For 3 hours on Wednesday I had 7 children in my care: Isaac (6 months), E (14 months), G(2 1/2), Audrey (3), Ethan (4), Z(4) and Ez(5). I survived, but it became pretty clear that I wasn’t going to be getting any housecleaning done while watching them. The trickiest part was keeping the youngest 3 happy and out of trouble. I ended up cooking lunch at 9:45 because I had a window of time when I knew they were all contained and I wasn’t sure I would have time to stand by the stove later. We didn’t eat until 11:30, but the food was ready for heating up long before that!
Some days mothering small children is about survival. Every once in a while everything lines up so you can get some small extra thing done. We’re in a stage with Isaac right now where he is cranky at the very time I need to be getting supper ready. He’s done with napping for the day and he’s a little tired and doesn’t want to be put down. Apparently, we have to endure a little crankiness on the road to toddlerhood (when a new set of challenges arrives!).
I’ve been talking with my friend, Marie, about scheduling housework, how to get everything done to keep the home running smoothly and watching our kids. As a mom to 10 (and 4 of the kids I had in my home on Wednesday) she has limitations that I don’t have. She does more work in one day than most moms have to do in a week. She’s been shifting some of her housework to the evenings and concentrating on being more present with her kids (one of which has special needs which hinders his ability to talk) while working in whatever room they all plan to be in at the time. I think that’s genius! It puts the priority on the relationship and training and loving the children while doing what she can to be productive.
