Are you a parent looking for ways to simplify your day and take back your life? Of course you are, what parent isn’t. In her book, Take Back Your Life, author Odette Pollar offers her suggestions on how you can simplify your personal and professional life. She offers a great chapter, Family Matters that I especially like. Listed below are some of my favorite tips:
(1) Switch responsibilities with your partner each week or monthly so that you’re not doing the same thing all the time. For instance, one week (or month) you can be responsible for getting the kids dressed and ready for breakfast, while he handles dinner.
(2) Once a week give kids lunch money. Tyler receives free lunch but they have an early afternoon snack and you are responsible for either sending a snack or money to purchase one. Each week, on different days, I put a dollar in his backpack and it’s always a surprise because he never knows which day it’s going to be until he checks his bag in the morning. If you have to prepare lunch, this give you a break at least one day a week from having to do so.
(2) Balance hard times with soft times. The author defines hard times as activities like going to parks, museums, aquariums, etc. Soft times would include activities like reading out loud, taking a walk and or just hanging out. I try to alternate weekends this way. If we go to a museum or even the mall one weekend, the following weekend I take it easy and just hang out or do things in the backyard.
(3) Don’t plan social activities for more than two weekends a month. This gives you the luxury of not having plans all the time and increases time for spontaneity.
(4) Prepare for your morning the night before. Gather all items you will need (clothes, lunch, etc.) and have them ready before you go to bed.
(5) Keep things like your keys, purse, briefcase, backpacks, etc. by the door.
(6) Set aside time each evening to go through papers from school, review/sign permission slips, etc.
(8) Plan breakfast the night before. You can set the table, put out cereal, set the coffeemaker on a timer, etc.
(9) Make a family calendar and check it daily to make sure important events don’t sneak up on you.
Don’t go away– I have ten more tips for you, in part two.