How To Manage Your Time As a Parent

Once you have your children, life is never the same again.Even if you are lucky enough to be a stay-at-home parent, life has to be organised and managed in a completely different manner.

Being responsible for one or more little people is rewarding and fulfilling, but also time-consuming and exhausting. The trick to managing your time and your life well after children is to keep your head on your shoulders, always, and plan ahead. There are also huge dividends to parenting when one does it with a great deal of patience and tolerance. Remember, those little people cannot and do not think like us, and do not live with the immense amount of responsibility we have foisted upon us.

Get Up Earlier Than Usual

One of the best tips to managing your time well when you have kids is to get up, not all rushed and impatient and cantankerous, but slowly, and peacefully. The most stressed parent can have a good start to his or her day by waking up just half an hour prior to his or her usual time. This also usually sets the tone for the day. There is really nothing a relaxing or peaceful as some quiet ‘me’ time in the mornings, and it soothes the mind, and gives one time to plan and schedule one’s day.

Opening up the blinds in one’s room, or in any quiet room in the house where you are unlikely to be disturbed and disturb others, and letting the gentle morning sunshine in, looking at Nature coming alive, preferably with a steaming cup of coffee in one’s hand, can be a great way to start your day! Think positive thoughts, plan your activities and chores for the day, and tell yourself each day is a blessing, and how lucky you are to have your family alive and well.

Keep a Diary

It is very useful to keep a diary in which you can write down all the activities and chores for the next day. It is also a good idea to prioritise, so that you do not get bogged down by trivialities, and do not let unimportant activities take precedence over unimportant ones and, consequently, get bogged down by hordes of tasks undone. Be realistic, and realise that you are a human being, and that Rome wasn’t built in a day. A good tip to managing your time, especially when one has children, is to do only one extra chore in a day, from your usual ones.

This means that you do not have to spring clean your entire house in one day, or try to be Super-Parent anywhere else. Look at the diary and the schedule of events for the next  day in the mornings, as you are slowly sipping your morning beverage. This puts all the plans into an even clearer perspective, and gets you going as soon as your time of relaxation is done. As it is, it is always a good idea to write and do, rather than simply to plan in one’s mind.

Differentiate and Divide Between Your Time and Your Children’s Time

One of the great ways to managing your time is to devote yourself completely to your kids when it is the need of the hour, and vice versa. Plan your day in such a way that you can attend to your kids completely and fully when they need you, for example, when you have to get them ready and dressed for school.

Do not get bogged down trying to balance your tasks with those of the kids, which require more attention at that time. Plan your time so that  you are completely focussed and involved with their needs. This will not only result in greater efficiency; it will also contribute towards the daily quota of quality time that you need to spend with them. Be patient and attend to their wants and demands, and they will feel loved and wanted.

Only turn your attention to yourself and your own tasks after you are through with them.  Slotting your time this way helps in demarcating your kids’ time from your own, and getting things done in a better, easier fashion. Similarly, the time in which you are getting your own tasks done needs to be quality time with and for yourself, and the same should be communicated to your kids. The idea is to keep from getting frazzled, and taking too much on to your plate at a time.

Give your Kids an Hour of Quality Time

One of the best ways of relaxing and giving your kids quality time is to designate one hour a day as their time; time when you forget about all your worries, chores and the like, and just involve yourself in meaningful or meaningless pursuits with your children, depending on their whimsical moods.

Your child/children may want to communicate meaningful stuff with you, or just like you to spend time with them, drawing or playing board games. The outcome, either way, would be fantastic de-stressing, and giving your child/children great quality time everyday. This also keeps a parent from feeling guilty about neglecting the children, and results in happier, content kids who will also give their parent his or her space when he or she requires it.

Preempt and Prepare

When one has kids, one cannot really afford to take things at a slow, languid, easy pace. One needs to be on one’s toes always to look properly after one’s household and family. Preempting and preparing helps greatly in this. For example, it helps to plan meals in advance, and prepare certain menu items in bulk, for the week.

Planning one’s wardrobe and setting out attires and outfits for a few days’ ahead also helps in less time being wasted on trivialities. The diary or schedule helps in planning things, but one also needs to cater for emergencies ,and unplanned situations, such as people dropping in, visits to the doctor and extra load at the workplace. Thus, catering for various situations helps in being more organised, and managing your time well.

Involve The Kids

Whatever age your child or children may be, they are always old enough to understand limits. Make those limits, communicate the same to your children, and stick to them, to waste less time, and create less stress for yourself. Kids also behave and respond better when they are aware of certain boundaries. Also, involve your kids in your day-to-day chores. Encourage small children to pack their bags and help in preparing their tiffins. Ask them to help you in picking up clutter and keeping things neat and tidy.

Explain that you get tired, and would benefit greatly from their help. Praise always works, and motivates kids to be model children. This results in a less tired, and happier you, and better behaved and more manageable children. Let your kids know, that you need your ‘me’ time as well to be a better parent to them.

All of the above will contribute greatly towards helping you, as a parent, to manage your time, and be a better parent. Remember, a huge dollop of patience and tolerance is required for each of the above. But it does have huge pay-offs in the long run. Happy parenting!