SAHMs - what's your "schedule"?

[Franni]

SAHMs - I need your help.

My DD is currently being cared for by a nanny. I had felt that the nanny doesn't do much with her at all. DD is 2 and is a talkative, rambunctious little girl. I know that there is no way anyone can "engage" a child every minute of every day, so I thought maybe I could put together a "schedule" for them to follow. I am not looking for a rigid "now it's 12:13, it's time to read a book for 10 minutes" type schedule, but just an idea of how your day typically flows with your DCs at home.

I wanted to ask sahms (rather than wohm's nannies) because I felt you ladies would always do your best with your kids and I am hoping that my nanny can just be an approximation of what you are able to do.

Thanks in advance.

[EJM]

Here is a rough schedule, my DD is 1 and still naps 2x a day.

6:30-7:00 DD gets up and I BF her
I have a little area in the kitchen set up for her to play while I start laundry and get breakfast for all of us. She eats and she plays on the floor again while I clean up, sometimes she goes with DH while he is getting ready for work. We usually have 45 minutes of free play (I let her pick whatever she wants) which these days is reading books.

9:00-10:00 she naps and I get ready for the day

10:15/10:30 We are out the door. We have scheduled activities 4 days a week (Gymboree, Library storytime, 2 playgroups), and the 5th day I play by ear but is usually walks/errands in the car/coffee with my friends.

12/12:30 Come home and have lunch

1:00-2:00 She naps again

In the afternoon we walk our dog first. Depending on the weather and how long that takes, we may walk to do a few more errands close to our house. There are a couple of playgrounds along the way, DD likes to swing for 5-10 minutes total, which we may stop by on the walk home from our errands. I also have been meeting another SAHM to walk one day a week.

5:30 I feed her dinner

I've not been home with her yet in the winter so I need to think of more at home activities when the weather is nasty and cold.

[snoopy30]

DS is 11 months

7-8~DS gets up and I feed him breakfast (I try to fit in a chore or two)

8-9:30~free play, DS usually watches Baby Einstein :rolleyes: (mommy has coffee)

9:30-11~nap, I get ready for the day and catch up on emails, etc.

11-12:30~free play, lunch for both of us

12:30-2:30/3~errands, playgroup some weeks, playdates (like today!), mall, park, etc.

3-5ish~nap

5:30~dinner


Hope this helps! I'm trying to come up with more activities for us to do. Now that DS is a little older I think he would enjoy some new things. I'm planning on enrolling in a music class in Jan. I'd also like to do storytime at the library but the times just don't work right now with his naps.

[abbytfox]

DS is 11.5 months

5-6 wake up, dad feeds him a bottle, changes dipe, plays while I get dressed

6:30-8:30/9 breakfast for DS, play, then we take a long walk and sometimes I stop and get a coffee or meet a friend for coffee

8:30/9-10/10:30 nap and I shower and get ready for the day (usually this is when I get lunch ready for DS and check email)

10:30-1:30ish This time is usually when we do Gymboree or run errands also DS eats lunch around noon and we play for a while around the house

1:30-3 nap (I do chores or just take a minute for myself)

3:30-5 playing/getting dinner ready/errands I didn't get to/going to the park

We also go to Gymboree open gym time a few days a week in the 3:30 time and Fridays we have a playgroup from 11-1. I feel like most days are pretty full and I am able to be flexible according to DS because he is the only one right now! It seems like we have a pretty similar schedule to the PP's.

[1_mommy]

dd is 3 yrs
ds is 12 mo

6:30 ds wake up, gets a bottle we go in the living room, cuddle, have quiet time

7:30 dd wakes up

7-8 breakfast (i clean up, laundry)

8-10 they play around the house tv is sometimes on for them in the mornings(i am usually cleaning, i stop to play every now and then)

10 ds goes down for nap #1

11-12 ds wakes and lunch is served

12-2 play, sometimes i try to do a project with dd let her color, playdoh, paint ds is usually playing with toys when we are doing this

2ish ds goes down for nap #2
3 snack

3-5 play around the house

5-8 plays with mom and dad rough house time with dad

8-8:30 lights out!


if i am going to run errands that day i tend to do it all in the morning, i am usually out the door by 9am. every free moment i get i spend doing chores, and i take a couple minutes for myself through the day
it depends on the day what time i get ready, sometimes i lay ds down with daddy before he goes to work and i get my shower, other days (like today) i wait til ds goes down for his first nap, then i get ready for day

[Franni]

EJM, snoopy30, abbytfox & 1_mommyThank you so much. This helps out a lot.

[Katie1]

Looks like our schedule is quite different from most- I am not a morning person and I find that I have a splitting headache all day if I get up too early, so I have DD trained to sleep late and go to bed late. She is one year old and a champion sleeper- about 11 hours at night and 3 to 3.5 hours of naptime during the day.

8:00-8:30: Get up. If it's on the earlier side, we play for a while and sometimes watch Sesame Street. We have breakfast around 9:00 and I do chores while she's eating. After breakfast she might have a bath, then some more playing.

10:30- 1:00: Nap

1:15- lunch

1:30- We usually go out for the day. I try to get the dog out every afternoon, whether we go to the dog park or just on a walk around the neighborhood. If I have errands to do, we'll do them afterwards.

4:00ish- Come home, Daddy's usually home by then so they play together.

5:00-6:30: Another Nap

6:30/ 7:00- dinner

After dinner there's more playtime. She's usually up until 8:30 or 9:00. I really like this schedule because although she goes to bed much later than most babies, she gets to spend more time with her dad when he gets home from work. I would like to find more things to do with her outside the house though- we really don't spend a lot of time interacting with other people or babies.

[tunibell]

DD is almost 8 mo old.

6:00-7:00 -- Wake up, breastfeed, play in bed with mom and dad.

7:00-8:00 -- Playtime.

8:00-8:30 -- Breakfast. Nap wind-down (includes story).

8:30-10:00 -- Morning nap.

10:00-12:00 -- Play, run errands, maybe take a stroll.

12:00-12:30 -- Lunchtime. Nap wind-down (includes story).

12:30-2:00 -- Afternoon nap.

2:00-5:00 -- Playgroups, activities, errands.

5:00-5:30 -- Dinner.

5:30-6:00 -- Nighttime wind-down (bath, story).

6:00 -- Bedtime.

[Jenyfer9]

ds#1 is 3y, ds#2 is 18m

6am (unfortunately)- wake up, but they both stay in their rooms until AT LEAST 6:30.
7am- get dressed
7:15-7:40ish- take dh to the train for work
7:45-8am - eat breakfast
8am-9:30 - free time (except on m&w when ds#1 has to go to school)
9:30-11ish - out of the house doing errands
11:30ish - eat lunch
12:15 - 3ish - naps (this can change depending on what time they start the nap)
3-5:15pm - free time (playing outside, in the basement playroom, etc) and I'll be making dinner towards the end of this time frame
5:15-5:40 - get dh from train
5:45-6:15ish - dinner
7pm - bedtime routine (sometimes we start this earlier, especially with ds#2)

[Chylynn]

Wake 6:30-7:00

Breakfast 7-7:30

7:30 -9:00 Usually watches the beginning of Little Einsteins at 8 unless she is really busy playing with her toys. Free Play with toys in her play area while I shower. Sometimes she comes in the bathroom with me and plays with her toy kitchen while I am in the shower. DD sometimes brings her books in the bathroom and "reads" them while I am applying my makeup/doing my hair or she takes an extra brush and brushes her own hair.

9:00 Milk-- After Milk, we take a 5 mile walk in the stroller and stop to touch leaves, watch the birds, listen to the dogs bark, ect.

10:15 - Snack

10:30 -Park on most days or we play in the back yard if it is really hot and I don't want her outside for too long. We play on her slide, baby pool, collecting rocks, watering the plants, ect.

11:30 -Lunchtime

Noon- Arts and crafts time. We either fingerpaint, play with play dough, paint with brushes, fingerpaint with chocolate pudding, color with our coloring books or play with the Aqua Doodle mat.

12:15 or so- Bathtime since she is usually pretty messy from Arts and Craft time.

12:30 - we clean up her play area

12:45- we read books in her bedroom while she is drinking her milk and calming down for her afternoon nap.

1 - 3:30 or so- Afternoon Nap

3:30 -5 - Gymboree free time, park, errands, free play at the house, helping Mommy cook or clean, second snack of the day. We usually read books together, play with her toy kitchen in her play area (DD has two, a small one in our bathroom and a second in our family room), seperate her food by food groups, practice counting, sort blocks, practice our colors, play with her fridge phonics magnits, play with her learning house, climb all over Mommy...whatever she feels like doing!

5:30ish- Daddy gets home from work and we take another walk

6:30 - Dinner

7-7:30 - Free play with her toys
7:30 -Bathtime with Daddy while I get her things together for bed.
7:45- Read books, drink milk
8:00 Bedtime

6:30 - start all over again...

Obviously, sometimes we do diffrent things in the morning/afternoon depending on our schedule with our playgroup, but that is most days. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Koala_Gurl]

6:30am - 7am - DD wakes, DS wakes, nurses, goes back to sleep
7 - 10am - Breakfast, free play (I interact when I can, but usually tend to dishes & DS during this time).
10 - out the door to Gymboree, etc.
11:30 lunch
12 - 2 nap
2 - 5 free play, errands, tend to DS, park
5 dinner
6 bath & bed

[mamax2]

7ish ~ Wake up (the baby has usually been in bed w/me nursing and climbing all over me for the previous 2 hours :p ) The girls hang out w/DH while he gets ready for work and I walk the dog and exercise. Sometimes they join me on the exercise portion, basically just whenever DH needs to leave for work.

8:00-9:00 ~ Breakfast

9:00 ~ Get kids dressed, teeth brushed, beds made. I shower and get read for the day and they usually hang out w/me while this is going on. Nurse baby.

10:00 ~ This is our usual out-the-door timeframe. We have story time once/week, art class once/week (although we have to leave much earlier - 8:45 - for that one), playgroup, errands, etc. The baby usually catches a nap in the car these days. If we're staying home that morning and just playing, she'll *sometimes* take a nap from 10-11.

12:00 ~ Lunch

1:00 ~ This is when I *try* to hit the holy grail of SAHMing two kids - the synchronized nap!!! We nail it about 65% of the time. This is when I try to clean something, prep dinner, fold laundry, check e-mail and CC, etc.

3:30-4:30 ~ naps begin to be over, nurse baby, fix snack for older DD.

4:30-5:30 ~ Walk the neighborhood, ride bikes, play w/neighbors

5:30-6:00 ~ Baby eats dinner

6:00-6:30 ~ DH gets home, dinner

7:00-7:30 ~ Bath time, books, nursing baby

8ish ~ Bed time

[AlisonCO]

6:30ish - breakfast, play in playroom

8:00 - go upstairs and do dishes etc while kids play in their rooms - get kids dressed, teeth brushed

9:00 - DD naps, I get ready and DS has a snack and plays at the table (playdoh, coloring, painting, magnadoodle)

10:15 - go out - gym, storytime, park/hiking, mall, bookstore

12:00 - lunch

12:30-1:30 - run an errand, play outside

1:30-2 - reading/quiet time

2:00 - nap

3:30 - snack, play - DH is usually home around 4 - they often go out on a little adventure for a bit (leaf/pinecone collecting, raking, toystore, petstore)

5:30 - dinner

6:00 - go for a walk if nice, if not DS can watch a video before bed

We are lucky that we have a large playroom in our basement, but I also bring out bubbles, balloons etc during our free play times. DS loves to ride his tricycle upstairs.

[anemone]

I'd be a bit worried if your nanny doesn't take your daughter out at least once a day. One of my friends from my mothers group has a nanny 4 days a week, and the nanny is great...every day they have an activity (playgroup, music classes, gymboree, storytime at the library), and also go to the park every day to swing and climb on the play equipment. Other times I've seen them in the park just sitting on a blanket looking at birds, chatting to people walking past etc. She has said herself that she wouldn't get her DD out and about so much herself.

I personally with DS try to have an organised activity about 3 x's a week, and the other days play it by ear, but have play dates scheduled, meet up with other mothers at the parks. We go for a long walk every day, which he enjoys, and during free play time at home, I try to stimulate him with different activities (like playing in his sandpit, blowing bubbles, riding his little car around the house, art time or just free play) and read to him about 15 - 30 minutes a day.

If you are worried that the nanny doesn't do enough (and she is working 5 days a week) what about Gymboree? While it does cost $, it would get your DD into some activities and stretch her a bit, and maybe give the nanny some idea of other things to do with her. Just a thought:)