This is a question I frequently get asked. After all, I am the very busy homeschooling mother of five kids. In all honesty, it’s much easier now that my five kids are under the age of nine. When they were under the age of five though, I had quite the different perspective.
I always struggle with this question because the truth of the matter is we live in a society that places far too much weight on personal ‘me’ time. One working mother even asserted to me that I was only “half-brained” because I stay home all day with my children and I like it. I just politely smiled because some comments are simply not worthy of a rebuttle.
The truth of the matter is, having a baby simply means that much of your ‘me’ time is gone. With that said however, I have found ways over the last several years to find the time to do what I need to do. Here are a few tips for making that elusive time for yourself more of a reality.
Choose an activity. . .
This sounds odd but bear with me for a minute. Choosing an activity that can be done in 30 minutes, like exercising, can be more realistic than returning to an old tried and true hobby that takes hours to really get into. So plan your ‘me’ time around the available time you have, not the time you want to have.
Encourage a regular bedtime. . .
For some reason, the new trend in parenting seems to go against routines and schedules. If you’ve read any of my blogs, you know that I am a big advocate of attachment parenting. With that said, you can certainly encourage a schedule and bedtime routine and still feed on demand and have good bonding time with the baby. By putting the baby to bed by a certain time, you will have a predictable time during which you know you can do something you enjoy!
Finding time to recharge your batteries is important. It’s also important to adjust your expectations and expect that the time you have to enjoy your own personal activities is going to be substantially less. However, I’ve never known a mother to not feel like it was worth it!
Valorie Delp shares recipes and kitchen tips in the food blog, solves breastfeeding problems, shares parenting tips, and current research in the baby blog, and insight, resources and ideas as a regular guest blogger in the homeschooling blog. To read more articles by Valorie Delp, click here.
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