Working Mom's of young children how do you do it? (not a rehtorical question)
tmoneyag99
Posts: 480 Member
How do you manage getting your family fed, stay on point with your diet, keep work demands under control, spend quality time with your children, spend quality time with your husband, clean house, AND make time for working out.
By young children I mean kids that aren't self sufficient. Kids that can't feed themselves or dress themselves. Not that being a mother of older children is any easier but it's different in that you don't have to sit at the table and shovel food in your child's mouth. LOL
What do your days look like? How often do you work out? How long is each workout? How much sleep do you get daily?
By young children I mean kids that aren't self sufficient. Kids that can't feed themselves or dress themselves. Not that being a mother of older children is any easier but it's different in that you don't have to sit at the table and shovel food in your child's mouth. LOL
What do your days look like? How often do you work out? How long is each workout? How much sleep do you get daily?
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Including the children in everything. lol that's the only way for me! My little one goes on walks with me in her stroller or car and follows me around the house as I clean. As for staying under my goal... fortunately is easier when you are the one cooking which is my case! I just make meals that are within my limits. My husband loves to cook with me too, so we all kind of do that as a family. It is daunting some days because the house work gets out of hand, but we don't sweat the small stuff here. Lol
As for sleep... about 6-7 hours
Workout/walk atleast once a day sometimes 2.4 -
I wake up at 4.30am. Also take advantage of lunch break to work out. I get 4-6 hours of sleep. I meal plan all our lunches on Sunday.
Dinners, I try to cook meats enough for a few days and only have to make sides/veggies when I get home.5 -
When I had little kids I took exercise classes at night when they were asleep. At some point I got an exercise bike for the house and exercise videos.
Exercise time was MY time. Not bench pressing babies. Time for me, alone.7 -
Notably, I didn't set my mind to lose weight till my "babies" were 6 and 9, so they were older.
I really wish that I had had the MFP tool earlier because there is so much that you can do with kids that counts as both quality time AND a workout. Just running around with them, playing tag, playing at the playground, strapping them on and carrying them in a baby bjorn or a back pack, pushing them in a stroller, graduating to a jogging stroller, pulling them in a trailer behind your bike, general roughhousing with them, airplane rides, horsey rides, lifting them into the air, push-ups with them sitting on your back...there are all kinds of things you can do for a "mommy bootcamp"!
My husband was always the one towing them on our bike rides, and now I look back at that and say, DANG IT! That should have been me!
I also recently read this thought-provoking article about how important it is to roughhouse with your kids:
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/02/07/the-importance-of-roughhousing-with-your-kids/
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Honestly, I wouldn't be able to do all that I do in a day without my husband.
I have a 4 year old child, soon to be 5, and a lot of things help. She attends a daycare where they feed her meals so I don't have to pack lunch for her. We pay more each week and it's totally worth it.
I only cook for myself. My husband cooks for himself. It works because I don't have to cook meals that I don't enjoy and my husband doesn't have to wait on me to get home to eat.
My gym does not provide childcare so I have to go to the gym either before or after my husband's Jujitsu classes. But now that my child is starting to attend sports.. I can see where this may begin to be a tad bit harder on us and our flexibility.
I focus on one thing each week when it comes to cleaning the house. Each day I make sure the floors and the kitchen is clean but maybe Monday I'll do some laundry and fold, Tuesday i'll deep clean the bathroom, Wednesday I'll clean the bedroom, and so on. My daughter can now pick up her own toys so this helps a lot!
Quality time with the husband is saved for the weekend!
I try my very best to spend as much time with my daughter each day as I can. Once the day is officially done and there's nothing left to do it's pretty much bed time so I make sure to read 2-4 books with her, pray, and then talk about her day.
I work out 4-5x a week, each workout is about 1-1.5hrs long, and I sleep about 6-8 hrs a day.1 -
I have 3 kids (5, 3 and 9 months)
Like alondrakayy, I would not be able to keep it together without all of my husband's help, so I think that's huge.
Also, I think most people waste a ton more time than they think they do. Checking facebook, watching tv etc is a huge time drain.
I wake up at 5am daily. 4 days/week, I go to the gym and do a 1 hour work out. I'm back home by about 6:30 with enough time to take a quick shower and get ready for work. On the days I don't go to the gym, I do laundry, prep food or clean up until my kids wake up (between 6 and 6:30)
My husband and I both leave for work at 7:30am.
When we get home, one of us makes dinner while the other helps the kids put away their daycare stuff and clean up a bit and then we eat as a family. We're done eating around 6 and spend family time until around 7. Then, one of us gets the kids ready for and into bed and the other cleans up from dinner and packs lunches for the next day. We switch up nightly so that we both can do the bedtime routine with the kids. It's lights out for the kids between 7:45 and 8. My husband and I probably spend the next 30 minutes or so tying up loose ends and then we spend time together watching tv or talking until we go to bed at 10.
Is it always organized or works out perfectly? No. But we're huge routine people so it works well.3 -
I have two young kids and work full time. I am at the gym most mornings by 5am, when my husband and the kids are still asleep. I get home at 6:45am and get myself showered and ready for work. I then wake up the kids and get their day started, fed, dressed. We're out the door by 8:15 for school.
Once work is done, my husband picks the kids up and I come home and start dinner. We eat, do homework/family time, bath and bed for the kids by 8:30pm. I normally hang in until 9:30-10pm and go to bed myself to start all over the next day.0 -
tmoneyag99 wrote: »How do you manage getting your family fed, stay on point with your diet, keep work demands under control, spend quality time with your children, spend quality time with your husband, clean house, AND make time for working out.
By young children I mean kids that aren't self sufficient. Kids that can't feed themselves or dress themselves. Not that being a mother of older children is any easier but it's different in that you don't have to sit at the table and shovel food in your child's mouth. LOL
What do your days look like? How often do you work out? How long is each workout? How much sleep do you get daily?
We have two boys 7 & 5 and both of us work full time. For one thing, we share domestic responsibilities...during the week I cook on Monday and Wednesday, she cooks on Tuesday and Thursday...I do most of the cooking on weekends as well.
As exercise goes, my wife runs on Tuesday and Thursday AM and on Saturday and Sunday. She lifts on Fridays after work. While my wife is running, I'm at home getting the kids up and fed and ready for school...on Fridays, I'm the one that picks the kids up from school while wife is at the gym.
I cycle on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and lift on Tuesday evening which is one of the reasons she's on cooking duty on Tuesday. Basically we just alternate exercise days during the week while also alternating domestic responsibilities. We have our time in the evenings once the kids have gone to bed.
ETA: we really emphasize activity on weekends. My weekday rides and her weekday runs are shorter as we are more limited on time...I do longer rides on the weekend and she does longer runs...I also hit the weight room on Sunday and we go to the rock climbing gym every couple weeks or so...we're on the move come the weekend...2 -
I'm a single mom, co-parent with their dad, and we have 3 kids together. Ages are 7, 5 and 4. The 5yo has Autism so has special challenges. I work full-time, but I'm lucky that I work 1 mile from my house so an easy commute. I get up, get them ready and their dad gets them while I work/they go to school. I'm able to come home over lunch to eat leftovers and not eat out. I get home around 4:45pm and we pack up and head to the gym. My gym has a great kid care area that my kids love to go to so it's fun for them too. Hour at the gym and we are back home, making a quick dinner/eating leftovers, homework, playing then some nights baths/showers, reading then bed. I try and workout at the gym 3 nights a week then again on Saturday and Sunday. Off days we play outside so still try to be active. Biggest thing for me is I only cook twice during the week and eat on that the other nights/days. It's usually crockpot meals, casseroles, shredded chicken for easy quesadillas/nachos/tacos/salad toppings/etc., or it's frozen meals. My kids eat those things about half the time, then the other half they ask for a sandwhich/frozen something in the freezer which is easy. Always pair it with fresh fruit or a salad. I get about 6 hours of sleep every night.4
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I have a daughter who will be 2 at the end of the month. I work full time, Mon-Fri 9-5. By the time I get home it's around 5:30, I start dinner and we're usually done with that around 6:30. While I prep/cook dinner she hangs out with me in the kitchen (husband is home from work around 6). We hang out and play til 7:30, then her and I go for our nightly walk.. usually 30-40 minutes. When we get home it's bath, pj time, milk and bed for her. By the time she's finally out it's around 9pm. That's when I can either clean up the house, or watch tv with my husband or do whatever else I need to do..
The only exercise I get is our nightly walks & I walk each day on my lunch break. I prep all my meals (breakfast & lunch) on the weekend so I don't have to worry about that each day, the only meals I'm packing daily are her lunches for the following day. I go to bed around 11pm and am up the next day at 7am.
It's hard and I feel like I'm always going 100mph.. but that's how are life is right now and I just keep chugging along. I'm down 25lb since December, I make sure my healthy eating and walking (exercise) is a priority.3 -
I have 4 kids, 6 and under. The youngest ones being 3 months old and 1.5 yrs old.
Not much time to exercise so its all about the diet for me. I've lost about a pound a week by eating healthy and keeping calories to 1200-1380 consistently. Works for me. I walk during my 30 minute lunch break at work.
At home after cooking and eating we put the two babies to sleep and then spend time with the older kids. Sometimes husband plays a card game in the kitchen while I clean up and pack lunches, sometimes I read to them while husband washes dishes, sometimes the kids and I dance, sometimes they play legos or color. Depends what they want to do. Come 9:30ish the older kids go to bed and husband and I spend 30minutes-1 hour to ourselves. Sometimes I am not done in the kitchen so I have to go back and finish prepping lunches or cleaning up. But my goal is to finish up so we all head upstairs to our bedrooms at the same time.
Currently I'm getting about 7 (interrupted) hours of sleep. Once the baby is sleeping through the night I MIGHT start getting up early to do a home exercise video.1 -
Been a stay at home mom for 3 years and I'm still trying to figure it out lol this is what has worked out for me:
Schedule? No way! Doesn't work for me. Routine? Yes! Routine is what has helped me figure out this mommy stuff.
Sit with a pen an paper and think about making a routine where you dedicate time to working out, cleaning, and quality time with you kids. I've tried many MANY different routines until I have finally have one that works for my family. When it comes to working out, this is what I do to sneak workouts in my day:
- Walk to the park and play with kids at the park
- Pinterest has some park workout routines
- Walk / jog around playground while kids play
- Put on your favorite music and dance while cleaning your house
- Workout as soon as your kids take a nap
- Download the 7 minute workout app. A short workout is better than none
- Wake up earlier and go for a walk/jog/ or workout to YouTube videos
- After bedtime, workout to YouTube videos1 -
When my kids were little I exercised at 4 am before they woke up (still do). I meal prepped and shopped for the week on Sunday with them in tow. I also took them to an occasional Weight Watchers meeting on weekends, and they got a trip to the toy or bookstore afterwards. Saturday was spent at the park or YMCA. They swam while I was in the fitness room or in karate, or we did Mommy and Me classes. All of this was done while working full time and going to school at night full time. And of course hubby was a big help watching them while I was at school. I used the school gym before classes if time allowed.0
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Wow, you are all amazing
Single, working mum of 3 (4 year old and twins who will be 3 in a few weeks).
I try to walk when I can with the kids.
I try not to eat their left-overs.
Hoping to start some home workout videos soon...we're in a new house so bedtime routine is a bit later than I'd like just now.3 -
I'm a SAHM who solo parents much of the time because my husband works away. I cook and shop with my 4, 3 and 2 year olds in tow, we walk everywhere. I run at 3AM 6 days a week on my ultramarathon programming. I clean, etc. after my kids have gone to bed and prep against running in the morning, usually in bed around midnight.2
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I'd just like to point out that managing one's life as a mom and full-time employee is *ucking ridiculous. People love to give advice that starts to sound like a recipe for a mental breakdown: "It's easy, just stand on your head and juggle while reciting the alphabet backwards, and make sure you never get more than 3 hours of sleep." Modern life has set expectations for women (and moms especially) that are totally crazy! /end rant
Buuuut........you still have to do it. You still have to exercise and eat well. And, truthfully, doing so makes the rest of it EASIER. You'll have more energy and improved quality of sleep.
Workout videos were useful for me when my son was younger (there's TONS free on YouTube nowadays). Joining a gym with childcare is great and can be pretty cheap, honestly. Having a partner who will take the kids for an hour or so a day is ideal. Nowadays, I wait until my son goes to bed around 9 PM and head to the gym.
Keep on truckin'! 3 -
Single mom of 2 and I work Mon- Fri 8 to 430 (half hour lunch). I do lunch prep on sundays and eat a quick breakfast (eggs or overnight oats) dinner is always easy chicken, fish or turkey with some sides (veggies) I get home about 530. Have dinner done by 6 or so. I work out at home with the smart tv and my 4 and 6 year old will sometimes join me. They think its fun! Then it's bed time and I clean a little and usually have about 30 min to an hour of just me time. It wasn't always that easy. It took time to get used to the go-go-go lifestyle and it can be challenging but I think its mostly personality because I thrive on those sorts of challenges.2
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1. I give them two choices for dinner: what I cook or don't eat. (Sounds cruel, but saves sanity and in the long run, you need to take care of yourself in order to take care of other - namely your children)
2. Cook. When you do the cooking, you know the meals are healthy. If someone complains, see #1. Or tell them, then you make dinner.
3. Weird mom workout plan.... to include:
Adductor/abductor lifts while cooking
Body weight squats putting away dishes, toys, laundry
Stiff leg deadlifts: toddler toys & husband's dirty laundry that somehow always miss the hamper
Board game planks: play on the floor and while it's thier turn, do a plank.
Standing in line calf raises
Jogging to the mail box/running in place going through the mail.
Hope this helps.3 -
I work full time 7-4. I try to squeeze in walking at work when the weather permits. In an ideal week, I meal prep Sunday for my breakfast (energy balls from Pinterest) and some combo of rice/noodles and veggies for lunch. When weather permits my husband and I take our son on a walk in the neighborhood in the evenings. I go to the gym when he is asleep. If life is particularly chaotic I will take him to the gym childcare while I squeeze in a work out. I have to be flexible but still try to prioritize my health and remind myself that I will always be my sons mother and my husbands wife and twenty years form now they will be glad I took care of myself. And I would want my son to make his health a priority when he grows up and is a parent as well. So that alleviates some of my guilt about taking time for myself.1
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Depend on my husband for alot. He divides cleaning, and first one home cooks dinner. Don't worry to much about having a perfect house. And use my phones day planner religiously.0
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My kids are older, but there is no time until I get them to bed. I use the elliptical I have at home usually after they go to bed. I prepare separate meals much of the time. I am a single mom with 100% custody and work full time. I pay someone to clean my house every other week. It is the best money I ever spent. The day to day chores, laundry, homework, both kids' activities outside of school etc... keep me busy enough. There is no way I could make time for the gym. Our schedule is already jam-packed and my son starts school at 7:40 a.m. Having an elliptical at home makes it much easier for me.1
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tmoneyag99 wrote: »How do you manage getting your family fed, stay on point with your diet, keep work demands under control, spend quality time with your children, spend quality time with your husband, clean house, AND make time for working out.
By young children I mean kids that aren't self sufficient. Kids that can't feed themselves or dress themselves. Not that being a mother of older children is any easier but it's different in that you don't have to sit at the table and shovel food in your child's mouth. LOL
What do your days look like? How often do you work out? How long is each workout? How much sleep do you get daily?
It was far easier when the kids were younger. They are more "portable" you can just take them with you, plust they have no afterschool activities.
When my kids were young, I had invested in a treadmill for exercise. But, exercise is more for fitness and general health, it will not affect much weight.
Diet-wise, single, married, child-less, with younger or older kids, working or not, honestly I see no difference. You can always eat less or more.
I was cooking pre-marriage, pre-kids, after-kids. Not much has changed, other than cooking for 5 now instead of cooking for 1 or 2.0 -
Single full time working mum of two here, no contact with dad, so unless they are at school they are with me.
During the week I park about 1000 steps from my office and use my half hour lunch break to walk and eat at my desk. On nice evenings we all go out for a half hour walk, doing this notmally nets me around 10000 steps a day. In the evenings, after they are in bed I'll do the dishes, prep my lunch for the next day and then do a half hour bodyweight/kettlebell workout.
At weekends we walk to the shops, walk in the country and go swimming.
As a previous poster has already mentioned the pressure to do it all and have it all is OTT and so I've decided quality time for me (on my own) and the children(as a family) takes priority over a clean and tidy house, they would like me to be healthy so I can enjoy them more and be around for longer and they will remember the picnics and blackberry picking, not the spotless bathroom and immaculate carpets...1 -
Be suuuuuuper organised lol I work, study, home school my oldest son and the rest. I wrote all my weekly things to do on a whiteboard then scheduled them in my phone calendar (right down to showering, taking meat out for dinner etc) we have a two year old as well. I go to the gym six days a week ( in the evening after hubby home from work) my gym is 24/70
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You ask your husband to help. It's not your sole responsibility to take care of that stuff.1
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*How do you manage getting your family fed, stay on point with your diet, keep work demands under control, spend quality time with your children, spend quality time with your husband, clean house, AND make time for working out.*
First off, I stopped worrying about what "other" people thought all that was suppose to look like and instead found creative ways to make all that fit into my crazy life. When mine were really young, I didn't worry about getting an organized workout in, rather I just found ways to be active as often as possible. Whether it was taking the kids to the playground and running around with them instead of just sitting on the benches. Walks in the neighborhood to help lull them to sleep at night. I'd pick up cheap workout equipment (dumbbells as I could afford them, exercise balls, jump rope, etc) and would squeeze in 10 mins here, 15 mins there when I could. As they started walking, we'd spend free time doing walking tours, hitting museums. I even bought a membership at our local zoo and I would often stop on the way home from work and let them run around. Chasing kids can be great cardio. As my kids got older and more independent, our quality time came in the form of me coaching their sports teams, weekend active adventures. I also made a point to make car time our quality talk time. I realized between driving them to daycare/sitters/school and running them around to all their activities, my children were a captive audience for a couple hours a day, almost everyday. All our best conversations happened in my car!
As for keeping eating on point? Meal planning/meal prep. Eventual, I planned a 2 month rotating meal plan that just took the guess work out of food. (I still use the 2 month rotating meal plan as my kids are just about grown and starting to leave the house). Saturdays mornings were coupon clipping and grocery shopping, Sunday mornings were for meal prep (pre chopping veggies, mixing marinades, packing snacks, etc). I'd also pack my lunches while hubby and I were cleaning up dinner.
The house work? ehhh. That happened when there was time and I only worried about keeping the house sanitary and safe, not "clean". The hubby and I split the basic daily chores, but I didn't let a little mess stress me out. I'm pretty sure my house looked like a tornado hit it most of the time until the kids were old enough to help out.0 -
My days are a rush!
I'm up at 5am quick shower and get dressed, pack my lunch bag and make my to go coffee.
6am wake kids dress them do their hair and help them brush their teeth. Leave house 6:15-6:20.
Drive to daycare where they are fed breakfast and lunch or when school is in they have breakfast and catch the bus to school where they eat the lunch I packed them the night before.
Drive to work and work from 7-3. I eat at my desk and use my lunch and breaks to walk to get in some exercise.
3pm go to the gym if the kids are not in school for 1 hour. Pick them up from daycare at 4pm and head home. If they are in school I get them from school at 3 right after work and do a home workout later.
Make dinner for the kids because they don't usually eat what I do my hubby is out of town for work most weekdays if he is home he gets dinner too. I usually heat up a meal prepped meal for myself and have that.
I get clothes laid out and baths and jammies on the kids after dinner. Homework and reading with the kids. Bedtime turn the kids 7pm.
7pm till bedtime for Mommy 10pm. Clean the house do the Laundry get in a home workout if I need to. Prep my lunch and snacks for the next day.
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JessicaMcB wrote: »I'm a SAHM who solo parents much of the time because my husband works away. I cook and shop with my 4, 3 and 2 year olds in tow, we walk everywhere. I run at 3AM 6 days a week on my ultramarathon programming. I clean, etc. after my kids have gone to bed and prep against running in the morning, usually in bed around midnight.
Oh my gosh I could not survive on three hours of sleep. Particularly not if I had to then be nice to people
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I am far from having it all figured out, but do my best. I meal plan and organize all of our dinners and lunches on Sunday (right now only have to prep my lunch - when school starts back up I will do my sons as well. The daycare feeds them lunch otherwise). That helps me to avoid junk food or unplanned going out to eat.
As far as exercise, I need to work on varying this. I mostly run, but I can't run in the morning b/c I don't have a treadmill, and my husband isn't home overnight/early morning. I usually try to leave work at 4:00 and run then, so that is done before I have to go cook dinner. Once winter comes back I will either try to run at lunch or have to go to the gym after kids bedtime to get the miles in. Plus my long runs are on the weekend and I typically do those before the kids and husband get up.
After dinner it's time for kid time, baths, books, etc. I pick up daily so that it's not overwhelming. Or at least I TRY to.
My husband is helpful in that some nights when I have meetings he will make "dad dinner" (usually spaghetti), and he also handles most of the laundry and the yard.
I don't know how single moms could do it honestly.1 -
Mine are 9 & 11, and while I don't need to physically feed them, they're still time consuming. They each have their own activities, homework, etc. My husband works nights and I have an hour long commute each way from my full time job. I don't see life getting less busy until they're driving themselves around.
My gym time gets squeezed into my lunch hour- but then again, I'm really fortunate to have a gym in the building next door I can walk to. When I can get a full hour, that is. I have a standing desk, squeeze in walks and trips up the stairs... last night I did kettle bell swings and yoga in front of the TV while the kids watched a movie.
I'm not doing as well as I should, and I know this, and I'm trying. Two things I'm currently doing right is that I'm barely drinking (maybe a beer every 2 weeks) and sleeping as much as I can. So tired of being tired!0
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