I am home most of the time with my 2 & 3 year old girls. They go to Montessori School for 3 hours each day while I take college classes. We are home for the rest of the day except for the occassional outing/errand. I am having a hard time balancing time with the kids, housework, homework, and time for myself. What do my kids need from me and how much time should they be spending entertaining themselves? How do other mom's spend their days? I would be interested in knowing what a typical day is like for other moms.
2006-10-26 03:42:05 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
I'm home all day with my 2 year old son. I mainly clean house while he watches cartoons. Then I sit down with him and we read books or sing song. (He's just learning to sing whole songs). When it was nice out I would play outside with him. But it's been cold where I'm at.
2006-10-26 03:47:25 · answer #1 · answered by Holli B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well i am a pregnant mother and i have a three year old son and a almost two year old son. We wake up and they help me get there breakfeast. ( fruit milk and cereal whatever they want) then after they eat me brush our teeth and wash our faces then we get dressed. ( this is all a game the whole time singing and dancing around the house) Then we have play time. I sit in the room with them and they play trucks or blocks or what not. Then i start the laundry while they play. They help me put the clothes in to the dryer. They also like to help take things out of the dish washer ( just make sure you grab the sharp stuff first) thenwe have homework time where i teach them there letters numbers abcs and the big one how to read. then they have lunch take a nap and i finish the house work watch my soap ( all my children) they wake up from there nap we go to the park or someother outing. We come home they help with dinner i give them there bathes Daddy comes home we eat dinner then we play some and watch something on TV they get ready for bed brush there teeth go to sleep at 8 every night then i have time for myself to watch something read anything. Right now i am supposed to be doing laundry but they are being so good i needed a break. good luck.
2006-10-26 03:51:04 · answer #2 · answered by littleluvkitty 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am the mother of a 3 year old boy and a one year old girl. It is cold here in New York now so we can only go to the park sometimes when it is a little worm. I don't know where the day goes. My kids help me do chores, or so they think they are helping. I let them because this makes them feel good , they are so happy to help. My son has a train set we play with that. I read books. The one year old like to play peek a boo and play with her doll house. I work from home, and always make the kids my priority. They always seem to enjoy any time I spend with them.
It sounds boring but, I enjoy it.
2006-10-26 05:48:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I'm a mom of 3 kids. 4, 3, and 1. My oldest son goes to prek for 3 hours, and the other ones stay home with me. While we are home I school them for about an hour. Then I put a movie in, and about time that is done with its time to pick my son up. After I pick him up we sometime go to the park if not we come home a fix lunch. We all go over his homework, and after that, I let them play, and i usually play with them. After that I have class also. So i drop them off at granny's house. We get back I prepare dinner, bathe them and they are sleep no later than 830 pm. So that gives me time to relax and do some studying. What time do they go to sleep at night? And in the morning when they are gone you should try to rest or study.
2006-10-26 03:53:17 · answer #4 · answered by Sexy Me 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i am a stay at home mom with an 16 month old son. i am also trying to get into college here is what you do go to school, come home, put the kids in thier room to play while you do your home work, spend time with the kids for a while, then around 1 pm put them down for a nap so you can have alone time take a shower have a nap whatever you enjoy doing. when the kids wake up read books with them or do something they like to do, after dinner around 830pm put the kids to bed for the night then do your house work and spend time with your spouse if you have one then go to bed you will still wake up feeling refreshed in the morning
2006-10-26 12:37:21 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I have a 3yr. old and a 2 yr.old. I get up at 6:50 in the morning and make them breakfast. After that I watch TV for a while without them yelling, screaming or just whatever. I also babysitt other babies. But I teach them their colors, numbers, the days, the time. My daughter knows her time. And oh boy she is just on time for everything. I also teach my kids Spanish since we talk a lot of English most of the time. They talk to my husband in Spanish but just to answer his questions. I laso clean and clean, and clean again since it seems that I never do clean. We go outside only if it's nice and not muddy. I wish we had a mall with a little entertaining center at least. Then as the day is ending I get my things ready for dinner. And no it's never like the other moms who work in the "real" jobs describe it. I wish I only stayed in the sofa watching tv and just eating and not paying any atention to the kids. We also have a lot of work to do and i get payed by lots of kisses, hugs, messes to clean up.Even though I I wish it was money. I enjoy being at home with my kids b/c I'm their # one teacher. I do get to see them grow up and they grow up so fast. Take care adn have a great one.
2006-10-26 05:50:33 · answer #6 · answered by ~Maria~ 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi Hk2kds,
You are lucky for a start that you actually have some of the day that you can plan for yourself! Most mums have the kids everyday everywhere!
Basically what the kids need at this age is YOU. Your attention, encouragement, teaching and time. Time to children spells love. Do you have to work or can you give it up for awhile while you enjoy these fantastic individuals that you have helped to bring into this world? Childhood goes very fast and you will be sad one day to see the back of then as they go off to school.
You speak about what to do with them, you dont have to sit at home its not actually good for any of you. They have proven that unstimulated children are often backward. Thats not to say that some mums overstimulate at times too- there needs to be balance. Have you heard of playgroups? Where mums can meet, and children can do activites and learn to play with other children.
There are great activites often run by libraries that are fun and free, and just keep your eye out for things that will suit your childrens ages and interests.
When children are happy and feel loved-("5 love languges for children" book, is a great help) you will find they are often happier to amuse themselves and play. I hope this helps
2006-10-26 04:00:39 · answer #7 · answered by delwyn7 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Look for if your town, cities has groups for stay at home moms like Mothers and More, they often have a lot of good ideas, and playgoups, etc.
We also try to do things in different rooms of the house, so while Im putting away laundry, they play in that room, or when Im doing laundry, they're playing in the basement. Helps to not feel cooped up in just a play area all day.
Mine are 1 and 2, but I try to get them out each day. Our mall has a free play area for toddlers, or when its nice, the park. Our park and rec also has an indoor playground. I just got a double stroller too, and even though they're bigger, its the best investment I ever made to just get them outstide for a walk. My friends often do playgroups too, but those interfere with our naptimes.
2006-10-26 03:49:07 · answer #8 · answered by lillilou 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They do need free time to play together and play by themselves, so use that time (I can usually plan on 45 minutes or so before anyone throws a fit lol) to get stuff done.
Then change activities. Drop everything you think you need to be doing and sit with them on the floor and play. Have silly games, dance, do art work, tie sponges on their feet and let them mop the floor, get out all their small toys and arrange a party. Again, about an hour or 45 minutes is good. Then switch again.
2006-10-26 05:23:38 · answer #9 · answered by arewethereyet 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the morning they watch cartoons while I do some housework. We have play dates, go to the zoo, go to the park. Once in a while we will go to McDonalds with a playland. Read books. There are alot of things yo9u can do with your kids. you can also make up games. A conga line keeps my 2 entertained for at least an hour.
2006-10-26 03:51:27 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I was in college I had the same problem... I found I could study and spend time with the kids by giving them homework as well.. I went to a teaching tools store and bought some activity books so they could learn thier letters and colors while I was studying... Each day we would all sit at the diningroom table I would do my homework while they each did a page or two in thier activity book learning to trace a letter or shape or color my number shape... I would go over thier page with them for instance reading the instructions color all areas with a circle red in the instructions color the circle red for reference for them... squares blue and so on) once they understood thier lesson I could start my homework while they did thiers... Doing homework like mom made them feel big as well as teaching them some of the basics.. I also purchased several coloring books so they could color if they chose...
It gave me a chance to get my homework done and while spending time with them as I did it...
With housework I used to make games for instance "clean your room basket ball" I would go into the hall between thier rooms and begin talking like Howard Cossell.... "Today we have two very messy rooms.. How messy you ask... Well so messy I fear to walk in.. Todays game is Clean up your room basketball.. Are you ready teams?.." they would yell "Yes" ... "On your marks, get set.. wait wait wait I forget to introduce the teams.... In this room we have Gennypher weighing in at 32 lbs shes a feisty one wiley and quick... And in this room we have Keeth weighing in at 25 lbs hes small but what a powerhouse" I would get them whipped up into a frienzy then let them start picking up they would each open thier toybbox and make baskets into it with all the toys throwing them from across the room or making slam dunks while I continued to comentate.. Cleaning rooms took about 10 minutes because they were racing and enjoying the play by play...
When it came to cooking I used a Julia Childs voice making a peanut butter sandwich became fine french cooking with an english accent... so I was always playing with them even when we were doing chores etc.. They never realized I just wanted to get the chores done because they were having so much fun helping and laughing cause mom is crazy...
Once we got all the things done they could help with I wold let them entertain themselves for an hour or so while I did the chores they were not old enough to help with... Cleaning the toilet etc..
They got all the attention they needed I got all the work done I needed... because the laughed and ran around a lot helping I was able to put them down for a nap or quiet movie time in the afternoon and get some me time..
2006-10-26 04:09:57 · answer #11 · answered by Diane (PFLAG) 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋