"You have time for self care?"

     The question that comes after "How do you always look so nice despite having 7 kids?", is "How do you have time for that with 7 kids?!" Well...

     Disclaimer: Again, these opinions are my own and are not a judgement on anyone who do things different. This is kind of a long explanation, so if you'd rather get the short version, scroll down to the last paragraph 😊.

     Though I do have my hands full, my life isn't as busy as most speculate. People assume that homeschooling 7 children means all I do is teach, clean, cook and never get to sit. Yet, homeschooling takes us about 5 hours a day, and that includes lunch and recess! Cleaning takes anywhere from 1 to 2 hours a day. Some days we have extra activities and don't do any cleaning at all, which we then catch up on the weekend. As far as cooking, well I mostly cook simple meals and the chickadees help.

     When I try to remember my childhood, do you know what I don’t remember? How tidy our home was. When I ask my mom about it, she says she wasn’t able to keep up. I am the oldest of 6 children, so our home was not always tidy. Children do not remember such things. They remember if their parents read to them, or built forts with them, or played hide-and-seek. Or taught them to sew, or cuddled them, or were simply there for them! That is what I want for my own children. So sometimes I spend my time doing these things instead of cleaning or cooking. Ordering take-out once in a while won't hurt and leaving the dishes in the sink for one night won't kill anyone. At least it hasn't yet! 

     Don’t get me wrong though, I love it when our home is clean and tidy, and get frustrated when it's not. That is why I have chore charts for the chickadees and myself and we do them all together. This means, I don’t spend all day long doing it myself. Which gives me enough time for self care and even binge watch a tv show once in a while. Plus, it teaches the chickadees to be self sufficient members of society. You're welcome, possible future daughters- and sons-in-law.

     Decluttering our home last year has been the best thing I had ever done! So if you take one thing out of this, minimize your stuff!! It has cut our cleaning time in half, if not more! If you are spending all day long cleaning your home, and it still doesn't look tidy, you have too much stuff! 

     Another thing that helps with having the time, is managing it. I have a schedule of what time we are supposed to do what. Now, this schedule isn't set in stone, it's more of a guideline to keep us accountable and be wise with our time. Some days we follow it and some days we kinda follow it. Also, while the chickadees go to bed at 8:30/9, my bed time is at 10:30/11, so I get even more time to myself.

     I must say that, before the older chickadees were old enough to do their part, I did do it all myself. But I was younger then, had more energy, and less children to clean up after.

     You know what is not on our schedule? There are no gymnastics, ballet, games, or recitals. Therefore, we don't spend many hours taxiing the chickadees around and watching their various activities. At this time, they are not interested in any of them, and to be honest, I hope they never do! Well perhaps piano lessons, but then I'd hire a teacher to come to our home 😉.

     In summary, we don't spend 10 hours a day doing school work. I try to keep our home as minimalist as possible, which means a minimal amount of time cleaning. Chores and schedules help with time management. I cook simple meals and sometimes pick up fast food. The chickadees participate in the cleaning and cooking too. And this leaves me with plenty of time for self care.