDS are busy right now. Can you bring it here or tell me about it?" I never said I couldn't pay attention to her, I just let her know my hands were occupied. That was a visible, logical thing, and she never felt slighted by that.

Something my mom used to do with me and my sister, is to put a shower curtain down on the floor, and then a tablecloth. We'd have an "indoor picnic" if the weather was too hot or too cold to go outside. We thought it was the coolest thing ever, being able to eat on the floor! Then the tablecloth and curtain could just be picked up and shaken out to get rid of crumbs. (the shower curtain is important, in case juice gets spilled.)

If your kitchen is big enough, you can let them picnic in there while you are prepping dinner or doing dishes. They love to just be next to you and feel your presence. If you want to sit on the sofa with the baby and relax for a bit, you can put the picnic on the living room floor next to you.

If you want to be an extra cool mom, put the picnic UNDER the dining room table, and then drape the whole thing with a large sheet. Now they get to eat in a tent!

The idea is to keep the kids busy and not whining, by making even the smallest and easiest things fun for them. A little bit of imagination can go a long way. You don't have to buy expensive toys to make little kids happy. To this day I love folding laundry (weird, I know!) because I have such happy memories of folding washcloths with my mom.