Doing at home
- Thread starter Onion
- Start date
I've used these methods when I had young children:
- Get the children to help with the actions. Even if it takes longer with their help than without, you're spending quality time together and teaching them skills, discipline and good habits that will help them later in life.
- Talk to the children while doing stuff.
- Bring paperwork or reading material to the playground and glance back and forth from the children to the stuff while they play.
- Do stuff like paying bills while standing in the kitchen. The children are much less likely to try to demand your attention while you're standing in the kitchen than while you're sitting down.
- Carry around a baby in one arm while doing housework.
Hmm yes I do schedule certain house tasks to be done but two other things to keep in mind to help you out in this area (other than scheduling) is 1) learn to do things as you go like cleaning as you go, etc rather than letting pointless things buid up and 2) get your kids to help/do their own tidying up and maintaining. The type of things i find that need scheduling are washing clothes, ironing, hoovering, ec but i can quite easily keep my kitchen and bathroom maintained as i go.
Do you have help?
Great advice above for home-related @home next actions.
For personal development type stuff (aka, hobbies/fun) as opposed to housework, I try to do that after my son goes to sleep. The best way I've found for me is to watch less television.
The other thing that works really well is taking turns with my husband getting up on weekend mornings. This way, we both get one-on-one time with our son (which is good for everyone!) and the other parent can choose to sleep in or get up and do something personal/productive/relaxing etc.
Great advice above for home-related @home next actions.
For personal development type stuff (aka, hobbies/fun) as opposed to housework, I try to do that after my son goes to sleep. The best way I've found for me is to watch less television.
The other thing that works really well is taking turns with my husband getting up on weekend mornings. This way, we both get one-on-one time with our son (which is good for everyone!) and the other parent can choose to sleep in or get up and do something personal/productive/relaxing etc.
Don't worry -- my kids are grown up and I still don't have time for my home actions.
You can set a timer for 2 minutes or 5 minutes, tell the kids it's action time, and give them each a written list of things to do while you do your list. You can make their lists simple and easy, like "put toys into toy box". If the kid doesn't know how to read yet, they can ask you or an older sibling to read their list to them; they may be able to read at least the first letter of their own name at the top of their list. You can put little pictures to illustrate the actions. You can give the kids choices or suggest that they write their own lists.
You can give your kids choices like this: "Sometime in the next few days I'm going
to be emptying out all the kitchen cupboards. When I'm doing that, do you want to be helping me, or playing quietly in the next room, or would you rather be with (other adult)?" The other adult could be a spouse, grandparent, babysitter, other family you take turns looking after each other's kids with, etc. Then you can schedule it accordingly. There may be advantages and disadvantages to doing it this way.
You can decide that it's more important to you to spend time with your kids than
to do X, and delete X from your action lists or move it onto a someday-maybe list.
You can set a timer for 2 minutes or 5 minutes, tell the kids it's action time, and give them each a written list of things to do while you do your list. You can make their lists simple and easy, like "put toys into toy box". If the kid doesn't know how to read yet, they can ask you or an older sibling to read their list to them; they may be able to read at least the first letter of their own name at the top of their list. You can put little pictures to illustrate the actions. You can give the kids choices or suggest that they write their own lists.
You can give your kids choices like this: "Sometime in the next few days I'm going
to be emptying out all the kitchen cupboards. When I'm doing that, do you want to be helping me, or playing quietly in the next room, or would you rather be with (other adult)?" The other adult could be a spouse, grandparent, babysitter, other family you take turns looking after each other's kids with, etc. Then you can schedule it accordingly. There may be advantages and disadvantages to doing it this way.
You can decide that it's more important to you to spend time with your kids than
to do X, and delete X from your action lists or move it onto a someday-maybe list.
Onion;104034 said:
Have you considered getting your kids involved in some of these actions? That way you can get work done and spend time with your kids. They also will learn important housekeeping skills and boost their self-esteem by contributing to the smooth operation of a household.
I suggest you commit to doing at least ONE thing off your @Home list (or routine housework) per day. That's how I started keeping a cleaner house than ever before. I make sure that I intentionally tackle one thing per day (vacuuming ONE room, dusting ONE room or ONE piece of furniture if "decorations" on it make it time consuming). Often times when I do one thing I find myself doing two or three things just from the momentum that is generated.