Daily affairs for women life hacks tips for large families. Life hacks from a mother of many children: tricks for raising children. Time for yourself

Two common complaints of women with a child are lack of sleep and lack of time for self-care. The situation becomes more difficult if there are many children. How to find time for yourself: life hacks for a mother of many children will help organize family life so that you have enough strength for everything. The main thing that every woman should understand is that a happy, rested wife and mother are much more important for loved ones than an exemplary order in the house.

Tale of found time

Setting priorities and getting rid of the A student syndrome is the first step in freedom. It is necessary to find out what the family cannot do without, and put these things in the first place. The list is not very big:

food and washed dishes;
clean clothes;
order in things so that they do not have to look for.

These are the main daily tasks that need to be done first. Everything else can be postponed or even cancelled. Women do a lot of extra work because it's a tradition, they've been taught that way, or out of fear of being judged.

Life hacks for mothers with many children will allow you to plan household chores so that you have time for your hobbies.

Culinary time management. The secret to saving cooking time is simple recipes, homemade convenience foods, large portions.
Appliances. Useful appliances for the hostess - multicooker, dishwasher, robot vacuum cleaner. They reduce the time for cooking and daily cleaning. A washing machine with a large drum will allow you to cope with a week's laundry in 1-2 loads.
Jobs you can do without. Bed linen and diapers do not need to be ironed. Toys in the nursery are enough to rake in a box, and not put them on the shelves. Dust can be wiped off once a week. Saved time to spend on yourself.
Minimalism. Lots of things - lots of cleaning. Works for the hostess will add tulle on the windows, carpets, small trinkets. For a large family, Scandinavian interiors are suitable with their freedom from unnecessary details, simplicity and thoughtful storage systems.
Family logistics. The task of the mother is to competently organize life. Arrange cabinets so that it is easy to put things in them, think over places for games and cooking lessons. Buy clothes that do not require complex care. When the household is arranged simply and reasonably, cleaning does not take much time.
Independent children. Teach children self-service skills, not check the correctness of each letter in homework, let older children teach kids how to make sandwiches or cook dumplings. A mother who gives freedom will teach much more than a mother who controls.

Perfectionism is the enemy of a happy woman

The desire to become an ideal hostess leads to chronic fatigue. In a house with many children, there will never be perfect order, it's useless to try.

The ability to stop will help mom save time and energy. It is better to spend energy on thinking through convenient storage of things, getting rid of unnecessary things.

In addition, in a large family there are many helpers.

Teenagers will do a good job of cleaning, spend the younger ones on developmental classes, and grandmothers will sit with the children so that the mother of many children is away on business.

Redirect attention in disputes

Brothers and sisters always sort things out with each other, this is part of their life. Being a judge every time can be exhausting. Therefore, in small and non-critical conflicts, just keep them busy. At the same time, give them those tasks that are difficult to complete alone. Joint work, as Cat Matroskin said, it unites.

Make tables for everything

In order not to go crazy with a bunch of tasks, hang all your tasks on the wall in the form of a list or table. When to wash, when to bathe, when to go to the store, and even what medicines to give when. Again, when raising children, this becomes the most ironclad argument: “See, it’s written down?”.

Divide by color

And then you will not have disputes in the family, who took whose towel, and who took whose mug. If each member of the family has its own color, the questions “whose is it?” and “where is this place?” becomes much smaller. Even if you don't have nine kids, like the author of this life hack, you can still use color division so you don't confuse a dog paw towel, a baby towel, and a husband's towel.

Find Tags

If you have a small age difference between your children, you have to remember whose pantyhose it is and whose T-shirt it is. The risk of confusion is especially great when the youngest wears things for the elder, and the difference between them is a year. Unload your head - just sign everything with tags.

Go down a level

In the literal sense of the word. If you want to teach children to be organized, make it so that they can clean up after themselves. Move their stuff to the bottom drawers and rearrange the clothes rails in the lower closet. And the cleaning equipment: rags, a broom, a dustpan, arrange so that the children can take them themselves, without your help.

Use your laundry rules

You can sort clothes by color, but let's be honest: in the case of children's clothing, this just adds to the extra hassle. It is much more convenient to rip off everything in a bunch on one child, and then on another. Clothes wear out faster? Well, yes. Only they will burn the panties on the playground slide much faster than the wrong wash will wear them out.

Have quiet time during the day

Make it a rule to have a time when children do not distract you. They can sleep, play quietly or watch cartoons. but during this period you are left only to yourself. Take yourself from an hour to two rests in the middle of the day, and you will maintain mental and physical health for yourself and your children.

Plan Your Meals

And cook in the slow cooker. The beauty of this unit is that all the recipes assume that you tossed food and left. Don't stand stirring. This will save you a lot of time from cooking.

Clean at short intervals

Always set yourself a timer for 10-15 minutes a day, and only clean during that time. Don't let chaos drag you into fighting it. Chaos will win.

Put the drive in the middle of the room

And throw scattered baby things into it. And let it be the responsibility of your child to put everything in its place.

Vacation with husband without kids

Once a week, once every two weeks, have a grown-up night. Get out of the house, or stay alone, sending the children to their grandmother. Without such breaks, you run the risk of becoming sick of yourself in a very short time.

1938

There is a certain stereotype that a large family is most often dysfunctional, and the mother - according to the "law of the genre" - is a kind of driven horse with disheveled hair and an extinct look. And "experts" also add that, they say, it's up to you when you need to cope with three (or more) children. So, "progress" does not depend on the number of children - I would even say that with three I do more than before with one. In the morning, a friend, a mother of one baby, called me and complained that she hadn’t slept enough, that she didn’t have the strength to get out of the house. She asked me what I do. The clock was 10, and by that time I had taken the elders to the garden, washed the floor in the apartment, ran the machine wash three times, cooked soup for lunch, baked cottage cheese balls for the children for the evening, marinated chicken for my husband for dinner, sorted out the bathroom cabinet, fed the baby , ordered a birthday present for her son and wrote 3,000 characters of a new article. A friend was perplexed: "How do you manage to do all this?!..."

So, how can a mother of many children do everything?

Planning. Every month I make a grid plan, where the main events are written, including family trips, children's clubs, doctor visits, etc. for each week. If "windows" suddenly appear, I have a list of cases of secondary importance at hand. I also plan the menu in a way that is convenient for me: for example, on Wednesdays and Fridays we have various vegetable dishes, Tuesday and Thursday - fish in various variations, on Mondays and Saturdays - meat or chicken, and on Sunday we traditionally bake pizza or pies. Classes with children are also planned weekly: on Tuesday we sculpt from plasticine, on Thursday we draw with paints.
Daily regime. We observe it strictly, so many things have become a habit even among children, for example, brushing your teeth before going to bed, taking a walk after an afternoon snack (on a day off), Sunday service. At 21.30 the children are asleep, and I can take a bath, talk to my husband and get a good sleep, and at 7 in the morning I don’t have to wake my children for a long time, because they themselves wake up by that time. At one time I was not able to organize meals by the hour, but spending hours in the kitchen in order to "give a liver", "pour some water", "cut off an apple" finally bothered me: I removed snacks altogether (only fruits and only at the right time), and made a meal plan.
Process optimization. This applies to routines, cleaning and cooking. Getting my husband to work and my older children to the garden take no more than half an hour: on Fridays I iron and hang 5 sets of clothes for each, and on weekdays I don’t have to deal with this issue; I collect a snack for my husband at work in the evening, and I cook breakfast in the morning for 5-7 minutes, or I use the delayed start mode in a slow cooker. After the departure of the elders and my husband, I wash the floor, sort out the hotspots and clean up in a certain area according to the Fly Lady system. At this time, the washing machine washes clothes, the dishwasher - dishes.
Help child. I never do household chores when the child is sleeping - this is my personal time, the time of rest or sleep. If the kid interferes with me, I introduce him to my activities: I wipe the floor and give him a rag, sort out the shelves and give him a box of toys: if he doesn’t want to clean up, let him play. Older children have their own duties: the son wipes the kitchen cabinets and puts the cutlery in the drawer, the daughter takes the clothes off the dryer and puts the table in order.
Children's organization. After coming home, take off your shoes and outerwear and hang them on a coat hanger (I still help my daughters), wash my hands; after eating, put the dishes in the dishwasher; after the game, remove all toys in boxes, etc.
Delegation of duties. My eldest son is taken to preparatory courses for school by a neighbor, and it is much easier for me to pay her a small remuneration than to ride with the baby back and forth on public transport. My husband does a grocery shopping list every Saturday that I have compiled while my kids and I prepare family dinner.
Minimization of absorbers. I once calculated that Internet surfing eats up about 2 hours a day of my time. This time can be spent watching a movie, reading a book, or taking care of yourself, which is more beneficial than aimlessly surfing the net.
Rest and sleep. If I don’t get enough sleep at night, then during the baby’s daytime sleep, I also go to bed. If I feel bad, then I rest, and do not do the cleaning, overcoming myself. My well-being is the key to the well-being of the family.
Inspiration. I devote half an hour a day to reading an interesting book or my hobby, i.e. I do something for myself, so I don't have the feeling that I live only as children. Children are not a hindrance to personal development, on the contrary, with their birth, the sphere of interest expands, and many mothers begin to draw masterpieces, bake delicious cakes or do patchwork.
childless time. My firm belief is that mom should have a time when she rests from children. Once a week, maybe for a couple of hours, but I leave the house alone. Whether I go to visit a friend or a cosmetics store is not so important. I have time to unwind and come rested.

And the last important afterword. I don’t have time for EVERYTHING, it’s impossible, but I manage to do what I consider important. That is why I do not iron bed linen, but gently straighten it during drying and then clean it with a clear conscience in the closet. "Everyone chooses for himself ...", as in Y. Levitansky's verse.

Children are the flowers of life, but when there are more than one of them, chaos reigns in the "flower bed". While you are feeding one, the other gets dirty with plasticine, and the third screams heart-rendingly, refusing to wear pantyhose. Let's talk about how to cope with the crowd of children and find time for yourself in this turmoil.

1. Porridge for breakfast

In the morning, you can spend almost no time preparing food. They threw cereal or flakes into the water - let them boil. Teach everyone to eat porridge for breakfast - free yourself a lot of time. And porridge is very useful for health.

2. Soups are a must

Soups are another dish that should be included in the daily diet. It's quick and easy to make with what's in the fridge. It turns out a lot, satisfying and economical. In addition, any soup can be turned into a gourmet puree soup dish by tarring it in a blender. Kids love soups.

3. Home delivery

Everything that can be ordered at home - from household chemicals to groceries - order it at home. And it’s cheaper, and you don’t need to carry weights, and you don’t need to waste time either. Seems like obvious advice. But then why are supermarkets flooded with nervous mothers, whose carts are filled not only with food, but also with children who are impossible to see?

4. Document folder

An important point is the organization of documents. A mother with many children should have everything at hand. But if you lose time every day looking for a referral for testing, a birth certificate, or a contract for utility bills, then it's time to put the perfect order in this chaos. Get one big folder for all documents, and in it for each family member there is a dossier.

5. Train to help

Mothers of many children often complain - clean up after everyone, cook for everyone. And all because they are trying to do everything themselves, instead of teaching children to help. Already at 2.5 years old, the child is able to do something around the house. Moreover, it is in childhood that the household attracts the most. Let the help of children be clumsy at first, but if you praise and encourage, excellent helpers will grow up by the age of 4-5.

6. To iron or not to iron

In general, it is most convenient for a mother of many children to come to terms with the idea that things are quite ready for publication when they are clean. But if you are still sure that it is indecent to appear in mint, straighten the clothes well, hanging them after washing, and remove them from the dryer when they are not dry - it is easier to iron.

7. Don't procrastinate

Never leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight. Firstly, it spoils the mood in the morning. Secondly, in the morning there are already many things to do. Even if you fall down from fatigue, find the strength in yourself and 15 minutes of time to wash the dishes before bed.

8. Together is more fun

It is clear that training in the fitness room for a mother of many children is an unaffordable luxury. But who prevents you from studying at home, and not alone, but with the whole crowd? You will not only tighten your figure, but also instill a love of sports in children.

9. Get up early

One of the basic rules of life for a mother of many children is to get up early. And then there will be time to have time to drink coffee, surf the Internet, prepare a set of clothes for everyone and much more.

10. Time for yourself

And do not dissolve in the household, forgetting about your beloved. A good mother is a happy, contented and beautiful mother. In any life situation, you need to find time for yourself - go to a manicure parlor, a hairdresser or meet a friend in a cafe and gossip about your own with a cup of delicious latte.

Depositphotos

Set one daily routine for all children

The famous Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria have three children: three-year-old Carmen, two-year-old Rafael and little Leonardo, who was born on September 12, 2016. Alec's wife readily tells on her social network page how she manages to cope with three kids, each of which requires one hundred percent of her mother's attention. Her most important secret is that the daily routine of all children should be the same.

“When you have one child, everything is fine - all your attention is focused on him. When there are many of them, this is a team, so they must do everything together. If you try to make sure that each child lives on his own schedule, you are guaranteed constant stress. ”- Hilaria.

Connect the kids to their siblings' bedtime

Not all children can be easily and quickly put to sleep during the day. The mother of four children, Anna Ananova, knows this like no one else. She had to try many different ways before she found the most effective one.

“We decided not to force the baby. If you don't want to sleep, fine. And in the evening, when the child freaked out from scratch, when he was very tired, when he wanted to sleep, they meticulously said that son, this is all because during the day your body did not rest, he had little strength and the like. You next time lie down during the day, and then in the evening we will still be able to read before going to bed, and spit, and so on. I’ll tell you - it works 100%, even with a two-year-old, ”she said.

Another, according to Anna, a time-tested way of putting children to sleep during the day, is to ask for help: “I tell the baby:“ Son, I want to sleep, please put me down, hold my hand for five minutes. And if you need to put everyone to bed at the same time, then you can say this: “Please help me put Alena to bed: pretend to be asleep, and then she will look at you and fall asleep.” Always works!”

Humble yourself, you are not a supermom

Of course, it’s nice to consider yourself an independent mother and proudly say that you can handle everything yourself, but most often this is good and simple only in theory. Actress Olga Lomonosova - mother - realized from her own experience that it is very difficult without the help of a nanny or grandmother.

“At first we tried to cope on our own. But once, when Varya was five months old, I went to audition for Mosfilm. Pasha called me (husband of the actress. - Approx. ed.) and said: “Do what you want, but that you be at home! Varya needs breasts. I ran home in horror, by this time Pasha had already calmed the baby. After this story, we realized that we needed a nanny. We turned to agencies, but such strange people came across there. Once Lily came to us. She sat on the couch and said, "I've never been a nanny, but I have two children of my own." Somehow lucky, Lily is still with us. But we were looking for a nanny for a very long time, ”she shared.

The older the child gets, the more you can give him instructions to do something himself: put things in order before the arrival of guests, wipe the dust on the shelf or help with cooking (for example, sort out buckwheat or rice). Be prepared that at first you will have to redo everything, but all the same, all the efforts of the child must be encouraged and never help him until he asks for it himself.

Order groceries at home

Often a trip of a mother with children to the supermarket turns into a real test: one cries that they didn’t buy a toy for him, the other is tired, the third is completely lost from sight, and then they still have to carry huge bags of groceries to the house - not everyone has a car ... To avoid This, you can simplify the task and order products on the Internet - with home delivery.

“I often (especially in the absence of my husband’s house) order groceries via the Internet with delivery. I save time and don’t carry burdens,” a mother of many children shared her advice with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. – This is probably not original advice, but why then do I still see families with children in supermarkets for whom grocery shopping turns into torture? A cart full of children, milk, toilet paper, everything falls, everyone runs away, everyone is nervous... 5 minutes - click on the desired products with the mouse, then another 5 minutes to open the door to the courier. You can order milk, cereals and baby food in boxes and not even think about it for a month.”

Tatyana Orlova with her son

“I sacrifice perfect order. We do the usual cleaning, but it's pointless to constantly "shine" if there are a lot of children. So for reasons of convenience, the house does not have to be sterile clean. I have creative materials available, and from time to time someone gets dirty in them, but it’s not difficult for a child to wash, kiss and let go on playing, ”- Tatyana.

And finally, a simple and useful recommendation of many experienced mothers. They advise: the best way to keep order in an apartment with children is to spend as little time as possible there. For example, if you have to spend the whole day at home with the whole team, then try to go for a walk at least twice for at least two hours. We woke up, had breakfast, played and went outside. Then: ate, slept, had an afternoon snack - and walked again. After returning - have dinner, swim and sleep. Thus, it will also be beneficial for children - they will spend a lot of time in the fresh air, and order will remain at home for much longer.

What parenting tricks do you use? Tell in the comments.