I just had a hectic month. November is the birthday month of my two younger kids. I have just survived planning, organizing and hosting two birthday parties! Hurray!
But that’s not the entire story.
I also do not have a helper until now. Good thing I found a stay-out cleaner who comes to our house to clean twice a week.
I also run an online business. If you are not yet aware of that, I invite you to check out our online shop you can see our products. We have products for both kids and parents.
I also have a publishing and consulting business.
How do I do all these? How do I manage to work while caring for THREE active kids?
Let me share one of my kid-tested and time-tested strategies with you.
Are you ready?
I TEACH MY KIDS TO PLAY ON THEIR OWN.
Yes, you read it right. I don’t play with my kids all day. I simply can’t.
So, I taught all of my kids how to play on their own little by little as they grow older. That is such a life-saver!
Thus, my recommendation to you is to TEACH YOUR CHILD TO PLAY INDEPENDENTLY.
When you’re a new and first-time parent, you have a tendency to think that you need to be with your kid ALL THE TIME. But the truth is, you need to give your child some time alone to teach him to be independent and to teach him to entertain himself. I know this to be true because I was like that when I was just starting out as a new mom.
Good thing that I love to read and I learned from the books and articles I have read that teaching and allowing kids to have some time alone is also good for them and to us parents as well. You can teach this to your child gradually. Start by giving him five minutes of independent playtime. Then, slowly extend over time or with practice. This helps develop not only your child’s independence but also his creativity and imagination because he/she does not need to be dependent on you all the time in taking the lead on what he/she will play with and how he/she will play with his/her toys.
I homeschool my kids, too. But we don’t have structured activities all day. We usually have an hour each day only. The eldest child may have additional time in the afternoon for independent study. But, that’s our norm: an hour each day.
This is what usually happens when we are homeschooling. The baby is playing with an age-appropriate toy. He is practicing his fine motor skills here trying to put the pieces of a ball puzzle together. The younger child is working on his lessons. In this picture, he was putting clothes pins on the cardboards with number words. I was teaching him number sight words a few months ago. My eldest was answering his English Grammar worksheets. He finished his Grade 4 curriculum a couple of months ago. This picture shows you that it’s POSSIBLE to homeschool multiple children who are at different levels.
Most of the time, my kids are playing. They do A LOT of pretend play throughout the day. They use their creativity and wild imagination as they do this. They use whatever materials they can find at home aside from their toys when they are playing pretend. They like to make a mess while they do this. I do my best to teach them that they have to clean up their mess after their pretend plays. That’s my way of teaching them responsibility at a young age.
This is my second child playing pretend fishing using slippers, a hanger and a left-over curling ribbon. He is using his wild imagination. His older brother’s slippers were his fish. The hanger is his hook. The curling ribbon was his fishing line. Our sofa was his boat. He had so much fun playing! Another proof that kids do not need expensive or elaborate toys.
Another favorite of my boys is playing with Lego or building blocks. They can play with Lego for hours and when I tell them that they need to pack away soon, they still tell me that their playtime is not enough!
This photo was taken recently. They were happily playing with Lego while I was preparing our dinner.
So, invest in toys that let your kids’ imagination loose. Make time to play with them during the day BUT let them play on their own as well. Believe me, both of you would be happy with this arrangement. They will have some freedom on what they would like to do. You will have some time to work on your to-do list. Win-win, right?
If you want to learn MORE STRATEGIES from me on how I get to get work done with my kids around, sign up for the Hands-On Parent while Earning or H.O.P.E. Toolkit. There is a PDF on this topic that you can download for FREE. 🙂 Head over to my blog’s sidebar to SIGN UP NOW.
I’m excited for you!
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