How to include your younglings in almost anything

One of the hardest balancing acts in parenthood is the daily choice between doing what needs to be done (housework, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and what you would like to do (play with your kids, read, nap, etc.). Here are some ideas on what I do to strike that balance- I would love to hear your comments about what you do/have done in order to be supermom...

*note: these things are probably going to slow you up a bit but at the end of the day it might be worth it!

Have to do the dishes: allow your children to stand on a chair next to you and "help" by playing in the bubbles or even rinsing the dishes

Have to clean your room: allow the kids to jump on the bed while you clean up around them. Play intermittent peek-a-boo by hiding next to the bed and popping up to get them

Have to clean their room: turn some music on while you are cleaning and encourage the kids to dance and sing. Give the children something easy to pick up. Sometimes I have my daughter clean-up the puzzles by asking her to put them back together again.

Have to clean the bathroom: Put the kids in the bath and let them play while you clean-up. I would not recommend this if you use harsh cleaners as they will be inhaled by everyone in the bathroom.

Have to get ready: Let kids brush their teeth with you or chew on an extra toothbrush if they are still too young to really brush their teeth. Give your kids a hair brush to brush their hair when you do yours and maybe a blush brush for when you do your make-up.

Have to cook dinner: Get that chair or chairs out again and let the kids help measure and place ingredients. You can allow kids who are old enough to use a plastic knife to cut soft foods for dinner. If this makes you nervous, you can have the kids pretend to make food with a pretend kitchen or pretend food. You can also have the kids play with play-doh at the kitchen table while dinner is being prepared.

Have to do laundry: Show your kids how to help you sort and even place clothes in the washer or dryer. My daughter Sofia (3) can even fold towels and wash rags after I showed her a couple of times!

Have to run errands: Allow your kids to pack a special snack to eat at a specific time in between errands. Plan errands around naps and meal times. Maybe you can include an errand to the park when everything else is all done!

These are just a few things I try to do so I can use the most of my time. Of course I make time for reading and playing only- not while trying to do other things. I also try to make time for me while the kids are having naps or watching a little PBS. I love PBS.

I hope your child labor red flag isn't going off after reading my suggestions. I feel like being able to help gives my girls a sense of accomplishment and helps us to grow our mother/daughter bond by doing things together, even if it is housework. Housework has to be done and kids have to be played with, nurtured..... and taught the harsh realities of daily life one day at a time.

Feeling a little loser-y

It's Monday, and the start of a new week. I am taking advantage of some "me" time although I am guilt-ridden that I should be sleeping. I am watching Julie & Julia with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep and it is pretty good. Feel-good.

I am feeling like kind of a loser right now for some reason. I just have an all-over yuck feeling about a lot of stuff. This weekend we went out and got some new shelving units. This helped the house to look better but it still looks like a semi-disaster area. I am ready to throw my whole house in a metal trash can in the middle of my living room and set it on fire. I am so over stuff I can't tell you. I have so much stuff that I don't need and stuff that I don't know why I keep around and stuff that I know why I keep it around but I still shouldn't be keeping it. I have my own house to deal with and mom's place. Of course there are things from my mom's that I want to keep just because they remind me of her. While that is not a good reason, it is.

I feel aimless about what is next for me. There are things I want to write, sew, create, do with my children, my husband, my friends, movies I want to see, places I want to go. But somehow, each day comes and goes in the same way. I want to do something impactful and inspirational and meaningful. I want to do something that makes my soul sing. I know that this is just a down-time and that soon, I will be on the up-swing again. I am longing for those days to arrive.

It is always hard to say was triggers these moods. I kind of feel like I want to crawl up with a blankie next to my husband and stay there for a while. It might have been church yesterday.

As I nursed my daughter in the prayer chapel at church on Sunday, I read the "praise quilt" where people post things they are thankful for on little scraps of fabric. I saw one that looked familiar. I got up, unrolled the fabric and read "Thank God for my cancer, I realize how great our God is. Judy P." If you don't know, Judy is my mother who passed away from ovarian cancer in December. I didn't even make it through the message before I started to cry my eyes out. I guess I just feel sad, very sad. I miss her so much. I am hurt for so many reasons I don't know where to start. Mom was too young to die. I am too young to be without any parents. My children are going to miss out on grandma Judy. I hate that she suffered. I hate that I couldn't stop it or take it away. This process that damaged me so deeply I feel irreparable. Will it ever end? Or do I fear more the day that I think of mom and my eyes don't well up?  Some days it is more than I can take. 

What got me the most about mom's note on the praise quilt was that she was doing exactly what she was supposed to do. She was thanking God for something that brought her closer to Him. It is beautiful and tragic that she is still teaching me even in her death.

Despite all of this, I am hopeful. If only just a little. Now I am going to dry my eyes, blow my nose and sleep until the baby hears me get into bed and get comfortable.