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Stay At Home Mums Have It Easy
When people ask me what I do, I am often greeted with critism and unwelcome remarks about my career choices. When I fell pregnant with my first daughter I quit my college course, when she was 9 months of age I decided it was time to start again. After months of juggling a stressful college course and being a busy mother to my daughter, I managed to pass my course. It was then I decided to put a hold to my career to have another child. When my second child came along, and my other half was promoted, I decided that being a stay at home mum would make the most financial sense, rather than paying out 2 lots of childcare. So here goes, a day in the life of a busy SAHM of two.
6:00; Wake up, make my partner’s lunch for work and make my youngest child breakfast.
7:00, Youngest child wakes up, has his nappy changed and is fed breakfast.
7:45 oldest child wakes up and has breakfast.
8:30 Get children dressed and occupy them with an activity while I get on with the cleaning, this could consist of watching Cbeebies, drawing or painting etc. for my oldest child, the youngest usually placed in his play pen with his toys on in his Jumperoo.
10:00 (Yes it really does take that long just to tidy up and clean the downstairs only!) It’s time to take the dog for a short walk to the park before lunch
11:00 it’s time to start thinking about lunch
11:30 Time to make lunch, this usually consists of a pasta, sandwiches, omelettes, homemade pizza toasts or sometimes, plain old beans on toast!
11:45 (or possibly later if making lunch takes slightly longer) Give lunch to eldest child, and depending on the dish, feed the youngest (he is 9 months)
12:30PM Clean up the kids and the mess they have made (It’s inevitable!)
13:00 put youngest down for a nap
13:30 Start an activity with the oldest child, usually consists of baking, painting or crafty things!
14:30 youngest child wakes up
14:45 this is the time we spend together usually watching Cbeebies or a children’s DVD.
4:00 Make children tea, the current favourite is homemade Chicken curry with prawns.
4:30/5:00 feed the children
6:00 Bath time! I have a 3 seater bath so they both jump in together (thankfully!)
6:30 Pj’s on and Daddy is home!
7:00 Wind down time, usually a shared story
7:30 Bedtime!
You would think that this would be the end of my day, but now it’s time to make tea for myself and my other half, have a shower and tidy up again! This usually takes me up until 10pm which is bedtime for me before the whole day starts again.
I’m sure people think I’m a lazy mum who gets to sit drinking coffee and watching Jeremy Kyle all day, but the truth is, I’m rushed of my feet, planning meals, thinking of different activities, cleaning and looking after both children and my other half. So next time you think being a stay at home mum is easy… Think again, sometimes I think a 9-5 would be a welcome break for me.
This post is a guest post
About The Real Supermum
LOL, well take away one child, throw in blogging 10pm to midnight and co-sleeping from 1:30 to 7:30pm some managing hang on from falling off the bed by my bump and you’ve got my life :0)
They have no idea what its like unless they’ve been through it hun, hats off to you cause I struggle and only have my lil girl .. tell them to bugger off hun you do the best by your children x
I found it soooo much easier when I worked the kids weren’t home to trash it all day!! I can’t wait to go back to work hooray for childminders and after school clubs!
I love it when people assume SAHMs are lazy. Its hard bloody work trying to entertain two young children all day!
Im a SAHM of two as well and our days are pretty much the same! Trying to keep tummys full, the house clean and make sure the kids have fun somewhere in there. That last sentence has come to my mind also!
So true! Im looking forward to goin bk to work! Then Paul will realise how much i do when im out the house for 13 hrs on a Saturday and he has Chloe!
I have worked most of my kids lives and have recently stopped working and my oh works my shifts. And I can tell you it’s less tiring being a working mum then a SAHM. when I worked I came home and had the motivation to start dinner and empty the machine and get the kids bathed. Now it’s harder to keep awake later than 3pm because I am up since 6am and I’m doing everything and it’s kids kids kids and all the housework and three meals and cleaning and bathtime
I’m a SSAHM (single stay at home mum) and I do wonder some days where on earth the day went and what did we really do! Feeding, changing, cooking, playing, food shopping, play date, cleaning, walk to the park, bathtime, bed time …. replying to emails, sorting out paperwork, bills, catching up with family and friends, arranging play dates … and finally half an hour me time at 1030pm on the supermums site …. Im just waiting for a smart alec to ask me where my sun tan is after all this nice weather we’ve been having ….
I work 10 hours a week so not much but its hard just having 1 lo. I rarely get chance to myself
x
Being a SAHM is probably the hardest job in the world there are no coffee beaks or even days off but the payment of pure love is worth it x
I agree, give me a job any day just for a break! Being a SAHM is hard! especially with 2 young children under 3 (which I have just recently discovered) I’m surprised I’m not gray! So anyone that says it’s easy, I’d like to know what they’re doing and if they’d teach me how to! Lol
I’m at home with my LO through the day then out to work at 7 o’clock while daddy puts her to bed and i come in about half past 12, so I’m a working mummy but as I’m not losing anytime with her through the day I am kind of a stay at home mummy, well sort of lol xx
i dont think anyone will understand it until they do it for a month, you are thrown into this life and you do things repetitively and continuously out of necessity with no 10 mins to yourself to run for a shower, eat in peace or even pee in peace. its alot, i actually had more of a break when i worked x
Anyone who says being a SAHM is easy has never been one. Simple as that lol x
Im a SAHM of 1 and its harder than when i was child less and worked 40 hours a week!! im more tired and i have no me time at all. People are so quick to critisise but untill theyve been there they should stay schtum!
I’ve just become SAHM of two, I’ve just finish my first week alone oh my gosh along with giving birth moving home in a week of each its never stops and I have help as my partner works 6-2 2-10 shifts hats of to people that do it alone or with no help from partners!!! xx
im a sahm of 4 and im alwas busy! having a break now from housework and feeding the baby but still have more to do… this is not the easy life
makes me laugh when ppl think stay at home mums have an easy life n they r just like a person without kids n they just sit on their arses watching jezza n drinking coffee …. i bloody wish think a mum is harder then having a normal 9-5 job as at least with that at 5pm u go home n thats it till 9am the next day … like hell it is lol we dont stop not even throw out the night as we r at the childs beck n call 24/7 , n when the child is napping in the day we then r catching up on wat we can while we have the chance xx
When you work full time you clock off and your time is your own, when you are a sahm you NEVER clock off! You dont get over time! And the pay is crap! But the rewards are unbeatable!
It’s hard bloody work! I would like to see all the full time workers swap! I do work but I start when the kids are in bed and finish when they are still asleep so I do both xx
i think generally being at work is generally easier than being a sahm. the work load, and pressure etc is totally different. i think those mums who work, come home and still do everything are amazing, i honestly dont think i could do that. i can multi-task but not that well lol x
i am sahm of one child and one adult lol i would love to go work just for the break, its not easy but its worth all the blood sweat an tears at the end of the day x
i am a sahm mum to a 3 year old my brother who is 17 and my partner who is 27 haha i would love to go to work just to get some me time but at the end of the day thats life i will 1 day get a job and be able to juggle life at home to its worth me having no money and nothing new and tired by 8pm lol xx
unless you have done it you dont know i would say goin to work is far easier as at least you can go home leaving stuff unfinished & the worry behind till the next day if your a sahm you cant as it in your face so u have to deal with it x
Im a sahm to two children
love it but now want to go work x
I readd this thinking.,. Wow that sounds just like my day.. wait.. I wrote it LOL xx
wow your lucky …I never think of stay at home mums as lazy … but working mothers have to do it all as well…. we just do it in a different order to the stay at home mum. Our day ( my 2 girls aged 7 and 10 plus myself) starts at 5:30am then winds down at 9ish when the girls go to bed, 11ish for me after i get my time which is half taken up by doing laundry, school lunches and dinner dishes … yes i know its late but i am a working mum.. so everything has to be squeezed into the afternoons and evening … plus we have swimming lessons and bible study groups , thrown in during the weekdays.. appointments are made after school hours ..I would love to stay at home but as life is not always as we plan i am a single mum and don’t have the luxury .. tho i have noticed on days that i have off I only work 3 or 4 days a week , its wonderful… playing with my children, feeding them , talking to them and doing mummy things are not the same as working … we work to earn money .. Children are made by choice and really shouldn’t be compared to working or classed as a job.
Just wondering , what do you think working mother do?.. a magic wand that just vanishes all our household jobs, appointments and child raising? because we work.
Hooray for you! Yes, you’re right, working mums do all of that too on top of working all day to support their family. I work p/t and my stay at home days are so much easier than working. I’m so grateful I can ( just about!) afford to work p/t as I treasure the days I have with the kids. I never think of it as work and I just think how fortunate I am that I’m able to have time at home in the day, away from work pressures and deadlines to have fun with the kids. It’s not work. Everyone, whether they’ve got kids or not has to cook, clean and food shop.
Hmm… Have a lot of respect for mums full stop… Working or not.