Prior to Fall 2022 I had been working as a Yoga Teacher full-time.
For those of you who do not know, when you teach Yoga you’re often working when your regular Monday-Friday/9-5 folks are off work. This meant that I would teach in the morning before my household woke up but then I could come home and spend the day with my son. When my partner returned from work at the end of the day I would head out to teach again for a few hours.
This might sound like a strange schedule but it worked for us. During the day I could do laundry, prep dinner, clean the house etc.
When I started working at LYB it was the first time that our household had both parents working more traditional working hours, and can I just say that I can’t believe this is what we have all decided is normal?!?! We are expected to maintain a relationship, a household, cook meals from scratch, and get the kids to their extracurricular activities. All of this at the end of a long day of work/school/whatever.
Shut the front door.
After a few months of running myself into the ground trying to keep up with my own expectations I realized something had to change. I needed to figure out how to do less.
Here are some of the things I’ve done:
Frozen Meals!
Once every couple of weeks I head to some of the stores around Ottawa that have frozen prepared meals (Red Apron is an amazing option). I stock the freezer with these meals, or a few frozen pizzas, or perogies or whatever so on those nights where I just CANNOT cook another meal (that no one is going to eat anyway…) I can throw that in the oven.
Bath time as Childcare!
Have you heard of popsicle baths?!?! My cousin, who has given me 90% of my parenting tools, shared this with me. Give your kids a popsicle, put them in the bath, and then take a moment to catch your breath. The kids are contained and entertained and you get 5 minutes.
Children don’t need Separate Activities!
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to ensure that our children are registered for every possible extracurricular activity. Whether it’s rock climbing, or dance lessons we can end up spending every free moment running them from place to place while throwing granola bars at them in the back seat. Pick their favourite thing, instead of packing their schedule, and then the rest of their “educational activities” can be done alongside yours! This is why our Family Bootcamp classes are so great! You get your workout in and your kids get to climb, play, and explore – this is exactly what all those Instagram moms post about!
Chaos Play Zone!
Designate a part of your house to an area where you do not have to clean up after them. This is the Kid Zone! So this is where they can leave their toys out, create a mess, and you can just avert your eyes. This has been a game changer for me – I find peace in my house being somewhat in order, but also found cleaning up after the kids every night to feel like I’m living a terrible groundhog day. So give them a space where kids can be kids! They can create a fort and it will be there the next day, or their Lego Land will live on without them worrying that their parents will put it away.
Parenting is a wild ride – so let’s make it easier on ourselves!