A Guide for Moms from Moms: Be Flexible in Your Expectations

They say being a mom is the hardest job you will ever have and as a mother, I can readily attest to that fact. You don't apply to be a mom and you don't fill out a resume or try to meet the job requirements, but if you did? You'd probably have to write a book and not a paper on what moms need to know, how they need to know and what experiences would pay off for them.

Day Planning

Every mom's day starts a little differently, but we all get up first thing in the morning and we make a list of things we need to do. The list starts off in our heads while we're brewing the coffee and clearing away the evening dishes. We might start the laundry and put the dogs out. We might feed our cats and pack the children's lunches. All this before we even pour that first cup of coffee.

As we sip our coffee, we start a list of errands, tasks and after school extracurricular stops we need to make. If we're lucky we get read a book for a couple of quiet minutes, but most of the time it's straight i8nto the office to read email. The joy of working from home so that you can be close to your daughter and don't have to pay for daycare means that work is always there, waiting to be done. If you're lucky, your day's plan holds through getting the kiddo up, dressed, fed and packed off to school.

If not, well, you make the adjustments on the run and hit the grocery store in your pajamas because otherwise, you'll never get it all done.

Tip: No plan is set in stone, be flexible.

After School Snacks

A healthy diet is important, but you also want to lower the amount of time you spend in preparation. Fresh fruits and vegetables fulfill both requirements. They can be a little expensive at the grocery store, but it is definitely worth it when your child prefers raw carrots to French fries and apples to chocolate snack cakes.

Baby carrots, apples and bananas are popular fruits that your child can serve themselves. If you're fortunate and they like yogurt, you can add that to the mix. A couple of days a week you can serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on wheat bread. If you make those while making their lunch in the morning, it's an easy snack they can get from the fridge.

Tip: Healthy habits are important, but teach moderation too.

Family Time

Eating meals together is important, but it's not the eating of the meal so much as the time spent together. We go out of our way to make sure we have time together to talk whether it's while we're making dinner, running errands or just hanging out. We don't watch programs in the evening that the kids can't join us at and if we are, those get paused when they want to join us.

We have a whole closet full of board games and card games. We play those more than we do the video games. We like to talk about our plans and to make up what if stories, not only does it challenge their imagination, but it keeps us in touch with what they are thinking and feeling.

Tip: It's not why you sit down together that's important, it's just important that you take the time for each other.

At the end of the day, I look back at what was accomplished and what gets to be postponed to the next day. I don't sweat the small stuff and I don't get upset that I wasn't able to get it all done. I do more in the first couple of hours of my day than someone who isn't a mom does all day long.