Daily goals with little ones

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2003
Daily goals with little ones
7
Tue, 04-13-2004 - 3:50pm
Hi! I have three little ones 5, 3 and 2. My oldest does 2 afternoons a week of preschool and will be doing homeschool next year. I am interested in what other moms of little ones do in a day. How much do you get out? How much do you clean? Do you have a schedule? How much TV do you watch and how much do you think you should watch? How much art, craft, games, or learning do you do? Playdates? Are you satisfied with this or are you frustrated, or very content? Are you lonely? What would you like to do in an ideal day? I am looking for ideas! Thanks for sharing! Jules
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2004
Wed, 04-14-2004 - 11:15am
i am right there w/ ya. i have 2 little ones still at home the other 2 are in school all day. i have no sort of routine really and am dying to find opinions on what i can do with them. we've tried moms club type things, playgroups, and story times. but it always turns out to be a nightmare. my son (3 ) either doesn't share , makes kids mad, screams, throws tantrums, doesn't listen to story time and runs around. i have good discipline on him, no doubt, but he's just very high maintainance and is hard to keep after constantly w/ my yelling, etc. yes i am there w/ ya. and would like advice to . no ideas really. we've tried checking books out at the library and doing some crafty projects. with a just now 3 y.o. it's a trying time. good luck entertaining huH? lol
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 04-14-2004 - 2:25pm
Im feeling a bit loopie today. My son is on spring break my DH has been working overtime and my DD has discoverd the art of back talk!!




I am interested in what other moms of little ones do in a day.

How much do you get out?

Grocery store once or twice a week



How much do you clean?

About 15 times a day




Do you have a schedule?

Yep its lining the cat litter box



How much TV do you watch?

You mean there is someting other than Blues Clues stuff for people over the age of 10?




How much art, craft, games, or learning do you do?

This seems to be all I ever do - and everything we do has some kind of learning experience behind it. I talk to my kids a lot!! They are both full of endless ???



Playdates? Hate em never do em :{


Are you satisfied with this or are you frustrated, or very content?

I'm a mom I wear all hats and that means I wear all emotions too.



Are you lonely?

Who has time to be lonley in this zoo?


What would you like to do in an ideal day?

oh thats a loaded question! ;)


I am looking for ideas! Thanks for sharing! Jules

And I am being very sarcarstic. I think your thinking too much about it. Being a mom is like riding a bike. You get on - pedal hold your balance and just go. (Mostley down hill with your hands tied behind your back.)


LM

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-24-2004
Wed, 04-14-2004 - 3:00pm
i too am home with an almost 3 y.o. dd every day. lately i feel like i'm losing my mind. i have no other adult interaction other than using the computer to chat with friends, which i feel i do too much of during the day but if i don't i lose it. dh is never home at a decent hour and things there aren't that great either so it's not like he gets home and we hang out and talk and things are all hunky dory. he either usually puts on sports center, gets on the computer to update his fantasy sports stats or is walking in the door at 8 when it's too late to do anything. other than that...i too would love ideas for things to do w/dd. i feel that i don't give her enough attention during the day and as for the tv question?? i feel like it's always on...i mean it's great that my 3 y.o. can count to 5 in spanish but she learned it from dora. i feel like a terrible mom but i also feel very lonely and miserable alot of the time so that's when i go online to chat with other friends/adults. my best friend who has 2 kids used to come over all the time and that was GREAT for both me and dd but she moved to FL last Oct since her hubby got re-stationed w/air force. any help or ideas would be great. i don't want my kid to be a tv kid but i don't want to lose myself either. i will be happy when she can start preschool in the fall even if it's for 3 days a week. it will give her variety and more play time with other kids. sorry i'm of no help :-(
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2003
Wed, 04-14-2004 - 11:58pm
OK ladies this is exactly my point. We have the greatest job, the most flexability, the most hands on influence with what really matters to us and I think that we need to put our heads together and buck up. We should be doing a really good job and be proud of years we do this. I just think that if the ones that have figured it out so to speak would offer advice it could be really helpful to others. So far we haven't lucked out with hearing advice. I think that being a SAHM is alot like being a primary grade teacher. I was for ten years. Yes you have to be flexible and yet I don't agree with the down hill bike scenario. I think we can do better. We can atleast have goals for ourselves which is the whole point of this discussion. One thing that I see is that most don't think they are doing a great job. But if you have some little bit of advice lets hear it! Jules
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-29-2003
Thu, 04-15-2004 - 10:42am
if you plan on homeschooling your oldest next year, you might want to start a morning routine with all the kids that includes sitting and doing hands on stuff, even wtih the youngest. then all the kids will get into the habit of homeschooling.. i homeschool my 2 girls..... i made the mistake of only doing the oldest for a few years in a stuctured way, then added the youngest.....and boy what a shock to us both... at that point the oldest was doing harder stuff and i had to work in the youngest and her stuff too... not easy.. if you all get into a routine of it now, it will turn out to be the easiest in the long run. before homeschooling, we had a pretty laxed routine, but we did do alot of the same stuff every week. monday was laudnry day and recover from teh weekend..lol on tuesdays we did story time, and so on.fridays we did lunch and groceries... but stick to YOUR house hold routine, and the kids will just fall in.... i did let my girls watch nick jr in the mornings while i got my work done, they are great cartoons that requires them to physicaly and mentally interact with the show...... not like telletubies that puts em in a trance.....no brain work...lol.... at the age of 2 both my girls started dance, so we had that one evening a week.. dont over schedule a kid... but they do thrive on structure, discipline and routine.. heavily.. kids need to COUNT on stuff and know what is going to happen in their day.....
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2003
Thu, 04-15-2004 - 12:26pm
well i do not know if i will be of amy help here but i do not have a schedule that i follow. we live each day as they come. kids have a very short attention span so we do so much each day. i clean as i walk through the house. meaning if i have to go to the kitchen for some juice for the 2yr old i pick up something along the way that need to go there too. other wise the major cleaning is a shared chore. i get he other kids helping and we do it together or it will not get done. and alway if you spend more time outside your house does not get dirty. and they learn more outside than watching tv. on the warmer days the tv is off all day and can be on only in the dark hour.

heidi

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2003
Thu, 04-15-2004 - 1:10pm
Thank you for your suggestions! I had been doing a good job of doing learning things we called them in the AM (All of them at their level) and now I have gotten lazy about it. But we do it enough to know it will be familiar to them. I also think you have a good point about the structure. My oldest (5) always asks "What are we going to do tomorrow?" I tell him then whatever we have planned but I think it would be helpful if I had a weekly calendar down low for him with pictures of what will be that day. We have school 2 PMs T ball and Moms club sometimes. We really do not overschedule. Sometimes I wonder if it is not enough for him. But it is for his brothers. Next year we will have school work to do and he will be old enough to do more sports in the PMs. I suppose we could sign him up for Gymnastics or Karate now. Or at least for when T ball is over.

Usually I try to do one quality activity with the boys- art or a park trip or library or play date etc. Then I try to get one big chore (bathrooms, laundry etc.) And daily dishes and pick up. I try to get in some excercise for me (treadmill in the living room HA! or Pilates videos) I try to get the boys outside and or some creative play. I try to get in some social or adult thinking everyday, whether it is computer, phone calls, TV-(I try to only watch Dr. Phil and or Oprah if I am on the treadmill or folding laundry or cleaning) or reading. Usually not reading although I have been better about choosing books for me at the library. (It is hard to focus with the kids around and I feel guilty unless it is at night late instead of TV.) But usually if I can do those things I feel pretty good about the day. I also try to know what we are having for dinner pretty early in the day so I can be defrosting if needed and know when I need to start it. I try to have the living room (where we relax at night and the first room you see when you walk into the house) picked up and vacuumed before DH gets home. I will leave a big pile of clean laundry to fold while watching TV at night. Dh will usually help with that. I try to have dinner ready when dh gets home. We try to have date night atleast 2 times a month. We try to do special family day trips or at least to the park on weekends.

I really do love being at home. I just love the feeling of a satisfying day and hate an unproductive one. I turned down a good paying job yesterday because I would hate to end this all now. My husband said it would not be good for our boys. That made me feel good! Anyway keep up the advice! Jules