Anonymous
07/09/2021 14:58
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:A few general principles:
1) Understand what you can and can’t multitask with childcare. Sitting down and filling out complicated paperwork? Sending a detailed email? Reading an article online? Cannot multitask. Any work that is primarily mental will take 1/5 as much time if you save for nap or when another adult has the kids. Any work that is mostly physical but mentally simple is a great one to multitask with childcare—laundry and cooking are easy to get done during waking hours, so don’t save them for later, or you will never get a break.
2) Meet the basic needs first. If kids are well-rested, have time to be active, and have healthy meals at predictable times, every other part of parenting gets easier. Kids who are tired or hungry or constipated or bouncing off the walls are going to make your life hard. I always start the day with veggie omelettes or veggie pancakes or some other really healthy meal (I make these in bulk periodically and freeze). Then we go on our outing of the day, and usually eat a healthy lunch during the outing. We come home in time for nap. After nap they have a snack. Then I have well-rested, recently-fed kids who have been busy playing all morning. We don’t have the “witching hour” madness that goes on in so many families. My kids are always ready to play for at least and hour or two with minimal supervision so that I can get other stuff done.
3) Routine is your friend. I do a load of laundry daily, I have a short list of meals we rotate through, we go on the same basic outings most days. Set up your life so you can do it on autopilot.
My routine when I last had kids those ages (actually it was twins and younger sib 3 years apart).
Wake up:
Little One (LO) wakes up first. Change and get dressed. Get Big Kids (BK) up, changed and brush teeth. I have them carry their laundry (and I carry the rest of the laundry) to the washer, throw it in and they “help” me start the washer.
We come down to breakfast and go straight to the kitchen. LO strapped in high chair. I have activities prepped for them—rotate between play-dough, coloring, painting with water on special paper, stickers, felt board, beads, etc. They do their art while I unload the dishwasher and start the daily cooking. Once breakfast is ready, we clean up art and they eat and listen to an audiobook while I finish the food for the day (notes about meal planning below). Dishes go in the sink and when they are done they carry their plates to the sink and wipe their table/tray. Dishes aren’t done but the kitchen is otherwise tidy. I do make sure to run a little water over the dishes so they can soak.
After breakfast we go upstairs and rotate the laundry to the dryer. They go potty/get a fresh diaper, then get shoes on and go in the car or stroller and head out. I pack lunch with us. Since I was cooking while they ate, I stick my breakfast in a container and eat it in the car while they are buckled. I make recordings of me reading their favorite books and play those in this interval so I have one Cat In The Hat or whatever to eat something.
When we get there they play. We have 3 different places we go regularly: one is a little playground next to a big empty field, one is a playground with a really big sandbox and the last one is a fenced-in playground with a tot lot. 3-4 days a week we do one of these. 1-2 days a week we will mix it up and do something interesting. Doing something interesting at least some of the time helps keep them from getting board with the basic stuff the rest of the time.
“Special” outings include:
Zoo, big/far away playground, nature hike, pool (we don’t have a membership so this is too expensive to do regularly), berry picking, drive an hour to the beach, etc.
After about 1.5-2 hours of play, we have lunch. Usually we eat there at the outing site but if the weather is too bad to stay we head home. Because breakfast is always some form of veggies+protein, it frees us up to have lunch be fruit and carbs and still have a balanced day overall. I pack nut butter sandwiches, muffins, rolls, etc. and sone kind of fruit. Easy to pack and not something they will make a fuss about eating.
After lunch we all get ready for nap. BK get to play quietly with a special bin of choking hazards (like legos) for one hour while I get LO settled down for a nap, then we clean up and BK either watches a video in their second language or plays with an educational app (I like Homer). During the first hour of play, I do productive things around the house. This is when I do all the breakfast dishes/lunch/dinner prep dishes and bigger cooking projects like mass-producing rolls for lunch of quiche for breakfast. But only for that first hour. In order to have the energy to make it to bedtime, once the hour is over, when BK has a screen break, I have a break too. I may use the time to answer emails, or order clothes for the kids, or schedule tickets for the zoo, but I also may just do nothing at all and lay there or good off online. It’s my chance to shut down.
After nap, we do an activity together. I find that everybody needs to reconnect, so we do something supervised. We have a rotation of sensory activities: fingerpainting, sensory bins filled with rainbow rice or beans with various different accessories (such as animal figurines or scoops and funnels—we rotate those too), water play in the sprinkler or baby pool (or bathtub in winter), or doing cooking projects together (like making muffins is a great one). We also about once a week will do something that needs more planning, like a science project or special sensory activity. Just to keep it lively. After the activity winds down (usually about 30-45 minutes), we clean up and go into the playroom. By this time it is like 3-4 pm and they haven’t played with any of their playroom toys at all that day. I grab the laundry and sit nearby and fold it while they play. If dinner needs anything done for it, I will do that, then plate dinner. As I put our food on plates, I also transfer the rest of the food to storage containers and put the dishes used to cook dinner in the sink to soak. At 5:00, we clean up and go into the kitchen to eat. I sit at the table and eat with them to model manners.
After dinner we clear our plates to the sink, we all wipe the table together and head upstairs for bath. I bring the folded laundry with me and put it away with kids’ help.
Bath, pjs, read stories (and LO has a sippy with milk) then brush teeth. BK “helps” me tuck LO in, then BK and I read one extra story and tuck BK in.
Once they are down, I quickly do the dinner dishes and sweep the kitchen floor.
NOTES ABOUT FOOD:
I make breakfast and lunch really repetitive:
Standard breakfasts include:
1. veggie omelette
2. Veggie quiche
3. Baked sweet potato, black beans and sausage
4. Crudites and hummus
5. Sourdough zucchini and corn pancakes
6. Paleo pancakes
Lunch I basically rotate muffins, rolls or sandwiches, and some kind of fresh fruit.
Dinner I do a lot of sheet pan dinners (chicken or fish and some kind of sauce), accompanied by rice or quinoa and roast veggies (I put the veggies in a different pan from the sauce for little kids so they can opt out of the sauce if they prefer.
I also do a lot of crock pot meals—split pea soup, pot roast with potatoes and carrots, butternut squash or pumpkin soup, daal. All of these are served with bread or rice and cheese or yogurt.
I also make beans 2 pounds at a time in the crock pot and freeze in 1-cup increments, then I can throw together a light healthy meal, like 3-bean salad, or make refried beans with tomatoes and olives and serve with chips, or make a quick vegetarian chili.
If dinner is going in the crock pot or sheet pan, I put it together at breakfast time and then put it on to cook at the right time during the day. I try to time it so it is done by 4:30, so it can cool down a bit before the kids eat it.
At dinner I start with a small serving of each component of the meal and if they finish their plate they can have seconds of whatever they wish. So e.g., they have a small bit of fish, some roast brussels sprouts and rice. If they finish the plate and only liked the rice they can just eat that for the rest of the meal. My kids are always healthy eaters, even those with sensory issues or ASD.
Are you available in the next year? I will hire you, no questions asked.
Anonymous
07/07/2021 19:17
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:I was a Nanny for many years and am now a parent. It’s very different. Being on 24 hours a day is way more exhausting than coming in for 9/11 hours and mentally switching off. I didn’t get why the parents of my charges took days off to themselves and didn’t spend it with their kids. I get it now.
This! I was also a nanny and it's nothing like being a parent.
Anonymous
07/07/2021 16:01
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
I was a Nanny for many years and am now a parent. It’s very different. Being on 24 hours a day is way more exhausting than coming in for 9/11 hours then being able to mentally switch off. I didn’t get why the parents of my charges took days off to themselves and didn’t spend it with their kids. I get it now.
Anonymous
07/07/2021 04:32
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
^^Yes OP, sorry for the bad grapes on this thread.
Or grape.
There IS someone who loves to come on this forum & stir the pot.
This person literally thrives on drama.
You have received some excellent responses on here.
Especially from the person who provided a detailed + comprehensive rundown of her day!
Or grape.
There IS someone who loves to come on this forum & stir the pot.
This person literally thrives on drama.
You have received some excellent responses on here.
Especially from the person who provided a detailed + comprehensive rundown of her day!
Anonymous
07/06/2021 22:47
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
OP here. Really big thank you to the nannies that have responded here. Especially the PP with the full breakdown of the day and how it works and meal notes! This is so incredibly valuable to me, and it helps me see clearly where I’ve been missing opportunities. It makes me see that I can do better, and gives me the roadmap for how to do it. I really appreciate this, sincerely. Thank you.
Anonymous
07/05/2021 23:10
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you are a nanny to young kids (mine are 1.5 and 4) and you have a method/routine for meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing laundry, and also taking kids to some play dates and activities and just generally keeping them happy and busy, I would really love to know how you are making it happen! I can usually only do a few of these things really well, and I struggle to balance all of them. This is a genuine question: how do you do it? Can you share your schedule and/or daily routine or honestly just any tips? I would love to be more efficient and successful as a Sahm. I feel like I’m only pulling off a few of these at a time without working late into the night each evening to keep up.
You need to pay the nanny's hourly pay to teach you. Are you willing to do this.
Oh, shut up! Nanny here and PP and I’m happy to pass on any ideas or schedule!
Please, OP, ignore this nutcase. She probably isn’t even a nanny - just our resident nanny board troll.
Another nanny here. Omg.. how is possible there is always these kind of rude comments from people who just kindly ask for some advices. This is very embarrassing. Pls dear Mom OP.. don't think all of us ( Nannies) are the same. No way. I am a nanny who really love my employers, respect them and love deeply my charges so much. And pls don't think a great nanny like me; are the ones who charge for everything even for share same air that we breath. Just ignore those rude rude comments.
And a third nanny here. I’m glad to impart any experience I have for free if it helps a child. All the nannies I know are like me. That ugly “pay me” poster is a troll who haunts nanny sites for some unknown reason as she isn’t a nanny and doesn’t employ a nanny.
Anonymous
07/05/2021 21:50
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you are a nanny to young kids (mine are 1.5 and 4) and you have a method/routine for meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing laundry, and also taking kids to some play dates and activities and just generally keeping them happy and busy, I would really love to know how you are making it happen! I can usually only do a few of these things really well, and I struggle to balance all of them. This is a genuine question: how do you do it? Can you share your schedule and/or daily routine or honestly just any tips? I would love to be more efficient and successful as a Sahm. I feel like I’m only pulling off a few of these at a time without working late into the night each evening to keep up.
You need to pay the nanny's hourly pay to teach you. Are you willing to do this.
Oh, shut up! Nanny here and PP and I’m happy to pass on any ideas or schedule!
Please, OP, ignore this nutcase. She probably isn’t even a nanny - just our resident nanny board troll.
Another nanny here. Omg.. how is possible there is always these kind of rude comments from people who just kindly ask for some advices. This is very embarrassing. Pls dear Mom OP.. don't think all of us ( Nannies) are the same. No way. I am a nanny who really love my employers, respect them and love deeply my charges so much. And pls don't think a great nanny like me; are the ones who charge for everything even for share same air that we breath. Just ignore those rude rude comments.
Anonymous
07/05/2021 18:00
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If you are a nanny to young kids (mine are 1.5 and 4) and you have a method/routine for meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing laundry, and also taking kids to some play dates and activities and just generally keeping them happy and busy, I would really love to know how you are making it happen! I can usually only do a few of these things really well, and I struggle to balance all of them. This is a genuine question: how do you do it? Can you share your schedule and/or daily routine or honestly just any tips? I would love to be more efficient and successful as a Sahm. I feel like I’m only pulling off a few of these at a time without working late into the night each evening to keep up.
You need to pay the nanny's hourly pay to teach you. Are you willing to do this.
Oh, shut up! Nanny here and PP and I’m happy to pass on any ideas or schedule!
Please, OP, ignore this nutcase. She probably isn’t even a nanny - just our resident nanny board troll.
Anonymous
07/05/2021 17:36
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Anonymous wrote:If you are a nanny to young kids (mine are 1.5 and 4) and you have a method/routine for meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing laundry, and also taking kids to some play dates and activities and just generally keeping them happy and busy, I would really love to know how you are making it happen! I can usually only do a few of these things really well, and I struggle to balance all of them. This is a genuine question: how do you do it? Can you share your schedule and/or daily routine or honestly just any tips? I would love to be more efficient and successful as a Sahm. I feel like I’m only pulling off a few of these at a time without working late into the night each evening to keep up.
You need to pay the nanny's hourly pay to teach you. Are you willing to do this.
Anonymous
07/05/2021 09:06
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
A few general principles:
1) Understand what you can and can’t multitask with childcare. Sitting down and filling out complicated paperwork? Sending a detailed email? Reading an article online? Cannot multitask. Any work that is primarily mental will take 1/5 as much time if you save for nap or when another adult has the kids. Any work that is mostly physical but mentally simple is a great one to multitask with childcare—laundry and cooking are easy to get done during waking hours, so don’t save them for later, or you will never get a break.
2) Meet the basic needs first. If kids are well-rested, have time to be active, and have healthy meals at predictable times, every other part of parenting gets easier. Kids who are tired or hungry or constipated or bouncing off the walls are going to make your life hard. I always start the day with veggie omelettes or veggie pancakes or some other really healthy meal (I make these in bulk periodically and freeze). Then we go on our outing of the day, and usually eat a healthy lunch during the outing. We come home in time for nap. After nap they have a snack. Then I have well-rested, recently-fed kids who have been busy playing all morning. We don’t have the “witching hour” madness that goes on in so many families. My kids are always ready to play for at least and hour or two with minimal supervision so that I can get other stuff done.
3) Routine is your friend. I do a load of laundry daily, I have a short list of meals we rotate through, we go on the same basic outings most days. Set up your life so you can do it on autopilot.
My routine when I last had kids those ages (actually it was twins and younger sib 3 years apart).
Wake up:
Little One (LO) wakes up first. Change and get dressed. Get Big Kids (BK) up, changed and brush teeth. I have them carry their laundry (and I carry the rest of the laundry) to the washer, throw it in and they “help” me start the washer.
We come down to breakfast and go straight to the kitchen. LO strapped in high chair. I have activities prepped for them—rotate between play-dough, coloring, painting with water on special paper, stickers, felt board, beads, etc. They do their art while I unload the dishwasher and start the daily cooking. Once breakfast is ready, we clean up art and they eat and listen to an audiobook while I finish the food for the day (notes about meal planning below). Dishes go in the sink and when they are done they carry their plates to the sink and wipe their table/tray. Dishes aren’t done but the kitchen is otherwise tidy. I do make sure to run a little water over the dishes so they can soak.
After breakfast we go upstairs and rotate the laundry to the dryer. They go potty/get a fresh diaper, then get shoes on and go in the car or stroller and head out. I pack lunch with us. Since I was cooking while they ate, I stick my breakfast in a container and eat it in the car while they are buckled. I make recordings of me reading their favorite books and play those in this interval so I have one Cat In The Hat or whatever to eat something.
When we get there they play. We have 3 different places we go regularly: one is a little playground next to a big empty field, one is a playground with a really big sandbox and the last one is a fenced-in playground with a tot lot. 3-4 days a week we do one of these. 1-2 days a week we will mix it up and do something interesting. Doing something interesting at least some of the time helps keep them from getting board with the basic stuff the rest of the time.
“Special” outings include:
Zoo, big/far away playground, nature hike, pool (we don’t have a membership so this is too expensive to do regularly), berry picking, drive an hour to the beach, etc.
After about 1.5-2 hours of play, we have lunch. Usually we eat there at the outing site but if the weather is too bad to stay we head home. Because breakfast is always some form of veggies+protein, it frees us up to have lunch be fruit and carbs and still have a balanced day overall. I pack nut butter sandwiches, muffins, rolls, etc. and sone kind of fruit. Easy to pack and not something they will make a fuss about eating.
After lunch we all get ready for nap. BK get to play quietly with a special bin of choking hazards (like legos) for one hour while I get LO settled down for a nap, then we clean up and BK either watches a video in their second language or plays with an educational app (I like Homer). During the first hour of play, I do productive things around the house. This is when I do all the breakfast dishes/lunch/dinner prep dishes and bigger cooking projects like mass-producing rolls for lunch of quiche for breakfast. But only for that first hour. In order to have the energy to make it to bedtime, once the hour is over, when BK has a screen break, I have a break too. I may use the time to answer emails, or order clothes for the kids, or schedule tickets for the zoo, but I also may just do nothing at all and lay there or good off online. It’s my chance to shut down.
After nap, we do an activity together. I find that everybody needs to reconnect, so we do something supervised. We have a rotation of sensory activities: fingerpainting, sensory bins filled with rainbow rice or beans with various different accessories (such as animal figurines or scoops and funnels—we rotate those too), water play in the sprinkler or baby pool (or bathtub in winter), or doing cooking projects together (like making muffins is a great one). We also about once a week will do something that needs more planning, like a science project or special sensory activity. Just to keep it lively. After the activity winds down (usually about 30-45 minutes), we clean up and go into the playroom. By this time it is like 3-4 pm and they haven’t played with any of their playroom toys at all that day. I grab the laundry and sit nearby and fold it while they play. If dinner needs anything done for it, I will do that, then plate dinner. As I put our food on plates, I also transfer the rest of the food to storage containers and put the dishes used to cook dinner in the sink to soak. At 5:00, we clean up and go into the kitchen to eat. I sit at the table and eat with them to model manners.
After dinner we clear our plates to the sink, we all wipe the table together and head upstairs for bath. I bring the folded laundry with me and put it away with kids’ help.
Bath, pjs, read stories (and LO has a sippy with milk) then brush teeth. BK “helps” me tuck LO in, then BK and I read one extra story and tuck BK in.
Once they are down, I quickly do the dinner dishes and sweep the kitchen floor.
NOTES ABOUT FOOD:
I make breakfast and lunch really repetitive:
Standard breakfasts include:
1. veggie omelette
2. Veggie quiche
3. Baked sweet potato, black beans and sausage
4. Crudites and hummus
5. Sourdough zucchini and corn pancakes
6. Paleo pancakes
Lunch I basically rotate muffins, rolls or sandwiches, and some kind of fresh fruit.
Dinner I do a lot of sheet pan dinners (chicken or fish and some kind of sauce), accompanied by rice or quinoa and roast veggies (I put the veggies in a different pan from the sauce for little kids so they can opt out of the sauce if they prefer.
I also do a lot of crock pot meals—split pea soup, pot roast with potatoes and carrots, butternut squash or pumpkin soup, daal. All of these are served with bread or rice and cheese or yogurt.
I also make beans 2 pounds at a time in the crock pot and freeze in 1-cup increments, then I can throw together a light healthy meal, like 3-bean salad, or make refried beans with tomatoes and olives and serve with chips, or make a quick vegetarian chili.
If dinner is going in the crock pot or sheet pan, I put it together at breakfast time and then put it on to cook at the right time during the day. I try to time it so it is done by 4:30, so it can cool down a bit before the kids eat it.
At dinner I start with a small serving of each component of the meal and if they finish their plate they can have seconds of whatever they wish. So e.g., they have a small bit of fish, some roast brussels sprouts and rice. If they finish the plate and only liked the rice they can just eat that for the rest of the meal. My kids are always healthy eaters, even those with sensory issues or ASD.
1) Understand what you can and can’t multitask with childcare. Sitting down and filling out complicated paperwork? Sending a detailed email? Reading an article online? Cannot multitask. Any work that is primarily mental will take 1/5 as much time if you save for nap or when another adult has the kids. Any work that is mostly physical but mentally simple is a great one to multitask with childcare—laundry and cooking are easy to get done during waking hours, so don’t save them for later, or you will never get a break.
2) Meet the basic needs first. If kids are well-rested, have time to be active, and have healthy meals at predictable times, every other part of parenting gets easier. Kids who are tired or hungry or constipated or bouncing off the walls are going to make your life hard. I always start the day with veggie omelettes or veggie pancakes or some other really healthy meal (I make these in bulk periodically and freeze). Then we go on our outing of the day, and usually eat a healthy lunch during the outing. We come home in time for nap. After nap they have a snack. Then I have well-rested, recently-fed kids who have been busy playing all morning. We don’t have the “witching hour” madness that goes on in so many families. My kids are always ready to play for at least and hour or two with minimal supervision so that I can get other stuff done.
3) Routine is your friend. I do a load of laundry daily, I have a short list of meals we rotate through, we go on the same basic outings most days. Set up your life so you can do it on autopilot.
My routine when I last had kids those ages (actually it was twins and younger sib 3 years apart).
Wake up:
Little One (LO) wakes up first. Change and get dressed. Get Big Kids (BK) up, changed and brush teeth. I have them carry their laundry (and I carry the rest of the laundry) to the washer, throw it in and they “help” me start the washer.
We come down to breakfast and go straight to the kitchen. LO strapped in high chair. I have activities prepped for them—rotate between play-dough, coloring, painting with water on special paper, stickers, felt board, beads, etc. They do their art while I unload the dishwasher and start the daily cooking. Once breakfast is ready, we clean up art and they eat and listen to an audiobook while I finish the food for the day (notes about meal planning below). Dishes go in the sink and when they are done they carry their plates to the sink and wipe their table/tray. Dishes aren’t done but the kitchen is otherwise tidy. I do make sure to run a little water over the dishes so they can soak.
After breakfast we go upstairs and rotate the laundry to the dryer. They go potty/get a fresh diaper, then get shoes on and go in the car or stroller and head out. I pack lunch with us. Since I was cooking while they ate, I stick my breakfast in a container and eat it in the car while they are buckled. I make recordings of me reading their favorite books and play those in this interval so I have one Cat In The Hat or whatever to eat something.
When we get there they play. We have 3 different places we go regularly: one is a little playground next to a big empty field, one is a playground with a really big sandbox and the last one is a fenced-in playground with a tot lot. 3-4 days a week we do one of these. 1-2 days a week we will mix it up and do something interesting. Doing something interesting at least some of the time helps keep them from getting board with the basic stuff the rest of the time.
“Special” outings include:
Zoo, big/far away playground, nature hike, pool (we don’t have a membership so this is too expensive to do regularly), berry picking, drive an hour to the beach, etc.
After about 1.5-2 hours of play, we have lunch. Usually we eat there at the outing site but if the weather is too bad to stay we head home. Because breakfast is always some form of veggies+protein, it frees us up to have lunch be fruit and carbs and still have a balanced day overall. I pack nut butter sandwiches, muffins, rolls, etc. and sone kind of fruit. Easy to pack and not something they will make a fuss about eating.
After lunch we all get ready for nap. BK get to play quietly with a special bin of choking hazards (like legos) for one hour while I get LO settled down for a nap, then we clean up and BK either watches a video in their second language or plays with an educational app (I like Homer). During the first hour of play, I do productive things around the house. This is when I do all the breakfast dishes/lunch/dinner prep dishes and bigger cooking projects like mass-producing rolls for lunch of quiche for breakfast. But only for that first hour. In order to have the energy to make it to bedtime, once the hour is over, when BK has a screen break, I have a break too. I may use the time to answer emails, or order clothes for the kids, or schedule tickets for the zoo, but I also may just do nothing at all and lay there or good off online. It’s my chance to shut down.
After nap, we do an activity together. I find that everybody needs to reconnect, so we do something supervised. We have a rotation of sensory activities: fingerpainting, sensory bins filled with rainbow rice or beans with various different accessories (such as animal figurines or scoops and funnels—we rotate those too), water play in the sprinkler or baby pool (or bathtub in winter), or doing cooking projects together (like making muffins is a great one). We also about once a week will do something that needs more planning, like a science project or special sensory activity. Just to keep it lively. After the activity winds down (usually about 30-45 minutes), we clean up and go into the playroom. By this time it is like 3-4 pm and they haven’t played with any of their playroom toys at all that day. I grab the laundry and sit nearby and fold it while they play. If dinner needs anything done for it, I will do that, then plate dinner. As I put our food on plates, I also transfer the rest of the food to storage containers and put the dishes used to cook dinner in the sink to soak. At 5:00, we clean up and go into the kitchen to eat. I sit at the table and eat with them to model manners.
After dinner we clear our plates to the sink, we all wipe the table together and head upstairs for bath. I bring the folded laundry with me and put it away with kids’ help.
Bath, pjs, read stories (and LO has a sippy with milk) then brush teeth. BK “helps” me tuck LO in, then BK and I read one extra story and tuck BK in.
Once they are down, I quickly do the dinner dishes and sweep the kitchen floor.
NOTES ABOUT FOOD:
I make breakfast and lunch really repetitive:
Standard breakfasts include:
1. veggie omelette
2. Veggie quiche
3. Baked sweet potato, black beans and sausage
4. Crudites and hummus
5. Sourdough zucchini and corn pancakes
6. Paleo pancakes
Lunch I basically rotate muffins, rolls or sandwiches, and some kind of fresh fruit.
Dinner I do a lot of sheet pan dinners (chicken or fish and some kind of sauce), accompanied by rice or quinoa and roast veggies (I put the veggies in a different pan from the sauce for little kids so they can opt out of the sauce if they prefer.
I also do a lot of crock pot meals—split pea soup, pot roast with potatoes and carrots, butternut squash or pumpkin soup, daal. All of these are served with bread or rice and cheese or yogurt.
I also make beans 2 pounds at a time in the crock pot and freeze in 1-cup increments, then I can throw together a light healthy meal, like 3-bean salad, or make refried beans with tomatoes and olives and serve with chips, or make a quick vegetarian chili.
If dinner is going in the crock pot or sheet pan, I put it together at breakfast time and then put it on to cook at the right time during the day. I try to time it so it is done by 4:30, so it can cool down a bit before the kids eat it.
At dinner I start with a small serving of each component of the meal and if they finish their plate they can have seconds of whatever they wish. So e.g., they have a small bit of fish, some roast brussels sprouts and rice. If they finish the plate and only liked the rice they can just eat that for the rest of the meal. My kids are always healthy eaters, even those with sensory issues or ASD.
Anonymous
07/04/2021 16:17
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
I schedule activity days too. Also, for the older child, I would set a sustainable morning routine that would work for school. It’s good training for everyone. If you have to leave by 8:45 for school, get outside (dressed and ready) at 8:45. With a yard you can do water table, sensory bins, sand box and mud kitchen. Spend at least the morning in your yard. Do reading and letters, numbers, puzzles with your 4 yr old while your toddler is napping. Set aside afternoons for indoor play in the afternoons.
As a nanny, I’m going to steal the morning food making for the day bit from the above nanny! That’s a great idea!
As a nanny, I’m going to steal the morning food making for the day bit from the above nanny! That’s a great idea!
Anonymous
07/04/2021 15:13
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Yes, because it’s summer I have my 4 year old and 1.5 year old home all day until end of August when 4 year old goes to preK.
And yes, we have a nice sized backyard that we currently use every day.
And yes, we have a nice sized backyard that we currently use every day.
Anonymous
07/04/2021 14:42
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
We still aren’t doing classes or library because of covid and only have two play dates with vaccinated nanny and parent outside once a week. But not knowing your schedule or covid comfort, here are my best tips:
I organize every day with my 2.5 and 10 month charge with a different morning and afternoon activity. Monday is art in the morning and water play in the afternoon; Tuesday is park in the morning and playdough in the afternoon; Wednesday morning I put the baby in a carrier and hold my toddler charges hand and we walk around the neighborhood waiting for the street sweeper (he loves street sweepers)... you get the idea.
I do their laundry when they’re napping and never wash more than I have time to fold and put away. I prepare their food for the day when I first arrive and both seem to like to do solitary play. Breakfast, snacks and lunch all prepared and put in containers or lunch boxes for easy service when the kids are hungry.
We read before and after nap getting in nearly a full hour total.
I do dishes once. I do toy clean up once. Both after one parent comes home.
I organize every day with my 2.5 and 10 month charge with a different morning and afternoon activity. Monday is art in the morning and water play in the afternoon; Tuesday is park in the morning and playdough in the afternoon; Wednesday morning I put the baby in a carrier and hold my toddler charges hand and we walk around the neighborhood waiting for the street sweeper (he loves street sweepers)... you get the idea.
I do their laundry when they’re napping and never wash more than I have time to fold and put away. I prepare their food for the day when I first arrive and both seem to like to do solitary play. Breakfast, snacks and lunch all prepared and put in containers or lunch boxes for easy service when the kids are hungry.
We read before and after nap getting in nearly a full hour total.
I do dishes once. I do toy clean up once. Both after one parent comes home.
Anonymous
07/04/2021 13:32
Subject: Re:Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
Sure.
First, is your four-year-old home with you all day?
Second, do you have a yard or adequate outdoor space or do you depend on a public park?
First, is your four-year-old home with you all day?
Second, do you have a yard or adequate outdoor space or do you depend on a public park?
Anonymous
07/04/2021 10:38
Subject: Nannies, can you teach me how to do a more organized and efficient job as a SAHM?
If you are a nanny to young kids (mine are 1.5 and 4) and you have a method/routine for meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prepping, doing laundry, and also taking kids to some play dates and activities and just generally keeping them happy and busy, I would really love to know how you are making it happen! I can usually only do a few of these things really well, and I struggle to balance all of them. This is a genuine question: how do you do it? Can you share your schedule and/or daily routine or honestly just any tips? I would love to be more efficient and successful as a Sahm. I feel like I’m only pulling off a few of these at a time without working late into the night each evening to keep up.