Spending Time With the Kids
I am all about being completely honest with you.
When I get rushed, or stressed, or busy and exhausted with work, or with sick kids, or with my mom (or whatever fill in the blank with anything!) it is so very easy for me to stop spending time with the kids that I feel is necessary for both me and my kids.
Especially when I am feeling overstressed and overwhelmed. I go through the dailies, to make sure they are fed and watered so to speak, then I get them dressed and get them out the door to daycare and school.
Worse than that, I feel like I am being short with them and I lose my patience easily.
When I am not in a positive, upbeat mood, it never fails that my kids are grumpy, fight more, listen less and home life is no fun for any of us.
I get the kids to bed at night and then flop into bed myself. That’s when the MOM GUILT hits me, every night like clockwork, and I fall asleep feeling like a failure.
I don’t know if any moms can relate, or if any moms will admit to feeling like this, and want to talk about it?
Spending Time with the Kids
I HATE treating my children like they are second thought, and I HATE the guilt and the tension that comes along with doing that.
Part of me working to be my Best Self includes being the Best Mom and Amma I can possibly be for my kiddos.
Since the beginning of May, I have been working really hard to spend happy, fun time with my kiddos. Time where we are all having fun, being kind to one another, and enjoying the little things in life.
I’ve also been really working on my patience, and my tolerance level, so that when my littles call my name 3258 times in a row I DON’T lose my shit on them lol (this is a real art)!
How I Work from Home with a House Full of Kids
Yes, I do run a couple of businesses out of my home. One of the businesses, Sunshine Senior Services involves in getting out in the community with seniors. The other, is this blog 🙂 At Home With Heather.
I have all of my kids either in school, or in daycare programs during the day. The daycare is a life saver and actually a really good thing for my littles. Two of them have some special needs, being in daycare/preschool programs allows them to get the early intervention help they need so they can progress in learning, speech and the like.
I know many moms don’t agree with kids going to daycare, and if you are one of those moms I totally applaud you!!! This is what works for me and my family, and I am happy with the setup we have, and how my children are blossoming.
During the day, I am running to client appointments, taking children to their appointments and specialists, maintaining a house of 7 and two businesses.
Time with Family
That said – I feel like the time that I do have with the children is even more Precious. To that end, I have reinstated some of the things that use to be standard practice in my home before I let things get out of hand.
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- From the time we all get home, until the time that I put my Littles to bed, I do NOT allow myself to be on any electronics (this includes my phone, table and/or computer). We really have only 2 hours together in the evening before bed. For that two hours my children get to see my eyeballs looking directly at them, and NOT over top of some screen.
- We ALWAYS eat supper together – we always have and always will. This is jut non-negotiable in my house. We don’t eat in front of the TV, or on the run somewhere. We sit as a family, and eat a meal.
- We do something called BEST THING, WORST THING. This is where we go around the table and just like it sounds, we share the best part and the worst part of our day. We DON’T have to have a worst thing, but we always MUST have a best thing. This also helps learning to talk/speech and listen.
- We PLAY! Now that the weather is so beautiful outside, my children love to go out and play in “our park” after supper is over. They love to run around, climb, swing and slide. It helps them burn off that last bit of energy before bed, and I’ve been finding that we really connect when Amma comes out and plays too.
In addition to the dailies with the kids, I have also been spending more quality time with them on the weekends. Either going out for an activity, playing outside, or even just getting down on the floor with them to play indoors.
The Quality over Quantity Debate
Do you spend a lot of time with your kids, or do you spend meaningful time with your kids?
Life is busy! Honestly, being a working single mom, I don’t HAVE endless time to spend with my kids, so I really feel like I NEED to make the time that I do have with them more precious.
I think a child will remember a lot more if you get down to their level, look them in the eyes and play with them, then if you are just in the same room with them not really paying attention. Of course in an ideal world we would be able to spend buckets full of quality time with our kids, but in today’s world I really don’t think that’s as practical to put into place.
I am trying to do what will work for me and my family. Others may have a totally different set-up. Let’s celebrate that too.
Mom Time Savers
I am ALWAYS looking for ways that I can save time in doing some of the household tasks that perhaps can be done some way other than the traditional method.
For example – I had groceries delivered this morning! I LOVE the ability to order my groceries online and then just have them delivered on a day where I plan to be home working. It saves me hours!
I do MUCH of my shopping online (as much as I possibly can). I have NEVER had a love for shopping and would much rather place an order, have it delivered and not take the time and stress to go in the store, shop, load, bring it home unload and put it away.
One of the main other things that I do 90% of my ordering online for is children’s clothing.
Have you ever tried to take 4 SCREAMING toddlers into a store to try something one?
I haven’t – I don’t ever think I’ll be that BRAVE (or crazy as the case may be lol)
I order from online stores and have it delivered. So far Old Navy and Walmart are my two main kids clothes stores.
- Old Navy because they have such cute clothes and amazing deals.
- Walmart because they have the kids clothes guarantee where if your kids wear out an item BEFORE they outgrow it, Walmart will replace the item. Seriously, my boys can put holes in jeans in less than two weeks!
I am always looking for other great kids stores in Canada but we’ve had many of our larger retailers shut down in recent years. Where do you shop in Canada?
If you aren’t saving money with EBates, you should really sign up. If you click here and do it through my link, you’ll get some extra cash back just as a thank you and welcome. EBATES.COM $10 CASHBACK and EBATES.CA $5 CASHBACK
The Mom Tribe
The term #momtribe is big on social media right now. I love the idea of a mom community, a mom tribe. I feel like we really need to stick together and support each other. Celebrate the wins and support the daily frustrations that come along with Momming.
Being a mom is certainly NOT all Pinterest posts and sunshine.
We need to stick together and support one another as a Mom Tribe (the good and the bad)! I will never be the Pinterest mom where everything is just right haha – far from it.
But as part of my work on becoming my BEST SELF, I want to serve my children and give them a good childhood where they remember:
- Amma is kind,
- Amma is fair
- Amma is SAFE
- Amma is LOVE.
I’d love to connect with you as part of the #momtribe.
You can connect with me in the links below 🙂
Talk soon,
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