I am currently 4 months into my 3 kids journey and there have certainly been some moments in there haha. Overall it has not been as stressful as I would have imagined but I know the hardest part is yet to come.
I don’t know about you but for me mornings are important. I guess they kick start the vibe for the day and if it is my choice I like to start well. One of the biggest stresses as a mum of 3 is getting out the door on time for school AND pre prep drop off with 3 kids to manage.
I am a reasonably organised person and can focus on set tasks quite well to achieve a lot in a small amount of time. Sometimes this can work against me as I am so focused on the task at hand that I am not really present to the kids and their needs, even if it is just to show me the pretty butterfly they drew.
I have also found when I am very task driven any interruption from my task can trigger me to snap and get angry for being interrupted. There is nothing quite like that guilty feeling after you drop the kids at school knowing you spent the morning yelling and rushing to get out the door without a proper chance to connect with your kiddos.
It is a priority and really important to me to finish the mornings well with my kids and for us all to hug happily when we say our morning goodbyes. This is obviously an ideal and not always the case but it is my morning goal.
The one major thing I have learnt to help me achieve this goal is to slow down. This is a funny idea as you would think the opposite would be true in the mornings with so much to do. When I am rushing and frantic and busy that is when I lose it with the kids. When I am slow, conscious and deliberate I am much more able to keep my cool and enjoy my mornings with everyone.
One of the ways we make it work is by allowing our children to watch TV in the morning after they have eaten their breakfast and got dressed for school. This works for us as I don’t need to nag as I know they will do it because they want to watch some TV. It’s not ideal but it works and it means I don’t have to be the morning grump which is a tick for me.
Another thing I do is never book any appointments unless absolutely necessary until after 10am. This gives me a buffer to organise anything extra I need to do after drop off so I am not adding that to the list of things to rush around and do in the morning plus it means I am focused on getting the kids sorted and not my other things.
One of my favourite parts of the day is after dropping Miss 7 to school slowly walking back to the car with Miss 4 and bubba to go to the next pre prep drop off. I intentionally take that walk slow and Miss 4 plays games with the lines on the path, attempts to climb a tree or two, chats away, pushes her baby bro in the pram and we slowly make our way to the car. I know next year she is at big school and I won’t have those brief moments with just her and me and I treasure them.
It is a luxury not to rush and some of those moments are my favourite part of the day.
Similarly when I pick up Miss 7 from school I don’t feel the need to rush anywhere (unless we have an activity to get to) so we just take it slow on our way to the car and I find she enjoys the pace.
Having 3 kids inevitably means a bit of crazy busy. What I am learning as a mother though is my kids really need me to slow down. When I set myself the intention for the morning and plan for slow, it works so much better for our family and I find myself waving goodbye to my kids in the morning with a smile on my face and a happy heart.
Good luck trying to find your slow 🙂
Written by Sam Shazzam aka School Mum
