Q&A with Jenae: Balancing Housework and Kids

I’m trying something new today (and will probably end up regretting it). I’m doing a Q&A vlog (aka video blog). I’ve never done this before, so I am super nervous.

But here we go anyway!

Michelle recently e-mailed me the following question:

“How do you balance housework and playing/ working with the kids? I feel like I’m always neglecting one or the other. Do you have a set schedule and is there many days where you go without doing crafts?”

 

You can watch my very honest answer to this question in this video:

Can’t see the video? Go here.

Yep! Super helpful, I know! Authenticity has always been a huge priority to me on this blog and it doesn’t get more authentic than that! :)

And heaven forbid, if anyone has a question they want to me to answer after watching this video (probably in an equally not-so-helpful but honest way), feel free to e-mail me at [email protected].

21 Comments

  1. Oh my goodness! We are SO alike!!!! Thank you for posting this sweet video friend! I too have issues with balancing the housework side of my job and the get on the floor and play or do fun activities side of my job. Also, super encouraging to hear I’m not the only one who struggles with sticking with something! :) You are a blessing and I am just so glad to know you and be on this journey of motherhood with you! Thank you!!!!!!!!

  2. THANK YOU so much for being honest and real! I love your website, and reading your articles and watching this vlog made me love what you do even more..

  3. Thanks for your honesty! I don’t have a schedule and since I’m technically “the boss” I don’t get up early or stick to my made-up schedules, either. I could get up for school or work at 6 but since I stay at home now, I get up much later than that. As for cleaning, I usually do it when it bothers me, and I have a rather high tolerance for mess (poor hubby), but I have the goal to do the dishes every day and the laundry at least once a week. I’m hoping that when my daughter starts preschool this August that it will be an incentive for me to make a routine for us. I know kids thrive on routines and my daughter really doesn’t get that structure right now. I guess we all could do better! I also appreciate your “season” remark that some things have higher priorities at different times in our lives. Hope you have a nice day, too! :-)

  4. Thank you for your VERY honest answer! We are all only human! :) I work full time outside the home and try to be a great mom and do the awesome activities you have shared on this blog as well. I am DEFINITELY NOT balancing any of it very well AT ALL! I read this blog post today (http://powerofmoms.com/2012/04/your-children-want-you/), and I think it will help all of us who struggle with this same issue. Hope you don’t mind me posting it.

    I believe that ultimately, it is about giving our children our love, time and attention. Another quote I’ve read was about them not remembering how clean you kept your house, but the time you took to play a game or do something with them. That is what I keep telling myself… Blessings to everyone!

  5. I think the struggle between clean house and time with children is age-old and will always be on-going.
    My husband and I have instituted a new philosophy in our house (you can read about it on my blog here: http://curlybynature.blogspot.com/2012/04/gcc-new-philosophy.html )
    Part of it is contentment: we are content with the blessings God gives us, and in order not to take advantage of these blessings, we take care of them. This is the step I’m teaching my children as I clean.
    I try to clean during their quiet time, but that doesn’t always happen, so I generally say “Ok, we all need to clean up the room now, to take care of our toys because they are special.” I’m hoping that by including them in the cleaning, they not only feel as if we’ve had time together, but I can also teach them how to appreciate and care for our things.
    I think you’re doing great and I love the vlog!

  6. I LOVE the vlog format! And thanks so much for your honest and heartfelt answers. I like how you empahsized how this is what is happening in “this season of mothering.” Great job!

  7. So helpful!!! Simply to hear that I’m not the only one who does not always feel like playing or setting up a craft every day. My husband works, studies, and works for the Navy as well, and on nights when he doesn’t come home till after the kids are in bed, I feel like I go by on hour-to-hour or minute-to-minute basis as well. It can be a tough job that we have.
    Great job on the vlog!!!!

  8. I loved hearing your sweet voice! I also feel encouraged knowing I’m not the only one …… how many times do I have to kiss the princess and wake her up? (I know, the answer is infinity and I’ll be crying when she doesn’t want to play any more). Thank you also for the “seasons of life” perpespective. You also hit the nail on the head that we need to point them to God. Thanks so much for your honesty! You’re the best!

  9. Thanks – for your honesty. Hahaha. I can relate. I cannot seem to stick to a certain organization or planner… The quest…
    Amen to everything you said.
    I think you are a sweet and loving mom!

  10. Thank you for being so honest, I guess we all can relate to that situation, it can be so difficult dealing with everything at the same time ! I’ve been reading your blog from France for quite a while now and just love it :) Have wonderful day :)

  11. Very nicely done. Your honest answers are very helpful. It helps to remind us that even those who seem to have it going smoothly are also on their own bumpy road. Also, as I am sure you know that even when it is not scheduled learning time our children our learning that they are important just by putting them first. Have a blessed day.

  12. Thank you so much for this! I have actually been feeling guilty that I haven’t done any of the wonderful learning activities you post with my daughter and I’ve been reading your blog for probably a month. She is 2 1/2 and my son is 6 months, so I struggle a lot with balance. I really want a more predictable schedule but I’m just not good at sticking to it either. Also, at these young ages they grow and change so fast that I don’t think you can really expect them to sleep exactly the same number of hours every night or naptime, or really do anything as consistently as you might like. My daughter has given up naps most days and I’m trying to encourage a more predictable napping schedule with my son, but it’s a little crazy here sometimes and I often don’t get any time to work on stuff without a little person needing something. I think if you get to the end of the day and the kids are safe and happy then you’ve done a good job!

  13. Great Vlog!

    I just want to say that Satan is attacking this generation of moms with GUILT! I read of a study that moms are spending more time with their kids than ever before…yet we STILL feel guilty for not spending more time than we already do.

    I wrote a post on my blog called “See They Didn’t Have it Together Back Then Either” and that came about because I was reading a book from the year 1912 called “The New Housekeeping Efficiency Studies in Home Management.”

    Here is what I quoted from the book:
    ______
    “A moderate income, two babies, and constant demands on my time, was the situation that faced me several years ago. I liked housework, and was especially fond of cooking; but the deadening point about the whole situation was that I never seemed to finish my work, never seemed to **get anywhere,** and that I almost never had any leisure time to myself.

    “I wanted to read a bit, or write out some ideas I had been thinking about, or take a half hour for personal grooming. If I devoted my day to cooking, I was appalled later at the confusion and dirt I had neglected. If I specialized on cleaning, our meals were hurried and ill-prepared. If I tried to do justice to both cleaning and preparing of meals, I quite certainly neglected the babies and myself.”
    _____
    To know they struggled even back then with the same thing just shows that there is no “cure” to it so to speak. It’s normal. A mother’s work is never done.

    We need to stop feeling guilty every time we turn around (I deal with this too). Since our issue with balancing has been a battle for women of all time, I try not to focus so much on it anymore.

    We also have a ton of info being thrown at us constantly, we see other moms all over blog land looking like the perfect mother and on and on. It’s easy to compare ourselves to them. We need to be confident in what we are doing regardless of what anyone else is doing.

    Hope this helps someone :-)

    1. Wow! I hadn’t really thought about the guilt in terms of satan’s attack, but it makes perfect sense. There is probably a verse about it, but I’m pretty sure my guilt doesn’t glorify God. Thanks for some great food for thought Angell!

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