Being a mother is a lot more than just making sure kids are brought up happy and healthy. It’s a job, and one that takes up every single second you’re with your kid. Sometimes you will feel more like a manager than a mother and that’s okay. In fact, putting real effort into learning the skills a manager should know can be a huge help when it comes to raising little ones. What are the skills you need and how do you apply them?
Time
This is the biggie. If you have kids, it can feel like time just goes down the drain and you don’t get enough done throughout the day. Making time for all the essentials of making meals, taking care of the home, helping with homework and so on will eat more time than you might think. So, smart moms start finding ways to save time. They wake up a little earlier than the kids to get things ready to go in the morning. They plan one big shop for the week to stop repeat trips taking time. They use grocery apps, calendar apps, banking apps, and food apps to get things done quicker. Most importantly, they know to make time for themselves, too.
Money
Kids cost time, but they cost money, too. The days of having the opportunity to be slightly irresponsible with your money are long gone. Beyond knowing how to find savings and how to save, you need to start learning how to plan with your money. Identify your savings goals, such as an emergency fund in case something in the house breaks, and build a budget to save towards them. More importantly still, plan for when things go wrong. Have emergency reserves and tools like consolidate.loan at the ready when you’re forced to go into debt and need a reduction strategy. The budget can help you identify where exactly you’re spending money and highlight some of the habits that you can start dropping, too.
Health
It might not feel like it, but healthy habits and keeping up with them are a skill and one you need to not only stick to but teach your kids about, as well. Activekids.com is full of advice on how to teach healthier habits to your children. Find the time to make healthier meals without distraction by getting them to help you prepare them, for instance. Get your exercise in while they get theirs in by taking walks and hikes and bike rides together. Your children aren’t going to grow up healthy and active alone. They learn it from you.
Stress (and the management thereof)
Any woman who says that motherhood is a walk in the park is lying. Stress is a real factor. Poor time management, misbehaving kids, hospital visits, the ever-ramping costs of children. They all add to it. If you don’t find your own stress-busting methods, such as hobbies, finding time for meditation or even extra exercise, it can become too much and that’s bad for both you and the kids.
Leadership
As mom.me states, mothers and leaders share a lot of qualities. Correcting behavior, incentivizing people, teaching, and generally being the boss are all skills you have to make a real effort at learning. Without leadership, it can be hard for kids to feel any kind of direction as they grow and not really know why they’re trying at school, hobbies, creative pursuits and the like.
It’s a full-time job and it’s one that will undoubtedly exhaust you at times. But if you’re willing to put real effort into it, it can become the job you well and truly love.
Leave a Reply