Packing with Kids

I have had to move only once before with my oldest daughter, but I moved 15x before I turned 18 and I am the 3rd of 6. I picked up some tricks from my mom on how to move with kids. We are now moving again and we have a 3yr old and a 1 yr old. I am using all the tips and tricks from my mom and adding some of my own as well.

Moving with kids is not easy at all, moving in general is stressful but add in some confused and active kiddos and it is about to be 10x harder. Taking everything a step at a time and remembering this is stressful for the whole family is important to remember. Here are the 7 tips and tricks I have learned in my long history of moving with kids around.

Include them:

Kids want to feel like they are apart of what ever you are doing in general, so finding a way to include them is super helpful. Have them help you clean, help you put certain things in the boxes, help with taping the boxes, etc.

One Room at a time:

Having kids with your while you pack can be very distracting! Maybe you started packing a box in the kitchen, then your kiddo needed help in the bathroom and in the end you start packing a box in the bathroom. Things happen!

Try to focus on one room at a time and put all of your focus into it. Remind yourself to finish the project you started before starting another one.

Give them something special:

Giving them a special activity or toy can help them stay distracted and entertained while you pack, maybe its a new play-doh set or Littlest Pet Shop Set. Just something new and fun so they can have a little gift while their world is getting turned upside down.

Be patient:

You may be stressed out moving and having to be everything to little ones, and I get it! That is stressful, but patience is so important with kids. They will not understand why or what is happening, so make sure you store up some extra patience for them.

They may have more negative behaviors, or maybe they will become extra clingy. Kids love a routine and when we change that up even for the good it can cause some ripple effects. You are doing a great job! Just be patient with them as well as yourself.

Their things last:

Packing their things last will help them keep as much normalcy in their life as long as you can. This one can be hard because you need truly to pack the things you use on a daily basis for the end. Keep the bare minimum out while you pack the rest of the house.

What I would suggest is just keeping their room the last room you tackle. Get everything you can pack out of the house before tackling their stuff.

Now if it is their things but either they do not use often or is super bulky and needs to be moved, then yes go ahead and pack it. All of these tips are up to you to change for your family to serve you best.

Let them pick the last things packed:

When you are planning which rooms to pack and in what order ask their opinion. Kids love to feel like they do have a say and a voice in what happens. You do not have to listen to them for everything, but make their voice heard and feel like they are a valued member of the family.

Giving kids options like this help them to make decisions and help them to have a sense that they have some control over what they do. They do not have to have the impression they get to make no choices.

Reset:

Moving is hard for literally everyone involved. Making sure that you reset your emotions to help you stay calm and composed will help your children. They know when your are frustrated or frazzled and it affects them. Find ways to help you reset your feelings while moving.

An example is: when we are having a bad morning, I go with the girls to get Starbucks. We use this as a reset. We start the day over when we get home from Starbucks, that way it does not become a bad day, just a blip of our day was a little frustrating. Getting out of the house and getting something helps my brain click back into gear and not become a frazzled monster.

You do not have to go get Starbucks, maybe yours is watching 20 minutes of a show, going to the park, taking a walk, or just going outside. Find out what reset sets you and this will help you not only when packing but when you’re having a rough time in general!

Conclusion:

All of these tips are just what worked for our family, if you need to tweak them or omit some with your packing journey then do it!! Life is not one size fits all, you know what works for your kids and you. Find the joy in the simple things and remember this will not last forever. Life does move on and it will mellow out. You got this momma!!!

Morning Routine with 2 kids

It can be hard to do it all as a mom. Being home and trying to keep your head above water can be tough. Keeping a routine with your day and your kids will help loads to get more done. Having a routine will do wonders, children do so well when they know exactly what is going to happen through out their day.

Now I am a huge fan of the block schedule (see our post about it here), so my routine is bit more flexible but at the same time is consistent. Our kids know what will be happening in certain time frames.

When it comes to routines there is no one size fits all, what works for our family may not work for yours and that is okay!!!! There is no reason we all need to be the same. During this post, if you read something that would not flow into your life, then don't worry and skip over it.

In this post I will include sample templates for your morning routine. These templates are in my shop, enter your email and get a discount code for my shop!!

Below is an example of what our mornings look like.

Mom wakes up: 6:00- 7:00

This is the block of time where I get some work in or just take time for myself. This time frame does range, I sometimes get up at 6 or sometimes it is closer to 6:30. My girls wake up from 7-7:30 so depending on the day depends on how much time I get to myself in the morning.

Breakfast :7:00-8:30

Whenever the girls get up we start on breakfast. I do normally nurse the baby first before making something, but that will change once she is weaned and we will just roll right into making breakfast.

Most every morning the girls help me pick what we make for breakfast and also help make it. Kids often LOVE to help you in the kitchen, it can be so fun to have them join in making what you guys are going to eat. We love to have a dance party in the morning when breakfast is cooking. :
It is such a fun and active way to start the day. The girls love this part of the routine and Lucy has certain songs she requests every morning.

Morning Basket/ Bible Study: 8:30-9:30

During this time block I study about a chapter of the bible, and Lucy will usually read her kid bible. Often parents will read their bible in the morning in peace without the kiddos around (which I think can be great!), but I really wanted my girls to see me model the behavior.

I hope to raise strong Christians and being a role model when it comes to reading your bible and living a Christ-like life starts at home with the parents.

I give the girls their morning baskets to play with while I clean up breakfast or fold some laundry. The morning baskets are just toys and books that I rotate. I have a special basket and the night before after the girls go to bed I swap some toys and books out so it will not be the same toys every time.

Depending on what our preschool lessons are on this week, I will theme the morning baskets. We recently had a week where we learned about frogs, so the morning basket contained all the toy frogs we have, books on frogs, and an activity themed around frogs.

Outside time/ Activity: 9:30-11

If we have a sensory bin that day this is when I will bring it out, I tend to change the contents of the sensory bin once a week. If the sensory bin was something wet or damp I will wash it out that week, and I will not put a dry ingredients in the sensory bin unless Lucy asks specifically asks for another sensory bin that week.

If we do not do a sensory bin in this time block, then I will bring out possibly a craft themed toward our lesson’s focus for the week. Now like the sensory I normally only do one or two crafts a week for our preschool curriculum.

On a day where we do not have a sensory bin or a craft to do, I take the girls out side to play. We have a water table, chalk, bikes, a trampoline, and more for the girls to play with and get some energy out. Both of our girls love to be outside, sometimes we just enjoy the sun and read. Normally we will play outside until one of the kids gets fussy or is time for lunch.

Conclusion:

I like to have our routine, a bit looser than mapping it out every 15 minutes or every 30 minutes, I tried and I got too stressed when we fell a bit behind. I found if I gave us an hour to an hour and a half, and that worked so much better for us.

Routines are important for kids and parents, but mostly you need to make a routine that works for your family and your kids. Be patient when finding your routine because it may take time, when we had Lyra our routine changed because our family had grown. Give yourself grace and remember to be calm when in a new stage of life.

This is the routine that we have found works for us, I hope reading it helped your plan out a routine that works for you!

Block Schedule

Ever feel like you’re running out of time? Wondering how anyone gets anything done while having children? Thinking to yourself “What did I even do today”? Then you need block scheduling. Not to be cheesy but block scheduling changed our lives. I get everything I want done and still have tons of time on my hands to play with the kids.

Now it is important to remember in this blog I will use my examples are simply that my examples. I am pulling from my circumstances and routine. That is one of the best things about the block schedule, it is designed to work for literally anyone! Once you understand how the block schedule it will be simple to plug in your own life instead of mine.

What you need to do is stop living life hour by hour. With this routine you can start living block by block.

The idea of block scheduling is that you treat a period of time almost like a class in high school. from 1:30 to 3:30 you are in that specific class and that is what you should be focusing on. The thought is the same. from 10:-12 you focus on a few things, if you do not get them done, then get them in at the end of the next block if there is time, if not then worry about it tomorrow.

It can make it simpler to have certain tasks that are similar for example an errands block, and you schedule all of your outings in this block to batch you tasks outside the home. You can also have unplugged blocks where you make sure to put down any electronic and enjoy some time without screens.

Stop scheduling your life hour by hour and start scheduling the block schedule! Target your time on specific tasks during that block and let the rest of it go. Throw your entirety into your current block.

Planning your day will become quick and easy because of block schedule. Don’t sit around and wonder what you need to do, look at what you said in your block, if you have completed all the tasks in your block take some time to relax until your next block! Your blocks will change day to day but the structure is the same.

In my shop I have several block schedule templates, subscribe with your email to get a 50% off code.