It's been said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in something. If we go by that idea, then after 16 years of being a stay at home mom, I think I'm going to don that expert title and roll with it.
Just last year, besides my blog {that I work on from home}, I started working outside of the home on a very part time basis as a substitute teacher. I have learned a few things, but one of those things I think is the one thing that stay at home moms should be doing every single day.
It wasn't that long ago that I had a houseful of very cute but very mischievous little people. I remember when this picture was taken. Our youngest, who was a toddler, was very interested in the gingerbread house that his sister had made. We had it sitting on display in our entry and the little guy took the chance to sneak away and pull the tray with the gingerbread house down so that he could have a little snack.
He's shoving his mouth full of gingerbread house candy oblivious to the fact that his sister is heartbroken on the floor looking at the damages of her hard work and beautiful creation.
I know very well what the days look like when you stay at home with your children, and now I can compare it with those of the working parent. Here is the one thing that I take away with me from my job that I wasn't doing before. It may just be life changing for you stay at home moms.
As a stay at home mom I was busy all of the time. The kids kept me on my toes, they needed messes cleaned up, food made for them, the house needed attention, more food needed made, kids needed napped, diapers needed changed, the list goes on. I thought that I had my kids on a good schedule but what I didn't realize is that their schedule had me.
While the kids napped, I would fold laundry or clean the kitchen or tackle a project. If the kids were awake, I was tending to them. I wasn't taking time out just for me during the day.
Now that my kids are in school and the house is relatively calm during the day, I realized that my bad habits of trying to fit in everything that I could during those quite times has just been extended by about five hours and I have a larger chunk of the day to work, but typically that doesn't mean focusing on me. Or taking a break for me. It means housework, blogging, laundry, prepping dinner because our evenings are so busy. So you want to know what the one thing is that I have taken away from working and what I think stay at home moms should be doing every single day?
Ready for it? It's earth shattering. You should be taking a lunch break. When I work, I get a half an hour lunch break. It's glorious. I eat my lunch usually in silence and enjoy flipping through a magazine or scrolling mindlessly through social media.
My husband has always had this hour long lunch break that he has taken. He tells me that it's his favorite time of the day. He eats his lunch at his desk, logs into Netflix and watches his stories. During my day, I rarely do anything that doesn't involve shoving in as much work as I can and being as productive as I can before I go pick up kids from school.
When I work, I can totally see why my husband loves his lunch break. Who knew? So I'm telling you moms, stop trying to fit it all in. Give yourself a little grace and take a little time to enjoy a lunch break. Take it from me. I'm an expert.
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