Eight Days a Week

As a work at home mom, in the midst of summer vacation, I had been fretting about how I was going to get any work done and still spend quality time with my kids.

It’s hard enough to balance being a mother, wife, home business owner, and friend when the kids are in school. And although they have been enrolled in a couple of short camps, it really doesn’t not solve my problem of making sure the kids have a fun summer, work gets done, healthy meals are made and the house remains relatively clean.

Recently a couple things happened that made me realize that the most important thing in my family’s life right now is spending time together while the kids are young. It doesn’t last long.

The first thing that happened was that my baby girl turned six and it hit me just how fast childhood passes. Every moment we spend with our kids is precious, yet not all moments are created equal. An hour in front of the computer while the kids watch TV does not compare to an hour when you sit down and really get involved in a craft together. I want as many moments as possible this summer to be memorable and fun with my kids.

A few days before the holidays, I volunteered for a school trip with my son’s class. While walking through the woods collecting soil samples, I asked one of his friends if she had any summer plans. She said she would be in daycare the whole summer and was not looking forward to it. It made me sad to think of the time she won’t spend with her own mother and made me appreciate my own situation. It also made me realize that in order to spend the summer with my own kids I was going to have to make a few sacrifices.

So I racked my brain for creative ways to organize our summer and came up with a plan where I can actually get eight days out of my week instead of seven (technically). By simply waking up a few hours early every day, I can easily add an extra 7-14 hours to my week, without affecting my family. And to top it off, the extra hours would be mine…all mine!

(The key is to also eat well and drink lots of fresh water, because when you do…you have more energy, feel better, and need less sleep.)

So in honour of maximizing my guilt-free, hands-on, playtime with my children during these two months, I am going to continue waking up an hour and a half earlier than normal taking advantage of these quiet morning hours. And although I am known to enjoy my sleep, the sacrifice is worth the rewards.

And I am sure that when we look back at our photos in the future, the reduced sleep will not even be remembered.

Rebecca Ness

Tagged as: Rebecca