Seizing the Day at the Triathlon
My kids are fairly competitive. They are seven and nine. Three years ago that my son participated in his first triathlon. I say participated because he was just trying it out to see if...
Busy moms, you don’t need anyone to tell you that your juggling act is a challenge. What you need are actionable tips to make your daily life less of an eternal tug-of-war. What can you do when it all seems too much? We hope that this Tips to Make Mom Life Easier post inspires you.
It’s your little one’s birthday party — and that means adding to single-use plastic pollution or spending hours washing dishes afterward, right? Not necessarily. You can now find sustainable disposables made out of materials like bamboo that readily renew and biodegrade instead of clogging landfills. Easy cleanup without the guilt? Yes, please. Getting your kiddo dressed to go grocery shopping can sometimes involve tantrums and tears. Skip the battle over why they must wear shoes even when they ride in the cart by getting your necessities delivered to your door. It’s far less hassle to switch brands and ingredients for a meal or two than to deal with car seats and cries for candy in the checkout aisle.
If you run a career and a household, you have the equivalent of two full-time jobs. Throw in a little side hustle, and no wonder you feel overwhelmed. A little planning can go a long way toward making your hectic life more manageable. You can go with an old-fashioned planner. However, if you want to communicate across devices, look into various planner apps that can get your entire family on the same page as to where they need to be each week and when.
Technological wizardry doesn’t stop with keeping you on schedule. If you get savvy about using it, you can save yourself considerable headaches by setting reminders for all those little details that get lost in the hubbub of daily life. Maybe you notice you’re out of Greek yogurt when you make a salad, but you forget while at the store. An app like Our Groceries lets you instantly add items across devices. That way, if your partner swings by the grocers on the way home without telling you, they can snag what you need without you saying a word.
If you work in a creative field, you probably noticed that inspiration invariably strikes when you don’t have a pen and paper handy. Get savvy with using your reminders app to capture your most winning ideas — after all, you probably always have your phone. A simple “Hey Siri, remind me to talk to my boss about X on Monday” could transform your career.
With summer on the way, your already busy mom's life might get even more hectic. Discover ways to keep your kids active now and get them psyched for what’s to come. Investigate your local parks and recreation department’s offerings — many offer various sports to aid in young muscle development. Seek out summer programs that emphasize life skills like healthy eating and positive coping skills. If you are a member of a religious faith, for example, many churches offer vacation Bible school that instills moral values.
These VBS programs teach the children a variety of everyday skills in addition to keeping them entertained and giving them valuable time to expand their religious knowledge. Free VBS from Grow Curriculum is one such example, that comes with high-quality resources, such as lesson plans, games, music, and videos, that are designed to enhance the learning experience and engage kids of all ages. They serve as a great resource for churches and organizations looking to provide a fun and engaging VBS program for kids and a quality pastime for kids from parents' perspective.
Please don’t think meal-prepping is another one of those fads that sound charming in theory but create more work in reality. While you do need to set aside an hour or so a week to chop and sort various ingredients, you will fly through cooking your midweek meals. Make your life easier by portioning healthy snacks for your kids while you mince your carrots for the week’s salads. If it’s as easy to grab a Tupperware of veggies and dip as it is a bag of chips, your kids might go for the vitamin-rich stuff more often. You’ll be more likely to whip up a healthy stir-fry instead of hitting the drive-thru if all you need to do is toss the ingredients in your wok and heat.
Mom's life is a never-ending series of picking your battles. Try this exercise: write a journal entry where you list areas where you will not compromise and those that don’t matter as much. For example, your child’s grades could determine their future success, so you hold firm to your rule that bad marks require interventions like tutoring sessions, even if it means spending less time with friends. However, does it matter if your teen gets a belly button ring that they can readily conceal with their shirt whenever necessary?
You spend all day, every day with your toddler. When your spouse asks what you want for dinner, you reply, “chickie nuggies,” and clap your hands with excitement. Maybe you feel playful — or you need a bit more adult interaction. Your mom-friends can be your lifeline if you are a parent. A playdate at the park becomes your opportunity for adult conversation. You could even squeeze in a workout with your buddies while your kids play. Doing so sets a positive example for your children and helps you meet your exercise requirement when there simply aren’t enough hours in the day for everything.
Motherhood is a 24/7 job, but you’re human — you need to rest and recharge. Many parents do so after their kiddos go to bed, and childhood insomnia can leave you grumpy and sleep-deprived, too. The right bedtime ritual can eliminate some of the midnight rambling urges in your little ones, making mom life easier. Create a docking station in your kitchen for electronics so that they aren’t upscrolling under the covers. You’ll all sleep better without blue light disrupting your circadian rhythms and keeping you awake. If your children struggle to sleep, let them read books by flashlight — but keep “lights out” a firm boundary that means “me time.”
Parents have a tough row to hoe. Make your life easier with the above tips. We hope that this Tips to Make Mom Life Easier post inspires you. Good luck!