• The Nuclear Family
    • Kids and Family
    • Mothering
    • Marriage
    • Neighboring
  • Self-Sufficiency
    • Hunting
    • Foraging
    • Self-sufficiency
  • Money-Saving
  • Side Hustles
    • Facebook Marketplace
  • Productivity
  • In The Kitchen
    • Breakfast
    • Dinner
    • Side dishes
    • Snacks
A Productive Household

A Productive Household

Recovering the family that creates value together

  • Blog
  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact

How to Love Being a Stay at Home Mom – 10 Ways to Truly Enjoy SAHM Life

Mothering, The Nuclear Family

Tweet
Share
Pin1
1 Shares

Being able to stay home with your kids is an incredible gift that not everyone gets to enjoy. Still, some days can be challenging! Here are a few thoughts on how to love being a stay at home mom.

how to love being a stay at home mom featured

How to love being a stay at home mom

If you’re reading this, you probably know that being a stay at home mom is a gift, and one that not everyone gets to experience. Many women long for children and never get to experience the joy of motherhood. Still, others have to work out of necessity when they would much rather be home with their children. If you have the ability to be a stay at home mom, rejoice! There are few joys greater than being involved in our children’s lives day after day.

Still, many moms struggle at home even if they understand the blessing that it is. There’s cooking to be done, laundry to be folded, floors to be cleaned, and most importantly, children to be cared for. It can feel overwhelming. On the other hand, it also has the potential to feel isolating, mindless, or boring at the same time.

Every day, I am floored that I have the opportunity to stay home with our kids. Being with them day in and day out is just incredible, and I feel so blessed by it. I know there are a lot of people who feel like children are a burden, or slow them down, or get in the way. To put it bluntly: stop thinking like this.

Here are some ways to truly enjoy being a SAHM and love your days with your kids.

Know your purpose – it’s much bigger than cooking and cleaning

Have you ever worked a job whose mission you didn’t agree with? Even worse, how about working for a company who had no mission at all?

Being a stay at home mom isn’t much different. If your sole purpose is keeping the house clean or having dinner on the table every night or simply keeping the kids alive, you’re going to feel purposeless and discouraged.

As a family, our purpose for having the maximum amount of time possible with our kids is to train them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We believe that there is nothing greater than them knowing Christ. Our mission as parents is to point them to Him day after day.

As a mom, that is my goal. The cooking, cleaning, and diaper-changing is secondary. It’s done with joy to serve my family and honor Christ. But it’s not the main focus of the days.

Help your children learn and teach them to work, don’t just entertain them

Secondly, use the short years with your children to teach them. Being a stay at home mom is such a gift because our children get to do everything with us!

Kids need to play for sure. However, the focus of motherhood is not to entertain them from the time they wake up to the time they go to bed.

In our home, we have times that are set aside for play: reading books, going outside, doing puzzles, etc. We also have a lot of time that is focused on work, and they love it!

Making dinner, weeding the garden, and folding laundry is a lot slower with a toddler. But the time invested in teaching her will pay off in the long run and will prepare her for life.

You don’t have to wait until your kids are sleeping to get anything done. Involve them in what you’re doing. I’ll be the first to admit that sitting on the floor sorting shapes all day can get super long. There’s a time for this, but don’t neglect to teach your kids life skills, too.

Have a schedule (or flow) for the day

Having a consistent flow each day makes the days go so much smoother for everyone. This way, both you and the kids know what to expect. If you don’t already have some sort of schedule, you’ll be amazed at how quickly the kids pick up on it when you start implementing a consistent routine!

Having a daily schedule helps kids be more content because they know what’s coming and aren’t as disappointed if they don’t get to do what they want. It also helps you, as the mom, know when you can fit in different responsibilities as well as focused time with your kids (and when you can expect a little break).

Currently, our daily schedule with two under 3 looks something like this:

  • Wake up, get dressed, breakfast as a family
  • Baby goes down for a nap, toddler does blanket time
  • Free time: this usually includes going outside, working on tasks together, playing together, or errands
  • Lunch
  • Naps for both kids
  • Make dinner together (toddler sometimes helps, but usually the kids just play near me)
  • Dinner as a family
  • Family worship and play with dad until bedtime (this varies: sometimes we go outside, sometimes we play inside, sometimes we work on a family project)
  • Bedtime

Plan your week

Whether you’re a planner or not, it can be helpful to think about what you want to do during the week. I love being home, but I usually prefer to leave the house a few times during the week. Think ahead of what you can do. This can give both you and the kids something to look forward to and break up the time at home.

I also like to consider what to do with our time at home. Looking at the weather ahead of time helps me sort out what we want to do. For example, if there’s only going to be one sunny day this week, you can bet I’ll plan to have less indoor responsibilities that day!

Keep a list of projects or goals

Some people like to wing it, but I just cannot. I need some sort of list to keep me on track and keep me from feeling flustered and directionless. My weekly planning strategy only uses a simple notebook, and it’s an easy way for me to keep track of what I want or need to get done each week.

Having a variety of tasks on the list makes it easy to fit in tasks where the make the most sense. For example, the tasks that take a lot of focus are usually done while the kids are sleeping. I wrote a whole post about it if you want to see exactly how I do it.

Make likeminded friends

It is HARD to be a stay at home mom when you don’t have like-minded friends. Friends with the same mission and goals as you will spur you on and give you renewed energy to joyfully and patiently invest in your children day after day.

Of course, there is nothing like having real-life friends to do life with and lean on. If you go to church, make it a goal to join whatever groups or studies you can to meet the other moms. Invite like-minded families over and get to know them. You can also seek out different mom groups in your area.

Additionally, finding moms who are similar to you online can still be a wonderful source of encouragement!

Train your children

Training your children is loving your children. While it may be an unpopular opinion, leaving your children to do what they want is not loving and will not prepare them well for life.

Values such as self-control, obedience, sharing, and taking responsibility by cleaning up and helping with age-appropriate chores can all be instilled in children from a young age.

Teach your children to play independently

Teaching your kids to not need you every moment is good for them and for you. The goal is not necessarily to “get away from them”, but rather to teach them to be content, enjoy what they have, and simply be children.

Some of the ways that have worked well for us in this area include introducing playpen time or blanket time from a young age and not overloading them will too many toys.

Be productive: Have a mission

While children are an integral part of the family, they should not be the complete focus of the family. This does not serve children, the family, or society well.

Your children are part of your family’s mission, they are not the mission.

If you’re starting to feel like the children are the focus of the household, it may be time to take a step back and get together with your spouse to think about the overall goals of your family.

Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness

Lastly, let your life be marked by thankfulness. Your children are a gift. The ability to feed them each day is a gift. Your home is a gift.

I’ll go so far as to say that every single thing you complain about can be turned around, and you can find a way to be thankful in it.

As a mother, you have a powerful influence on the atmosphere of your home. Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness. It changes everything!

How to love being a stay at home mom

  1. Know your purpose
  2. Help your children learn and work
  3. Have a flow for the day
  4. Plan your week
  5. Keep a list of projects or goals
  6. Make likeminded friends
  7. Train your children
  8. Teach your children to play independently
  9. Have a mission
  10. Cultivate an attitude of thankfulness

More ideas for how to love being a stay at home mom

Want more ideas? I wrote about some detailed, practical tips for how to what to do when you’re bored as a stay at home mom.

Lastly, enjoy your children! They are such a gift.

If you want to save these ideas, feel free to pin them for later!

Tweet
Share
Pin1
1 Shares

June 8, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Subscribe to get the latest

By subscribing to our newsletter, you consent to receive new post updates and occasional promotional emails related to our company.

Previous Post: « How to Get to Know Your Neighbors in an Apartment
Next Post: How to Make Family Vacation Affordable – 8 Simple Hacks for a Cheap and Awesome Vacation »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

We’re glad you’re here!

Hello! We’re the Finches. We’re here to share what our family is learning about using our time to create value through the homefront. Join us!

You can read more about us here.

never miss a post!

By subscribing to our newsletter, you consent to receive new post updates and occasional promotional emails related to our company.

Latest on Instagram

aproductivehousehold

aproductivehousehold
It’s been a minute! Lots of growing has been goi It’s been a minute! Lots of growing has been going on over here. Gardens, chickens, and mostly kiddos. 🤪

In the last few weeks we’ve lost 50+ chickens and caught 6 raccoons. Those creatures are SMART. Needless to say we’ve learned a lot already this year! And fortunately I think we’ve finally outsmarted them and have growing birds. 🐓

Check out our latest blog post to read about what we learned last year raising meat birds! No raccoons were involved. 🦝 Link in bio.

#meatchickens #broilers #cornishcross #aproductivehousehold #raisingchickens
The other day, I spent the afternoon making yogurt The other day, I spent the afternoon making yogurt and baby food and homemade lemonade while listening to @dr.ashleyturner , and I couldn't help thinking about what a gift it is to be constantly learning.

Especially during this time of year, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by how MANY opportunities there are. There is so much that I could learn, cook, preserve, do. So many people offering free vegetables that I could do something with. 😂

But time and resources are limited, and that is okay! It’s okay to say no to things that may be good but not BEST.

I’d love to make pickles, but there are other foods that my family eats more and would be a better use of my time. 

I’d love to grow all the fall crops, but I don’t have the space or time.

I’ve become totally okay with saying no to some opportunities and not feeling guilty. There are always more opportunities to learn and grow. 

Do the next thing and keep learning a little each year!

#aproductivehousehold #homemadebabyfood #homemadeyogurt #foodpreservation #onethingatatime
10-MINUTE DATE ENERGY BARS I'm always looking for 10-MINUTE DATE ENERGY BARS

I'm always looking for healthy snacks that we can take in the car or that I can feed to the kids quickly without making a mess (or with minimal mess at least). 

I made these date bars the other day with some of our favorite ingredients, and they were so easy. I actually made them out of slight desperation and laziness because I was so tired of rolling peanut butter energy bites into balls. (Does anyone else make these and extremely dislike a bunch of messy, sticky peanut butter on your hands?)

Anyway, I wanted to share the recipe with you here!

10-MINUTE DATE ENERGY BARS 

Ingredients:

1 cup dates
1/2 cup apricots
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup walnuts
2 Tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon

To make:

1. Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse
2. Line a 9" x 9" pan with parchment paper
3. Press mixture into pan to form into a square
4. Lift parchment paper out of pan to cut energy bars
5. Store cut bars in a plastic container in the refrigerator (use strips of parchment paper between the layers to prevent sticking to each other)

That's it! Let me know if you try them!

I also posted this on the blog with more ingredient ideas. I love that you can totally use whatever ingredients you have or like best, just as long as there's enough dried fruit to make them really stick together.

https://aproductivehousehold.com/10-minute-date-energy-bars-no-sugar-added

#dateenergybars #nosugaraddedsnacks #healthysnacksforkids #healthysnacks #homemadesnacks #datebars #energybars #easysnacks
"Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for a "Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

from A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Our green beans were struggling this year, so we started a few more a week or so ago. They're growing well, so hopefully we get some green beans after all!

What part of your garden is doing the best? Did anything you planted not work out this year?

#longfellow #poetry #aproductivehousehold #planting
I am too excited about these pillow covers. I've I am too excited about these pillow covers.

I've been wanting to replace our old, non-matching throw pillows for months (years?), but geez, pillows are expensive! And that's just not something I was excited to spend money on.

Instead, I found the simplest, most forgiving way to make throw pillow covers. I literally forgot my measuring tools in the kids' rooms while they were asleep and eyeballed the cuts on a bunch of these, and they still turned out great. 

And the best part was that I made all 7 of them for about $20 total! 

They were so easy and so fast and so cheap, and I am way too stoked on throw pillow covers now.

Here's the pattern if you want to make any yourself! ⬇️

https://aproductivehousehold.com/how-to-make-pillow-covers-without-a-zipper

(or just click the link in our bio)

#diythrowpillowcovers 
#diypillowcovers 
#nozipperpillowcovers #envelopepillowcovers 
#envelopethrowpillows
#handsewnpillowcovers #aproductivehousehold
#homemakingonabudget
We’re out in the country enough that we have no We’re out in the country enough that we have no phone service or internet when we’re in our yard.

I love being able to go outside with the kids and not have to even think about my phone going off. It feels so great to be able to just play with them and not be interrupted by notifications, and the kids definitely feel the difference too.

What do you find are some of the best techniques for using your phone as a tool versus a constant distraction during the day? 

I’ve been working on being very intentional about what I’m doing; only getting on when I have a good reason (though this does not always happen). Also, leaving it in one spot until I really need it rather than carrying it around the house.

Anything else that works really well for you?
Load More Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Anchored Theme on Genesis Framework · Privacy Policy · WordPress · Log in