Most days I feel like a horrible mother. I see all these posts or Facebook statuses about all the fun things my friends are doing with their kids, and I feel horrible. But sadly, I can't think of anything to do. Ryan just spends most of his time exploring and playing then eating. So today I said to myself, enough is enough!
I got online and looked up activities for a one-year-old and found quite a few. My goal is to do one a day, at least, and hopefully we can both enjoy them. I want to be a good mom, and I want Ryan to be doing things that help him develop well. He is such a cutie. I love him so much!
Here are the activities I found:
Make play dough and then cut them out with cookie cutters. (I have a recipe if anyone wants!)
Play with measuring cups. Kids apparently love to pour.
I need to buy some balls. We don't have any!
Get some stuff to stack. Right now, he does it on his own in our pantry. As nice as that is, I'd rather things stay in the pantry! :)
Take an empty milk jug and put small stuff in it. Kids will have fun trying to get it out or shaking it.
Give him clothes to take out of the laundry basket and put in another one.
Let him go at the junk mail.
Make small bean bags for him to throw or stack or whatever. (I have a TON of fabric, so this will be fun.)
Let him eat with a spoon or fork at every meal. (I need a splash mat! :)
Go to story time at the library.
Of course these are all in addition to just hanging out outside and exploring at home. I know that it is okay to let kids play by themselves most of the time. It's a learning thing. It's also good for mommy too.
How do you other mommies balance YOUR time with making sure you're spending time with your kids? How much do you play with your kids each day? I need a reality check, so answers would be nice. :) Thanks!!
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Oh how fun! I am totally going to have to take all your ideas again! Bad mom my butt! You are a great mom you make me look horrible! Those ideas look way fun I want to do with with Cambree and I can do them with the boys I will start tending, that will maybe help keep them busy! I need fun ideas like that maybe I should go google it. How do you make the play dough? Is it hard?
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ReplyDeleteBalancing time can be hard. I try my best but I'm not very good at it. It's okay to let Ryan just explore and it's hard to come up with activities when he is so young. Once he's 2 or 3 it opens up so many more options. It's also hard in winter because it's too cold to go outside. I personally don't get a lot of time with my girls since I work full time but the time I do have, I try to make fun. When I get home, my 100% attention is on them. I get on the floor and play. It's hard sometimes because Alea goes to bed so early that I usually only see her for about 1/2 hour a night. I usually get a whole 2 hours with Kelsey. I try to set aside time for the girls even though I still have a million other things to get accomlished. Since you are home during the day with things to get done, I would suggest setting aside an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon just to play with Ryan with no other obligations. And then the rest of the day, you can clean, exercise or do whatever else needs to get done.
ReplyDeleteOkay, that was really long. Just some suggestions. Hope you're doing well.
Jill