The other day I heard someone joke that stay at home moms watch soaps and eat bonbons all day. I could tell that they were only kinda joking and kinda serious. It made me wonder how many people secretly think at least part of that is true? I figured it might be interesting to some to know what I actually do with all my time throughout the day so I kept a diary one day last week of how I spent my time. It's not super exciting but may give some a chance to see there is no time for soaps and bonbons!
My day starts at 6:45am when the kids get up. We have 15 minutes of snuggle time and then I spend then next 30 minutes helping them get dressed, make their beds, brush their teeth, all the while trying to do the same for myself.
After that I head downstairs where I made breakfast for the kids, fed the cat, made coffee for Hubs, emptied the dishwasher and restacked it with all the breakfast dishes.
Then came the crafts. We spend several hours a day on crafts and at this stage of their lives they need lots of help with them. Yesterday I kept track and we did painting, Funfusion (little beads you put together to make a picture (they're the bane of my existence as they take a long time to put together, then one little bump and the whole thing will be ruined), shrinky-dinks, mosaic art photos, sticker/stamps/glitter glue pictures and workbooks. We didn't do it all at one time but at various times throughout the day so there is lots of time spent on set up, helping with the craft and then clean up.
Mid-morning we had our daily outing. We try to plan at least 1 activity a day outside the house and today we went to visit a 1 week old baby for some baby snuggles. After an hour there we stopped at a playground so the kids could work off some energy. This outing then basically took up just over 2 hours of our day. Other outings we do during the week are visiting the zoo, Muttart, playdates, host luncheons, etc.
Errands. Normally I run an errand almost every day. Yesterday we only stopped for gas so it only took a few minutes but I can run errands, like getting the groceries, that can take 1 1/2 hours. Generally throughout the week I hit the dry cleaners twice, groceries twice, the bank, post-office, go shopping for kids clothes or gifts (birthdays, new babies, anniversaries, etc), take library books back, and the list goes on.
After getting back to the house it was time to make lunch. I estimate between making 3 meals and 2 snacks a day I'm spending 3 1/2 to 4 hours on cooking/meal prep. With that comes cleaning up all the dishes and other household chores. Yesterday I did the dishwasher twice and 3 loads of laundry. This dishwasher is an every day thing but the laundry can be swapped out with garbages, sweeping or washing the floors, cleaning the counters, cleaning cat litter, etc, etc.
In the afternoon we played hide and go seek, played in the backyard, played cars and I answered 10 million questions about life. Well maybe not 10 million but it sure feels like it with 2 kids in the same 'Why? What's that? Who is that?' phase.
At about 3pm I finally put on a movie for the kids so I could hit the treadmill for 40 minutes. Did I watch soaps? No, I watched Ratatouille, the Disney movie. At least I'm grateful I didn't have to watch Toy Story one more time!
Then after dinner we played a few games before bath, books and bedtime. After getting the kids to bed it's usually between 7pm-7:30pm. After that time I generally do some volunteer work, research to find outings for my volunteer group, book reservations at restaurants/hotels, and keep up correspondence with other friends and family.
As mentioned all days are slightly different but this is the basis of most days. Things will be changing in the fall when I estimate I'll be spending up to 3 hours a day in the car. I'll be driving DD to school 5 times a week, plus DS to preschool twice a week, and both kids to swimming lessons twice a week. My car is going to be my best friend for the next 3 years until both kids are in school full time. THEN maybe I'll give myself a day to watch soaps and eat bonbons just to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
You've got the hardest job Jody. Being a stay-at-home mom is tough work. It's unfortunate people truly don't know what it's like unless they do it themselves.
ReplyDeleteA glimpse of a day in your life certainly sheds some light on what it's really like.