7 WAYS TO GET ONE HOUR TO YOURSELF (WHEN YOU HAVE SMALL KIDS)

We got back from an international trip last week. Yup, I was ON A PLANE on March 16th, and that means – among other things – that my family is mandator-ily (is that a word?) at home alone for 14 days.

(And honestly, with the way things are right now, I couldn’t be more pleased about it… and I’m in no rush to end the home-time when the two weeks are up.)

I got this idea from the unopened gro-clock sitting in my daughter’s room. (A gro-clock is a light-up clock that you set to turn bright yellow at say – 730 am. Until then it’s got a light blue light. If they wake up at night and the light blue light is on, it’s still stay-in-bed time.

1) THE GRO-CLOCK EVOLUTION (OR…BRIBES ARE AWESOME)

Overlapping nap + quiet times are ESSENTIAL to my business. It was hard at first, but with some effort, I managed to get my baby to nap daily at the same time as my toddler (when I had a baby), and now that they are a little older I still mandate quiet time for the 3-year-old while the toddler naps.

2) MANDATORY OVERLAPPING NAP OR QUIET TIMES (WITH RULES + CONSEQUENCES)

I am NOT suggesting you leave your small kids alone in the bath – but you CAN work in the doorway of the bathroom on your laptop while they play in the tub.

3) UTILIZE THE LOOOOONG BATH

This works the best if TV time is reserved for – well, this. If the TV is on whenever they ASK for it to be on, it doesn’t work as well. I have NO QUALMS about using the TV for an hour to carve out some uninterrupted work time.

4) TURN ON THE TV

If you have toys that your kids are REALLY excited about but that aren’t available all the time – they are ONLY available when mom needs to work for an hour – they will be far more likely to stay engaged with that toy for a full hour (or half an hour if they are younger than 3 years – and at that age, we take what we can get).

5) PULL OUT THE SPECIAL TOYS

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