One of my keys to managing my day with toddlers was
'clean as you go'.
This not only gave me a relatively clean house by the evening,
it provided lots and lots of incidental moments
to teach patience to my little ones.
I would pack away the cereal, milk and spreads immediately
so only had a few dishes to wash at the end of breakfast
and with a quick wipe down of the bench we were done.
Part of getting ready for the day included putting pyjamas
under their pillow and making their bed so I would hover and do
a few minutes of tidying in their room while they worked on this
(and straightened out the doona at the end of their effort!)
Room time would always end with me helping them
put their toys in the right place
so there was no big mess to come back to later.
One-on-one time and craft time included setting up
and packing up together which sometimes meant my
toddler would sit and tell me a story for a few minutes
while I did the final clean up.
During outside play I would get a few bigger cleaning jobs
done uninterrupted and make a start on dinner preparations.
Morning outside play time would likewise end with a shared
packing up time, and I have fond memories of myself
sweeping the sand one way
and my little ones helpfully sweeping it the other way!
For lunch, I would pop them in their highchair or booster seat
and make the lunch and clean up before givng it to them.
This provided a few minutes of patience practice and again meant
a very quick clean up at the end. Reading time straight after lunch
was a great focusing activity for my toddlers, and a little break for me too!
Likewise, I cleaned as I went for the afternoon activities.
Doing a little bit at a time throughout the day
meant that most nights I had very little to tidy up.
My husband came home to a relatively tidy house and our
evenings were free to relax rather than work.
I love being efficient with my time and try and double it whenever
I can - cleaning and training at the same time was most rewarding!
