I have two beautiful children – a  3 year old and an 18 month old.

My day is chaos. Please help.

This is a busy season for you. Each day will be long and full.

There will be messes and tears.

This is very normal.

To make things a little bit more manageable for you and calmer for you and your precious wee ones, try to have a bit of a pattern for your day.

Balance the day between independent play times ( so they learn self-play adeptness skills and you get a chance to tacckle some household tasks),

some focus play time (where you enjoy this special stage and their little love tank is filled to overflowing),

some sibling play time (at a time when you can supervise and promote their friendship)

and some side-by-side play times (where you work on household tasks while they enjoy their play).

Let the pattern be a help to you, not a stress.

On a lovely sunny day your outside play may take up most of the morning.

On a grumpy, grizzly day, the TV time may be extended.

Have an idea of what the day will look like yet be prepared for change too!