Mother of 19 children, Michelle Duggar is often called an expert on raising kids. As Josh's wife Anna says, "She's a walking baby encyclopedia!" So what is Michelle's secret? How does she keep her sanity? The Duggars are very thankful to now have their older girls to help out, but what did they do back in the day when they had five children under the age of five? Michelle says that she has always taught her children how to sit quietly and play with a toy or listen to a story. This gives the mother a chance to relax and teaches the child patience and self-control.
What do you do to relax while parenting little ones?
Michelle also says in the new introduction on their website that she was totally exhausted and was "rescued" by her children's piano teacher (this must have been a few years later). When the teacher asked what was wrong she said she had been up until 2 am doing laundry. The friend then said she loved doing laundry and offered to help by coming over twice a week to do laundry. She kept up this practice for years and as far as we know may still be doing it! To me the lesson in this is to reach out to friends, not to bear the whole burden alone. I know we can go to our Savior every day with our problems and trials, but human friends are needed as well, even if they don't respond by doing us a humongous favor like this. A listening ear is also important.
ReplyDeleteI found that developing a sound filter was crucial to my sanity, as well as having some activities that the kids enjoyed but were only allowed during Mommy's quiet time. Sometimes they would want one of those games and would come find me and have the representative-usually the older boy, but not always-and say that they all agreed Mommy needed a time-out and oh by the way, could they have (usually a DVD or a computer game) while I read my book?
ReplyDeleteFrequently, I went for it because I am in many ways a sucker for what my kids want and I was ALWAYS a sucker for a 1yr old hucking my current book in my lap and with a very serious look say "Weeaboo mommy, I'm Barney." Translation: "Would you like to read your book for awhile mom? I'm in the mood to see an episode of Barney, may I please watch one?"
Millie at Home: thanks for adding this information! Glad you're enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteKim: That's a great idea, and a very cute example! Thanks for reading :-)
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 11 months old. Sometimes I do feel like going insane, especially since we're in the teething stage. She's not old enough where she can sit quietly yet. She's still a baby and needs constant attention. It's pretty hard, but if Michelle could do with with multiple children under the age of 5 I can do it with my daughter.
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