Stay at home sanity: 15 ways to have fun with your little ones

There are a lot of things that kids do on their own, like playing on the computer, building things with blocks, coloring, and watching their shows on TV, but when it’s time for us to play with them, it may be challenging to find activities that keep them interested and us entertained! As a stay at home mom, I think that I have found a few activities that I enjoy as much as the kids, and they are diverse enough that I can choose one that matches the mood I’m in! I hope that my list is useful to you and your kids too!

1. Dance
   Kids really love a lively beat and its great exercise for them, and us! What I try to do is play ‘follow the leader’ with the dance moves, so each child takes a turn doing silly moves while the rest of us follow along. This is really an excellent and fun way to keep them happy and to do some de-stressing for us! We really like African drums.
2. Listen to a story on CD
   Sometimes when I am just really tired, I play the kids stories on CD, (especially Mouse Cookie & More because it includes great little songs and fun activities along with the stories) and I get to lie on the couch. It’s nice to be able to listen to a story along with them sometimes!
3. Play with clay sticks
   I get these from the Dollar store, and they are a little harder than playdoh, so there is not as much mess, and I find that it’s really enjoyable for me as well.
4. Pretend to be animals
   Baby Einstein has a DVD called “World Animals”, it is filled with video of many different types of animals and sea creatures; while the DVD is playing, we pretend to be the animals on the screen by imitating their movements and sounds. This is a pretty entertaining activity, especially for babies and toddlers.
5. Sudoku
   The kiddy version is really educational and challenging for my 4 year old. I got him a visual one, so he has picture stickers instead of numbers, but the logic of the game was still there and he really enjoys it, as do I! My 3 year old loves ‘hide and seek’, which is a ‘where is waldo’ type game; it consists of a large complex, puzzle picture and a bunch of small items to locate within the picture – he absolutely adores it.
6. Color the patio stones
   Or the sidewalk – whatever is more convenient! I bought really large chalk from Costco, and it’s been a huge form of stress-relief for me; there is just something about coloring that erases bad thoughts from my mind! And the kids enjoy it too.
7. Pretend to be space explorers
   This is a great way to teach kids about different planets. BBC’s website has a 3D solar system tour which describes the planets in an exciting format for kids, so once we go through it, we pretend to be on the different planets and describe what we are feeling – like if we’re on Mercury, we’ll exclaim that it’s really hot!
8. Collect stickers
   Dollar stores have a truly excellent collection of stickers for both young and old, and they have a collection of journals and other books that can be made into sticker books. Get $10 worth of stickers from the store and go nuts creating a sticker book! There are letters, numbers, characters, and even really cool foam ones to get really creative.
9. Treasure hunt for daddy
   Or mommy, depending on who’s gone out to work. Get little post-it notes and write out some clues, let the kids draw some clues, or use different items to create the clues, and then when daddy gets home, he’ll have something fun to do while babysitting the kids!
10. Origami
    This one really depends on how much you like crafts, and may require more patience than the others if you have a kid who is a perfectionist! I try to let my husband do this one with the kids because he enjoys it and does it much better than I can, but letting kids play with lots of colorful paper can keep them busy and happy for a long time!
11. Art journaling
    Since I started doing art journaling, I have found it to be almost therapeutic – just the ability to use any medium for self-expression is very freeing. I got the kids involved as well – each with his own journal, and since I do it with them, they are pretty serious about the activity!
12. Photobooks
    I guess this is similar to scrapbooking, but simpler! I get them kiddy albums from Walmart, the kind that has inserts that can come out, and then I print out a few photos from a recent trip or event and they have the opportunity to put it together how ever they want. Sometimes I am very tempted to intervene (usually I do) when I feel they are messing it up, but I try to let them do their own thing, it’s not for show, it’s just for fun!
13. Make a movie
    Well, not exactly a movie, but create a scenario for the kids and then start acting it out – usually the kids will catch on very fast and start adding in their own scenes! Watching their imagination and creativity can be extremely entertaining.
14. Nature walk
    If you’re in the mood to get out of the house, a little exploration may be just the thing you need. The only problem with this idea is that kids love to ask a million questions, so if you’re not in the mood to answer all of them you can get the kids to collect some of the items that intrigue them, and take a couple photos of anything that cannot be collected, put all of the treasure into a box for safekeeping, and then they can ask their daddy all about their interesting finds when it’s his turn to baby-sit!
15. Charades
    My 4 year old really enjoys playing this game, and the younger 2 still enjoy the fun and laughter even though they do not grasp the concept of the game. We tend to play this one as a family, so my husband and I would pretend to be simple things like a ball or a train (my 3 year old is pretty good at guessing what we are pretending to be), and then my eldest gets his turn and sometimes he even stumps us!

I compiled a few kiddy favorites for your stay at home sanity arsenal. Enjoy!

Redefining life as a work at home mom

About 4 months ago, I officially became a ‘work at home mom’, or wahm, or momtrepreneur, which ever one you prefer it means the same thing, we are balancing our babies and our businesses.

I’d be lying if I said that my life has been totally great and I don’t regret it for a moment. There are days when I feel like a complete failure, there are days when I threaten my sons that I will go back to my “office building” if they don’t give me a chance to do my work, and there are days when my husband solely takes care of the kids while I criticize his parenting skills.

In one word, it has been an ‘adventure’! You know, the kind where you’re laughing one minute, crying the next.

It takes stamina to run a business from home. It is not for every mom, but I really think that stay at home parents need something to do besides mould young minds. The somewhat monotony and lack of mental stimulation can be almost overwhelming for most, and personally, I feel that having a creative outlet helps me be a better mom to my kids.

Strategies to be an efficient work at home mom (in no particular order, they are all equally important to me)

• Schedules, Routines and Organization

  Routines really help kids! Our family now operate pretty well in our new routine, it was developed so that the kids know what to expect next in their day, which I find really help them understand the difference between “play time”, “food time”, “nap time”, and of course “mommy work time”.

  Generally my work time tends to coincide with their “nap times”, and while they are awake, my husband and I will work out a babysitting schedule beforehand, to make sure that most of the time at least one of us is not actively working and is spending time with the kids.

  I am not an organized person, but I’ve found it important to have a designated work area with everything I need close at hand, this area does not need to be an entire room, all you need is a little corner of your home, for a long time I had only a computer armoire to call my own.
  

• Flexibility & Mobility

  While schedules, routines and organization are important, I find that I also need to be very flexible. Kids, as well as clients, tend to be unpredictable at times, needing attention just when we thought it was safe to let our guard down.

  Although most days with my kids are good, they can be outright unbearable at times, times when I feel like running away and never looking back. But at these times, I remind myself that I am not super-anything, I try to focus on getting things done as ‘bite-size’ tasks… so I hold and soothe my kids while I respond to my client and once everything is ok, I go hug my little ones back to sleep!

  At times it may be necessary to work while on the couch while the kids play with their LeapPad learning system, or computer games, or out in the backyard while they play in the sandbox, and at these times I try to do only really urgent or time-sensitive work, and my kids are generally happy to play on their own at these times because I don’t make a habit of doing it to often.
  

• Community & Support

  There is a common misconception among mothers I think, that we feel like we’re in it alone. But, there is support all around; we just need to be willing to accept it! My mom, sisters, and husband has been an amazing source of support, I just have to learn how not to be a ‘backseat driver’ now.

  And community is no longer just confined to your neighborhood, it’s now much, much wider, as we find that we respect people because of the way they write, we are inspired by others whom we’ve never met, that we are encouraged by words of kindness from new friends.

  To all of you, my community, my friends, thanks for your support and encouragement, it has helped me to face my fears and take chances!

• Manageable Goals

  Early on in my ‘career’, I would tell clients I could have everything done right away, because that’s what I was expected to do at my full time corporate job, but I soon realized that it was in nobody’s interest to overwork myself, not to mention the lost credibility of giving clients delivery dates that I could not meet! Now, I usually give myself a generous amount of time for each project, ensuring that I can get it done on time (unforeseen circumstances notwithstanding), and so my client is happy, my family is happy, and I am not as stressed out.

  Of course as a start up, I am working on a lot of my own projects in addition to clients’ projects, which means that I am always busy regardless… Ah! No system is perfect! Let’s just try to do the best we can! 
  

• Quality Family Time & Balance

  Neglecting husbands is likely a common side-effect of momtrepreneur-hood, especially in the early stages, when the excitement, fear, and exhaustion lead to serious emotional-dysfunction! Or was that just me?

  Having sort of been down that path before, it was a little easier for us to stay connected in spite of our almost chaotic life. Now that it’s summer we try to go for walks as a family in the evenings, or go to the park or playground together, or even just a quick game in the backyard. In winter time, it was skating, indoor play areas, or movies, together as a family.

  Finding balance is really the key to being mom, wife and entrepreneur, and it’s actually easy to find balance, it’s just a matter to dividing your day and week between work, play, and household duties, what’s hard sometimes is the ability to put your mind off the outstanding work focus only on the moment!
  

• Alone-time & Meditation

  While I don’t really meditate, I do pray at scheduled times during the day. Praying, for me, brings me comfort and inner peace, and makes me remember things that are truly important. Sometimes it’s hard to do this without kids hanging off me, or shouting at me, or walking up and down in front of me, but when I can actually do it all by myself, it’s a great way to recharge your batteries.

  I don’t watch TV regularly, maybe 3 hours per week, if so much, I prefer to go out with my sisters or mom, so I get some time away from the kids. Or my husband would take the boys out to play while the baby sleeps, and I’ll spend some time by myself. In return, since the kids go to bed pretty early, my husband will occasionally go out go-karting (he likes it), or watch movies that he enjoys. We are really trying to make sure that neither of us get to a ‘breaking-point’, which can so easily happen in these situations.

  Of course sometimes we end up arguing and grumpy with each other all day, and I guess that’s normal, but even then we let it go at the end of the day because we know it’s just the stress.
  

• Play Hard

  The old adage, ‘work hard, play hard’, is so true! You know, now that we are playing squash regularly, I am really loving having a way to just release the stress and tension, and just totally unwind. It’s worked out great for my husband and me because it’s also a way for us to spend time together, but even if it’s not convenient to leave the kids with someone else, then taking the entire family to a park and playing catch, soccer, baseball or even cricket is a wonderful option and it’s free!
  

I do prefer this life to working 9+ hours in an office building and being away from my kids for 12-14 hours everyday, I feel extremely fortunate to be able to take this path, which is challenging but also rewarding. But for stay at home moms in general and even working moms, a similar strategy is still necessary to make our busy lives seem less busy.