What is a good schedule for a mother with 2 kids starting with the morning time. I feel so tired and clueless on what I have to do when I wake up and throughout the day. What can I do to keep my kids busy and entertained? What is a good schedule to keep busy? My son is 9 years old and my daughter is 7 weeks old.
What are fun cheap activities to do to keep kids busy throughout the day during summer time and when school starts? Also what is a good choir schedule for a 9 year old boy?
I agree summer is no schedules and lots of things to do like going to the pool or the park or the library and earning points to get stuff. Also like somebody said take a nap when the baby does let the 9 year old play with a friend or play a game on the computer or video game or tv you sleep on the sofa and he plays near you and you chill out.
School will be starting soon for the 9 yr old. For now, make up a calendar and ask your son what he would like to do. If you are tired in the mornings, you are not getting a good nights sleep. Get your husband more involved in getting the children ready for bed so you can go to bed earlier and get more rest and sleep. Plan activities and prepare ahead of time so you are not rushed in the mornings. Put out breakfast dishes the night before so you have more morning time to relax before activities start. Lay out clothing for the next day. Plan to do laundry on certain days of the week. This helps a lot also. Laundry can be done while the 9 yr. old is out playing and the baby is asleep. You may have a neighbor who would be willing to share play days with their children and yours. That way, each of you can have a day to rest or catch up on chores.
Hi, I think you have been given some great advice about letting kids just be kids during the summer but I think scheduling is important with a new baby. Here are some suggestions from a mom of 2 who also raised two brothers. Try to put your baby on a regular nap schedule this is hard I know my daughter was really hard to do this with but I finally succeeded. (She has high functioning autism, and is hyper-kinesthetic, so she never wants to sleep.) Ideally she would sleep right now for at least 2 hours. During those two hours as suggested you nap for one hour (set a timer) than try to catch up on a few around the house chores that you cannot do while she is awake. Baby wakes up you feed her and then put her on the floor for some "tummy time" good for her and for you. While she spends 15 to 20 minutes doing this you stay in the room with her, and you and your son do a quiet activity together.
Remember that as old as he is, he is very used to being the center of your attention. This has to be quite an adjustment! Then pick her up, put her in a front pack and move on with your day. Here is a sample of my schedule. Keep in mind that I live on a large ranch so we have earlier hours than other people probably do, so just adjust to when you get up and go to bed.
7:00 eat breakfast, do dishes 8:00 outside chores (that are not little children friendly, ie feeding horses) 8:30 kids wake up feed them breakfast allow older child to watch PBS Sesame Street etc. play with baby. 9:30/10:00 go outside to play, with baby in front pack do outside chores that can be done with little ones. 11:30 make lunch 12:00 eat lunch. 1:00 go for walk with kids in stroller 2:00 everybody has two hour nap while mom sleeps for one than does housework 4:00 feed baby, give two year old snack 5:00 start dinner 6:00 eat dinner 7:00 two year old goes out to play with dad while mom does dinner dishes and baby does tummy time in the living room, or play in bouncer chair. when dishes are done we go outside too. 8:00 baby goes to bed, two year old has craft/paint time with mom. 9:00 Two year old goes to bed, read bedtime story til 9:15. 9:30 Mom catches up on any last minute stuff, pays bills etc. 9 to 11 Mommy alone time mommy does whatever she wants to do or needs to without little ones underfoot.
I plan all my meals for the month at once and write them down so I can be organized, I pay all my bills at the first of the month , on a scheduled day at a scheduled time. I also have a list of housekeeping duties that are broken up into days of the week so that a little bit of housework gets done everyday, the whole house gets cleaned once a week, and one room gets deep cleaned a month. This is not extraordinary and I am not necessarily well organized but I force myself to schedule, this is the key to your survival. Your nine year old is old enough that if you haven't already, you assign him a few things to do to help like washing the lunch dishes. I would recommend getting some organization books, from the library and finding a system that works for you.
Just remember, babies grow up fast and so do nine year olds so the more quality summer time you spend together now the more wonderful memories you will have later to look back on. Good luck!
If you have a 7 week old then you are most likely feeling drained because you aren't getting much sleep! The number one, top thing you should MAKE SURE you do each & every day is TAKE A NAP WHEN THE BABY DOES! If your 9 year old won't lay down with you to take a nap, then put a video on for him to watch & instruct him to wake you when it's over & NOT BEFORE! But tell him he'll get to do or eat something special if he lets you nap while the Video is on, this way he won't be bugging you constantly because he's bored & if TV isn't something he gets to watch all the time & it's only for special occasions, then he'll really look forward to his ONE video or one TV show a day while you nap.
---> Mark my word, if you get to take an hour or an hour & a half nap when the baby naps during the day, you will have SO much more energy for your family! And a 9 year old should be old enough to either keep himself entertained OR he can lay down WITH YOU to nap also!
If you get enough sleep, then everything else will fall into place! This is important, do NOT feel guilty about getting an extra hour or two of sleep when you have a small baby. You need it! * Ask your doctor, they'll say. "Sleep when the baby sleeps"!
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Request: Summer Schedule for Kids
Archived on 07/28/2008
My kids have no schedule. None. During the school year they did, but I have been EXTREMELY lax since the summer began. I need advice on making a schedule for them for the rest of the summer. They are 9 (going to 4th grade) and 7 (going to 2nd grade).
During the school year, they got up at 7:30, did their morning routine and rode the bus to school. After school, it was homework, dinner, showers, stories/snack, a little t.v. and then bed at 9. Mondays, once a month, were scout pack meetings and every week on thursday were scout den meetings. That has also let out for the summer and picks back up in September.
Right now, this is pretty much their (our) schedule. They get up whenever they feel like it, usually around 9 or 10. They eat/get dressed, then we leave to pick up my mom and go to the gym. After that we hang out at my sister's for a while or at my mom's. Then we come home in time for my hubby, around 3:30.
I make dinner while they play around the neighborhood with the other kids. I call them in for dinner when it's ready. (we use walkie talkies, lol) They eat dinner then go back outside to play until around 9:30, when they come in and take a shower, watch tv and hit the bed, with a movie in their room.
They don't read, they don't do the expensive computer games and workbooks we bought from school to help them prepare for school. I just don't know what kind of schedule to have or where to start. Can someone help me?
Thanks! Linda
Answers:
RE: Summer Schedule for Kids
It sounds like they are having a good summer! Summer is meant to be relaxed and memorable. Are they having behavior problems? Did their teachers recommend extra schooling or computer games to get them ready for the next school year?
My eight year old son is in a book club that meets on Tuesday mornings and has a tutoring session on Thursday mornings for one hour but other than that he doesn't have a schedule. I have seen behavior changes in him if he watches too much tv (ie cartoons) so we limit his tv watching by using tv tickets. He gets 14 tickets for the week and each ticket is worth 1/2 hour of tv or 50 cents to be turned back into me. So, he could earn $7 for the week to spend or save up for what he wants. Most of the time he gets $4 or $5 for the week but he has to be inovative with his day, thus less problems. If you are wanting to start some type of schedule with them I would recommend that they go to bed earlier in the evening, wake up earlier and start the day with school review, just to keep their skills up. (07/20/2005)
Our schedule is similar but every morning Mon_ Fri she does some school work. Not lots just a few pages of Math & reading or language. She knows no TV or out until it is done. We start in August coming in a little earlier & getting to bed. Every week a half an hour earlier.(07/20/2005)
By Cau.
RE: Summer Schedule for Kids
I agree, let them kickback. My only advice is once a week, visit library. Do something constructive and also not to let them get in the habit of sleeping in and in and in...my grand daughter is allowed to sleep until 11-12 everyday and I HATE IT, I feel it breeds a lax and lazy habit with no initiative! As they get older you can add structured activities, swim team, tennis, rec-board activities to keep the initiative going! (07/20/2005)
RE: Summer Schedule for Kids
Lucky children! Summer should be a no-routine time. They are building memories that will bring them enjoyment for the rest of their routine-driven lives. (07/21/2005)
By Josephine
RE: Summer Schedule for Kids
Summer is for fun. You should be thrilled that are they are playing outside instead of being glued to the computer. Kids NEED to play! (06/06/2006)
I like the idea of TV Tickets. I may try using that! I am the evil step mom that stopped them from watching countless of hours of tv every day and limited them to one hour....TV Tickets makes it more of a fun game for them, while also teaching responsibility.
During the first summer of being 'step-mom' I used a rigid schedule...I worked from home and they had been spoiled by grandma so much that they were unruly...they also had issues with too many video games changing their behavior, so I limited it to 30 minutes during school days and 1 hour during the summer.
They woke up and had breakfast at 8 and then got ready for the day, played outside, and then I had them do worksheets till lunch time. The worksheets I printed from online and they were grade appropriate for the coming year. I helped them minimally, but it was better to have them quietly ask me questions than the run around the house being noisy while I tried to concentrate (we had a very small house).
Then lunch, then they would watch some TV and play video games and then do chores. By that time I was done working and I would have them play outside or in their rooms while I made dinner...and occasionally they would help with dinner. The following year, the kids excelled at school and our 8 year old already knew all his times tables for 3rd grade before it even started. He aced his SOL's.
Now that we have moved to a bigger house, the kids are more in control, and there is more space for them to roam...they are used to playing more without video games and TV as a crutch, so I have been more relaxed but I did get them in a day camp for a week, took them to VBS at church for a week, they took swimming lessons one week, and they have been going to the library twice a week with their grandma and to the pool once a week, so she still gets to spend time with them. They also have free movies on Tuesday mornings at our local theater for kids, so she will at times take them there. That way they get out of the house and have fun, but also learn and behave.
The house is a lot more peaceful but if you're not a home-worker, all the time they spend with you is doing them good regardless. It's less time they have outside influences, and more time they learn the value of family, if they just do some workbook activities for an hour each day and maybe computer instead of TV at night, they will learn and enjoy it (kids actually thrive in structure and discipline - our 6 year old asked me for a summer schedule!) and they will definitely be leaps ahead of the other school kids the coming year...
