Stay at home mums - what do you do all day?

Spendless

MrsSippi wrote: »

When I have got 2 of them at home all the time for 4 months or so I am sure I will be plenty busy enough but when eldest starts school I will be at home with a small baby on my own for the most part and that is what I found tough when I had my eldest.

Possibly that may have been that you just had all day to devote to you and baby.

My youngest was 6 months old when eldest started 5 afternoons a week at the school nursery down the road and 18 months when he started f-time school. You all have to be up and ready to do the school run, take eldest to school then back, do anything you didn't have chance to do before going off to school eg wash up breakfast things, or have your own if you're not an eat first thing in the morning person. Then I'd go to whatever activity I was doing that day, whether it be grocery shopping, visit grandma, tots group. Home lunch. Baby has afternoon nap while you rest, tidy up whatever. Back out for school run to pick eldest up, return home, give a snack (god knows what they do, but they are always 'starving' when they return home- this doesn't stop when they reach secondary school age!), help eldest learn words, read etc for a couple of hours before you go into tea and bedtime routine.

neneromanova

HappyMJ wrote: »

Play online bingo....LOL please don't do that unless you know what you're doing. I do that for profit, taking advantage of all the bonuses on all the sites, instead of working and make much more than a job could ever pay. Last month over £2,000 profit. It seems to me that there are a lot of stay at home parents online during the day.

How do you manage that?

Kaye1

We go out every day- library, park, town etc.


Tidy up, (with my helper) get tea prepped (when oldest gets home, I don't want to be in kitchen, so I get meal ready to cook.)


Play dough, colouring, singing, bricks etc.


We have quite a good routine, based around nap time.


Gardening (again with my helper)


Visit friends (usually other mums)


Pretty much everything, just with a little helper. I try to include her in most things I do, apart from hovering, which she hates!

onlyroz

I assume you know that you can claim 15 hours free childcare for your 3-year-old? I'm also not quite understanding why you won't be able to continue to work at least part time once your eldest starts school. A few days a week in a nursery or with a childminder would probably be beneficial for your youngest once your official maternity leave ends.

serena

I hope you don't mind me replying, as my three are all grown up now.

When I gave up work to by SAHM I didn't know anyone else at home with children. I had joined The National Childbirth Trust when pregnant, and then became actively involved with the local branch after. I used to go to all the open houses.

GwylimT

My wife and I were both part time stay at home parents on separate days once our daughter was six weeks old, until she was around 8 months plus I found it rather boring, she was a very calm baby who slept a lot so there wasn't much to do, we also lived in the middle of nowhere so you didn't see anyone on a walk and the nearest parent and baby club was 26 miles away.

I didn't do too much, but I did teach my dog to rollover, using time well!

trailingspouse

With #1 child I did an Open University degree.

When #2 child was little I became a childminder - I worked out that when I returned to work I was paying more than 50% of my take home pay to my childminder, and decided I'd rather have that amount coming in than going out. Did it for 3 years, and enjoyed being around kids so much I did a PGCE durign #2 child's Reception year, and became a teacher!!

jackyann

I was a stay-at-home mum (with very occasional casual work) for 13 years.
I loved it - I cooked from scratch, I taught the kids to cook, clean, wash iron, budget and all sorts of other skills.
We did all the stuff others have mentioned in our community. I made wonderful, lasting friends.
I loved my work, and I went back to it, but it was never was fascinating & exciting as spending a day with a small child.

That doesn't mean I expect others to agree - when some people describe their jobs I look at them and wonder how on earth they can bear to do them, but they seem to think they're great!

I hope you find it as happy a time as I did.

mincepiemonster

I am a sahm to my two girls - aged 9 months and the eldest was 3 last week.

We have something on each morning except Mondays - gardening club, toddler groups, singing classes. We come home for lunch and then the kids nap - I often have a nap myself as I'm up theough the night with my youngest still. In the afternoon we tend to meet friends or walk to the park. I do have nifty ways of spinning activities out to fill more time if needed, for example getting the bus rather than driving is an activity in itself, or having lunch in the tent becomes a longer activity. Walking places fills time too! (Not in a bad way, it's just that little people need to burn off energy and be worn out!)

I also do all the housework, manage finances, do online surveys, keep in touch with family, plan all our holidays...

I don't have time to be bored! All our lives are enriched by my role.

mummyroysof3

I gave up my part time job when I had my 3rd. At that point eldest was in nursery so between doing the school runs and 2 younger ones at home I never had time to d anything. When middle child started nursery I trained youngest to sleep for a couple of hours and started my OU degree lol. My youngest who is disabled is full time at school so I'm doing my last year of my degree and work as a midday supervisor at a school.

Find out what's on in your area to do and between that and housework and school runs the time seems to fly by