It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. It is also true that mothers, in times of necessity, invent some pretty amazing things. Today I read about a time – management technique that Jessica Williams invented one day, when she was home with her three young children and had to finish writing an article that was due the next day. It is called the 10 – 10 technique, and it enabled her to remain connected with her children and finish her article all in the course of an hour.
How did she do it? First, she set the stage and explained what she was going to do. Next, she set a timer for ten minutes and immersed herself fully into play with the kids. When the timer beeped, she set it for ten minutes and worked on her article while the kids played together nearby. She repeated the cycle again, and then a third time. I am always looking for new ideas for how to get things done during the day when the boys are awake. I plan to try the 10-10 technique tomorrow, because it sounds promising.
The most effective way that I have found to get things done during the day is to involve Dylan in doing them. He loves to wash the dishes and sweep the floor. Since Blake is not old enough to help with those things yet, I try to do them with Dylan when Blake naps. Dylan also helps me load the washer and dryer. He loves to press the buttons to start the machines.
While including a toddler in household chores can be fairly simple to do, there are things that I would like to get done during the day that I have yet to devise a workable method for. For example, I cannot so much as make or take a five minute telephone call without Dylan screaming or doing other things that he knows that he should not do in order to get my attention and get me to hang up the phone. This even happens with phone calls that he asks me to make, such as when he wants me to invite Grandpa over for dinner or ask Auntie when she can come and play. I am sure that I will eventually figure out some way to get it done, but for now I am glad that Dylan enjoys doing chores alongside me. I am hoping that his enthusiasm for doing the dishes and sweeping the floor will continue as he grows. When he is older, I may be able to get other things done while he is washing the dishes.