Having a big family is a dream of some parents since forever. We dream of the perfect family with four, five, six or even more children. However, organizing yourself with a large family can sometimes be more difficult than you imagine, especially when you have young children. So how can you manage to find time for yourself, and at the same time take care of your children?
Autonomy is the key to success:
Getting your children involved by helping them with everyday tasks will be a great help. In a large family, helping each other and being independent are very important because you have to work as a team to get by. Delegate setting the table to one child, clearing the table to another, and making the salad to the third. You will optimize your time by teaching your children. Write a weekly schedule on a board in the kitchen so that each child knows what they have to do.
Children from a large family are often independent. It is important that they learn to manage on their own when the parents are overwhelmed. Indeed, the parents being overwhelmed by the little ones and by their work, the older ones must learn to manage on their own. They must very quickly lend a hand at home to help the parents with the different tasks. The older children can take care of the little ones, watch them, feed them. Once older, this creates very resourceful people who are used to children. If the children manage to get dressed in the morning, the parents can prepare breakfast in the meantime. However, do not overdo it either, do not forget that they are children after all. Find the right balance. Value them by teaching them to help each other, but do not overwhelm them too much either, otherwise they will lose their childlike spirit too quickly.
Often, in large families, one of the parents wakes up earlier than everyone else to prepare breakfast, school bags and snacks in a chain. It's a real organization, you have to have the same number of slices of bread and garnish to avoid jealousy. You can also prepare meals the day before by placing them already in the snack boxes, or prepare clothes the day before. You will save time in the morning, and energy.
With personal tasks, we have more time, which is why it is recommended to optimize our time and anticipate. For meals, make a weekly schedule to avoid not knowing what to cook when the time comes. For shopping, the drive is a huge time saver! Plan your meals in advance for the week, and stroll through the virtual aisles. This will allow you to control your budget. No more wasting time in the aisles with children running around, or if you are a really big family, you will no longer have to walk around with two full shopping carts. By having prepared the meals for the week in advance, you can even cook them in advance and freeze them to save time in the evening. To avoid unnecessary storage, give your children a personal wardrobe, a coat rack, or their shoe rack with a color code so that they can differentiate them. This will make them responsible and prevent you from running after them to tidy up behind them.
Use the color code method! This will save you from all kinds of arguments. Always teaching them to share, color codes will allow them to identify what belongs to them. Think of colored cabinets, boxes, or even glasses.
A very important tip: keep time for yourself. Give yourself short breaks to find yourself or your partner. Try to keep an activity that you enjoy. Play sports in a club once a week for example, or relax in a spa. You will keep your head on your shoulders and this will prevent you from burning out. It may seem futile, but it is still a priority for your personal health. If you don't have time to travel, no need to do big activities, reading is enough. Find a moment for yourself.