time spent with children

[ioannakritsali]

I m struggling to find time to spend with my kids since I am working full time. Any tips, idea on how to spend quality time with them? anyone in a similar situation?

What time do you leave the house and get back home? How old are you children?

I am leaving around 8, doing the nursery run, and back around 6-7. They are 3 and 5.

Gt them involved in helping with the tea while singing and making funny noises/faces..let them help with bathtimes n chores because as mad as it sounds its still spending time together and as the younger cannot help get the older to help with chores to do with younger like get mummy babys nappy n wipes n put then in room pks hunny etc xx

Get them to also chose a book so you can read together..kids love this..and sit and watch a film once a week say on a friday with them that they choose..just have a routine of then helping each night..a book to read together and say once a week bake cupcakes/watch a film or five them a choice of a game to play for half hour with mummy before bed..i spy naming fruits names etc beginning from a to z..simple games that dont take alot to pack away..or even download a educational game sit half hour before bed n play with them on sofa while watching catch up lol xx

Make the most of weekends. Do housework and laundry weekday evenings so you spend every waking minute with them on a Saturday and Sunday. That’s what I do.

thank you. do you like to cook together?

Something my mum used to do with me and my brother (and something we've just started to do with 2yo ds) is looking through family photo albums together. I remember as a child I couldn't get enough of pictures of my parents before I was born, baby pictures of me and my brother, pictures of things I could barely doing, and all the stories my mother told us to go with them!

I know how you feel. I have a 5 year old DS and have really struggled with this. In the last year we've discovered games together before bedtime and it's great focused time - snakes and ladders, connect 4, guess who, snap, top trumps. I love it.

Like others have said, try and do housework etc during the week to maximise the time.

I’ve recently started doing crafts, baking, gardening etc activities with my DD with The Weekend Box subscription. We really enjoy it. Worth checking out and looking out for a free box to see what you think.

My kids love to help with cooking because they see ingredients going in and its educational n tgey eat it thinking i made this n proud too n i also found that praising them for all the HARD WORK lol makes them want to help even more lol.. and i made up games like bingo simple numbers to like 50 n a prize to go for each line they loved it but it helps with maths..like soneone ssid gardening n crafts are the best..even making funny youtube vids n me n my dd love singing karaoke while me n ds love making exploding volcanoes using shampoo bicarb soda n food colouring n general things like sleeping in garden in tent etc..fun n inexpensive..hope it helps xx

We do Saturday morning cleaning (mad flurry of activity that kids help with a bit then get to play or watch TV then Saturday afternoon we do something together and Saturday dinner is the one time we eat in the living room to have film night. Dc sit round a little table then, once they've finished eating they curl up with me on the sofa. Sunday pm we often meet up with friends as week day play dates are hard.

We also plan in empty weekends where we just hang out at home/in the garden. Honestly this has been a game changer for us. Every weekend we were doing something and actually sometimes the kids just need time to chill and play with their mountains of toys! Allowing myself lazy days also helped me mentally.

I get home at 6 and the time I have until they go to bed is completely on them. I don’t do any chores and apart from make myself a cup of tea I spend the whole time playing with them.
Mine have eaten at childcare and I plan mine and DH meals in advance and make sure they’re easy meals I can make quickly after bedtime. Then at weekends the days are more balanced between chores and fun things.