How to Make a Stay at Home Mom Schedule

Being a stay at home mom can keep you on your toes. You can't always expect everything that might happen like a spit-up incident, boo boos, arguments between siblings or bad weather on a day you planned an outing, but sticking to a schedule can help you stay organized and on track each day. While some people are able to float through the day and manage to get everything accomplished, other people thrive on schedules and routine. Either way, setting up a schedule for your family and home that you try to stick to can be a great thing for adults but also for children who need structure.

The first step to making a schedule for your days is to break the day down into 30 minute increments. Fill up the spaces that you already know exist like naptime, meals, wake up time and bedtime. From there, find spots for activities that you know need to get done each day, but sometimes get moved around and don't always have their own time. Bath time, brushing teeth, getting dressed and dinner preparation should all be included.

After you have your basic schedule made you can start to add activities that are more geared towards family time. I try to work these in throughout the day rather than all at once in the evening to promote good one-on-one time each hour. Write down times for storybook reading, puzzle play, quiet time, independent play, arts and crafts and outside time for running around and getting messy. All of these things are important and it's easy to leave them behind on a busy day, but try working them in just like you would have to work in meals.

Keep a copy of your schedule visible for your entire family to see. A schedule won't work well if only one person is following it, so try to encourage everyone to participate and keep things on track. This eliminates running around before bedtime, trying to get millions of little tasks done before the day is over.

When you're a mom, your schedule constantly changes so keep an ever-changing copy on the desktop of your computer or on a dry-erase board on your fridge so you can change things as you go. Accept that there will be days when things don't go quite as planned, but at least you have a basis for what you want to do with your time.