Juggling Multiple Kids

As a mother and step-mother to seven kids in total, I know what it's like to run a large household. To be fair, only four of the kids are in-house. However, four still is enough to require some schedule juggling. For me, the key to balancing motherhood with multiple kids is both organization and relaxation.

I tend to chill out and let most things work themselves out. Activities and appointments can be scheduled, but with everything else, we try to take it as it comes. Stressing too much over what is going on or over scheduling actually can do more harm than good, in my experience.

Besides appointments and activities, there also must be time set aside for family, as well as separate time with each kid. I find the best thing to do is not to schedule the time with each kid, just to remember to take time out for each one every day. Even with a very busy schedule, it is possible. I home school four kids, as well as work at home and work a part time job, but I somehow always find the time. It can be done.

Time with each kid can consist of five minutes or it can be hours. The actual length of time does not matter as much as the quality of time. An hour of yelling at a kid to clean their room is a ton of time, but not quality time. Whereas, I can recount many times where I spent only fifteen minutes reading a favorite story. That fifteen minutes meant the world to the child on the receiving end. The hour of yelling likely would do the opposite.

It may seem to some that with multiple kids, it would get harder and truthfully, some things do, like keeping the house orderly. There are more people to pick up after. But, for me, after the first, each subsequent child seemed to fit right into the daily routine. You just have to know where to improvise or get creative, where to relax, and where to schedule.