8 Ways to Get one Hour for Yourself When you Have Small Kids Around You

Do you ever wonder how you can get one hour for yourself with little kids around you?

Whether you are a working mom or stay a home mom, there comes a time when we all need to be able to focus on a task without kids interrupting us.

I worked in a school for five years. And now I have been working from home for three years with the presence of my two beautiful kids.

Some days my daughter is at school for a few hours, and my son has to stay with me at home. But I still have to work when the two are with me at home.

Therefore, it is not easy at all to focus on finishing the tasks that are required to be done at a specific time. Because, when you are concentrated, you will hear a little voice saying, mama.

And thus, you have to stop working and look for your kids’ needs. Yet, what we have to put in mind is that it is not the kids’ fault. We all love to work flexibly and spend more time with our kids.

Within this fact, we can not expect our kids to do exactly as they are told. It is quite impossible regarding their age, three and five.

From here, you need to be more creative in which you can grab one hour for yourself. This hour can be to take care of yourself or focus on your work even though your kids are at home.

So, the good from there is that there are useful ways to entertain your kids and get one hour for yourself.

8 Ways to Get one Hour for Yourself When you Have Small Kids Around You

1- Craft DIYs and handicrafts

If you want to get one hour free from your kids for yourself, you can have time for creativity.

From time to time, allow your kids to make some crafts using a sellotape pen to decorate cards showing their imagination.

When they finish, they can have a museum to present their DIYs.

But, you have to be sure to tell them that the opening time is after finishing your work. And set time for this which is one hour.

So, here you can get your hour without their disturbance.

2- Set a deal with a reward

Sometimes having a deal with your kids can be a great option.

The deal can be getting a timer and set it for 60 minutes. Tell your kids that when the timer ends, they can have something to eat like chocolate, other things, or treats.

This idea works better when you tell them that they can have their choice of treatment at the end of this 60 minutes.

As a reminder, make the timer out of their reach.

3- Smartphone apps and tablet games

There exist wonderful educational and entertaining games and apps for downloading on your tablet or smartphone.

By using this way, I can sit my kid next to me, and hand him with my tablet with for example Pepa Pig application. This application contains multiple videos and games.

If you can not work with noise, you can give your kid headphones with the volume turned down.

It is worth having a good look at free apps available to find something appropriate for your kids’ age.

4- Have back-up activity books and stickers

A good activity book can definitely get you an hour of time.

But, the point here is to make sure your kids can do the activities and tasks alone without needing you. Otherwise, you will lose your main time.

Make sure to avoid books with written descriptions of what your kids are required to do unless their age allows them to read by themselves.

If your kid is a toddler or just started school, try to have books that contain stickers.

You can useMelissa and Doug’s bundle or removable stickers. They contain several sheets of stickers and pages for you to stick them on. Then, your kid can lift them back up and put them where he wants.

This tip is a great idea for both small and old kids. And the result is one hour free for yourself.

5- Have a TV time

It won’t be a crime if you set your kids in front of the TV for one hour in order to get stuff done. Because some TV channels are full of educational content nowadays.

You can show your kids several TV shows, and allow them to choose one which is suitable for their age. This idea works better when your kids are not all time in front of the TV. Because, If it is so it will be a big problem for them.

So, for me, it is all about balance. Thus, don’t hesitate at using TV from time to time to get yourself a piece of time.

6- Make a challenge on building something

If you want to use this method, you have to know that it works best with kids aged three and over. Set them a challenge to build a town using Lego, dolls, or Sylvanian families.

You ask your kid to build a whole town and you will come and see it in an hour. But, you have to give him lots of props and huge space to work with.

I personally use it with my kids. You can buy a set of Legos for this and show them pictures of Lego buildings to rich their inspiration.

7- Get some time-saving meal strategies

All moms often suffer from the accumulation of work, peeling, cutting, and preparation in the kitchen. And have to make a double effort to be able to prepare food at the right time. And thus, the result is to spend a lot of time, the time they don’t have.

For me, I used to spend more than 3 hours in the kitchen twice a day. I knew that it was really a waste of time. Thus, I had to look for some helpful strategies. And here you have some:

a- Pre-preparation of ingredients

Although the method of preparing food varies from one recipe to another, many of them share the same raw materials. So, it is advisable to prepare and cut some ingredients and keep them in the refrigerator until needed.

Or, simply buy cut and canned vegetables to save more time.

b- Cooking more meals in one time

When cooking some of the family’s favorite food, it is recommended to prepare a large amount of them, and keep the rest in the freeze to eat them next week.

c- Buying prepared food

There are many types of prepared foods in the market that need a few minutes to heat in the microwave. And, oops they are ready to eat. Although homemade fresh food is the healthiest option, you can use ready-made food from time to time to save time and get one hour free for yourself.

d- Choosing easy to prepare meals

You don’t have to daily prepare many dishes which require a lot of time and effort. Simply, you can choose healthy meals with pre-cooked ingredients stored in the fridge.

What works really for me is that I am a member of a weekly meal plan. This is really the perfect idea that I have applied to my meals program and a list of groceries. Because this plan includes everything I need.

7- Setting a sleep schedule

Before you deal with how to set a sleep schedule, you have to know the benefits of this schedule. And, what it gives to your kids for both psychological and physical health, and protect them from many illnesses.

The most important benefits of setting a sleep schedule are:

• Promot the proper growth of kids.
• They get adequate sleep, rest, and relax.
• Sleeping early at specific hours each day helps the production of growth hormones.
• When the kid gets an adequate amount of sleep, it will increase his ability to focus and assimilate his strength in memorization and learning.
• Scheduling sleep time for kids improves their mood. So, when they wake up in the morning, they are at their best.
• Combating obesity. Because sleeping early reduces the kids’ need to eat in late hours.

How to set a sleep schedule?

Moms and dads have to make sure that their kids get a sleep appointment so that their internal biological clock is regular. Because irregular sleeping for kids is one of the biggest problems.

So, here are some ways in setting a sleep schedule:

• Make sure that your house is quiet at night, and the kid’s room is semi-dark.
• Try to make a certain routine for your kids before going to bed, such as a warm bath, reading a story, and so on.
• Set specific hours to wake up and make it a habit.
• You have to keep smartphones and tablets out of reach of kids during sleep time.
• Be careful not to break the rules for any reason.

If you set this schedule in the right way, you will definitely get one hour for yourself to spend it in which it is needed.

8- Have a new spare box

You can use this box as a magic solution for extra free time. This box may contain new toys, play-doh, activity kit, Lego, and kids set food.

The idea here is to bring it out when you need to have more time for yourself. Don’t allow the kids to get access to all the items at one time, but rotate them periodically in which your kids don’t get bored.

Use this method once a week so as not to lose all the means.

If this post helped you get some ideas, please tell me in the comments.

And if you have new ideas, you are welcome to share them with us.