It’s another early morning, and the challenges of parenthood are instantly upon me. “O boy here comes the 2 yr. old who woke up on the wrong side of the bed!” What’s for breakfast? What’s the plan today? Homeschool, beach, work obligations? Haha it’s just so much to balance and often, it can catch me off guard if I’m not intentional about planning ahead and anticipating those challenges!
Adam and I thankfully are able to teamwork the majority of all these responsibilities. I don’t know what I’d do without us working together. But still it can be quite overwhelming at times. So here are few tips that I’ve learned on my journey of raising four children, working from home, and homeschooling!
1. Involve your children in food prep
This can be painstaking at times, and takes some patience to watch your child splash eggs all over the stove, but believe me, it pays off in the end! My 8-year-old and 5-year-old can now make themselves “egg toast” for breakfast or snack when they are hungry. It comes in clutch when Adam and I had a bad night with the baby, the boys can make us breakfast! It not only teaches them skills in the kitchen, it gives them some independence and is a great bonding time when you teach them.
2. Limit screen time.
Ok, I know I talk about this a lot, but seriously I think it benefits our children immensely. We make a point to limit screens to maybe watching 1 or 2 movies or shows per week. And when we do watch something, it’s something really innocent and sweet like nature shows or the Swiss Family Robinson family (: too much screen time I believe really hinders their natural ability to play and takes away from their time to be creative. When we need the boys to play by themselves and give Adam and me time to work quietly, they have no problem at all spending hours playing with legos, building train tracks, or jumping on the trampoline.
3. Have amazing books around.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ll be wondering why it’s so quiet and think something naughty is happening. I’ll sneak downstairs to check and see if I can catch them, and then I’ll see the boys quietly flipping through books! Along with digital media, books can often be dangerous for children, especially with all the “woke” children’s books coming out and available in public libraries. We need to be intentional about what our children are reading and looking at. If you haven’t heard of Brave Books yet, you have to check them out. Our boys are constantly reading them and begging us to read the books to them. Believe me, you can’t go wrong with classic Bill Peet books, but the Brave Books set is such an incredible series that teaches Biblical-based values along with family activities at the end. I feel so good knowing that our children are excited about reading and reading something that is truly benefiting their character and faith!
