What can I do to improve my quality of life as a busy working mom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all folks saying au pairs must not be introverts. I have had two great (live-out) nannies but I would not want a non-family-member (esp an attractive young woman) living with us. Although I would absolutely love a cleaner or a household assistant to do dropoff/pickup.

OP, I second the suggestion to get a weekly sitter for date night and/or weekend mornings. It's made a huge difference in my life. Outdoor exercise is also key. I bike to work like one of the PPs and it's an easy way to fit it in. Running also doesn't take that long and requires no equipment other than shoes.

WTF!

Some people are not comfortable with this. Have you seen Ali Wong's comedy bit about it? It's not PC but a lot of people think it

[Anonymous]

What helps me is to have one thing each week that I do solely for myself - like meeting a friend for coffee, or evening plans with a couple I like, or meeting a friend at the gym.

I also regularly exercise and try to get enough sleep.

I think when I have things to look forward to I'm happier - also make plans to go on a vacation!

[Anonymous]

You need to train your kids to entertain themselves in the morning

This. Enforce times when you are present in the house but not available unless it's an emergency. The more consistent, the better it will work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y'all folks saying au pairs must not be introverts. I have had two great (live-out) nannies but I would not want a non-family-member (esp an attractive young woman) living with us. Although I would absolutely love a cleaner or a household assistant to do dropoff/pickup.

OP, I second the suggestion to get a weekly sitter for date night and/or weekend mornings. It's made a huge difference in my life. Outdoor exercise is also key. I bike to work like one of the PPs and it's an easy way to fit it in. Running also doesn't take that long and requires no equipment other than shoes.

I am a total introvert, and I have had three lovely au pairs and loved all of them. My husband isn't a pervert/adulterer and my self esteem is fine, so it was fantastic. We still keep in touch and have visited all three in their home countries. They will all be part of our lives forever.

[Anonymous]

Read or listen to the book by Laura Vanderkam — she also has great podcasts:

https://lauravanderkam.com/books/i-know-how-she-does-it/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marry a man who provides resources and strategies for you to live a life that is as stress free as possible. If you feel that ship has sailed then encourage young women to make smarter choices instead of being blinded by societal stupidity about the realities of life for most women.

What on earth……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y'all folks saying au pairs must not be introverts. I have had two great (live-out) nannies but I would not want a non-family-member (esp an attractive young woman) living with us. Although I would absolutely love a cleaner or a household assistant to do dropoff/pickup.

OP, I second the suggestion to get a weekly sitter for date night and/or weekend mornings. It's made a huge difference in my life. Outdoor exercise is also key. I bike to work like one of the PPs and it's an easy way to fit it in. Running also doesn't take that long and requires no equipment other than shoes.

WTF!

Funny but its not a joke that a lot of wealthy moms get replaced by nannies who are kind, nice, younger, and attractive.

[Anonymous]

I would not worry about my DH with an au pair no matter how pretty but I would not want someone living with our family because it would stress me out. I would like to host exchange students eventually so I’m working to get over this, but now with young kids is not the time. It’s not that unusual to feel anxiety about having a non-immediate family member come live with you.

Also, many of us live in homes where there is not a good space for an au pair to live.

[Anonymous]

Switch jobs. It provides relief for 3 years until the new job becomes too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not talking about the obvious, like grocery delivery.

Trying to think outside of the box for little (and bigger) things that I can do to really impact my quality of life. I wonder if it's possible to hire a babysitter to start at 6 am on weekend mornings- if I had two weekend mornings per month to really sleep in I think that could go a long way.

Or maybe slob that knob more

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marry a man who provides resources and strategies for you to live a life that is as stress free as possible. If you feel that ship has sailed then encourage young women to make smarter choices instead of being blinded by societal stupidity about the realities of life for most women.

What on earth……

Nope, this PP is absolutely right. I’m as “I am woman, hear me roar” as they come, and PP nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Counterintuitive, but adding something to your busy schedule that really refreshes you can be a good investment in how you feel about your life. Art class, exercise, weekly happy hour, volunteering for a cause that you really believe in, whatever sounds good to you.

I agree with this. I've added an hour of exercise to my day and I feel so much better. However, I also can't get my sleep together, and that's a huge drain. So if OP needs to fix sleep first, definitely start there. I average 4-5 hours of sleep and cannot get more. It's really wearing me down.

NP.When do you exercise? I'm so beat at the end of the day and my 3.5 year old naps at daycare so often isn't falling asleep until 9:30pm even though we put him down at 8:30pm. My one year old wakes up between 4:45-5:30am. Maybe I need to get out of the house to make it happen, if I'm home and DH is watching the kids I seem to always get sucked in

Back when my kids were really young and my baby woke up regularly in the 4 o’clock hour, I’d bundle her into the stroller and take her for a pre-dawn walk. Pleasanter in the summer but still nice in the winter.