being a mom is being a manager

How come nobody ever told me that? Mom is a synonym for manager. What kind of management do we oversee day in and day out you may ask? Here is the short list.

Managing people

As soon as a household is more than one person, the awareness over who's responsibility it is to do which "job" is so important. 

I found an awesome template for household chores to motivate and remind the kids to get some chores done without hounding them.

Here is the link to Confessions of a Homeschooler. There is a chore chart for younger kids and for older kids. I have tailored it to fit our family's needs. Since my children are not homeschooled we could not use it exactly as she suggests but we figured out a way for it to work for our family.

Managing chaos

Although this is done minute by minute (i.e. Stop kicking your brother's chair!, The bookshelf is not a jungle gym!, Quiet pleeeaaase!, ect, ect, ect....),I have also put up a list to help keep us grounded. 

"Our life rules" 

(translation; respect the calm and silence, lift your hand to speak, listen to the speaker, listen to and follow the directions, take care of your things, be solidary, be honest and polite, act with caution and without agression and keep your hands clean) 

I printed this (and many other things) from the "Chez Lutin Bazar" site. It is a wonderful resource to anyone looking for French teaching resources. 

Although I never expect that they lift their hand to speak, we use that card to remind ourselves to wait our turn. AKA no interrupting!!! And hands are almost never clean. Just take a look at  my walls!!!

Managing stress

It is important to manage our own stress. My stress management activities include but are not limited to exercising (alone- without children!), binge watching tv series on Netflix until the wee hours and making lists. :) 

BUT managing our kids stress is equally important. If my kids are stressed out than my stress level rises. And for anyone that has a child with special needs or anxiety issues, attempting to manage stress is even more essential. 

My son has been soooo anxious about buying a new toy that he wants. And this is an actual stress for him. Many kids with ASD tend to hyper-focus and we need to help them see the end result because the stress of waiting is just too much to handle. 

This has helped tremendously.

With the money that he is earning with the chore chart, he marks how much he has- and he needs to make it to 42,00$. My kids only make 0.10$ for every chore that they do (my sister calls it slave-labour) so we are lucky that he already had 22,00$ in his piggy-bank.

He still talks about it multiple times a day but there is no meltdown over it. YES! 

Managing time 

I use google calendar for myself and a wall calendar in our kitchen this big for everyone else's activities. I include homework deadlines, outings, hot meals at school, appointments and extracurriculars. 

You can tell we are at the beginning of the month. There is still blank space! Oh, and the heart sticker is not a romantic reminder to have a date night......it's to give my pets their heart-worm medication!

Managing money

And a good manager knows when to delegate. My husband exclusively handles the finances. Knowing how much money we don't have would keep me awake at night.....

I could have added "managing therapies' to this list but I think that would need it's own dedicated post! 

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But there is one thing that we often forget to manage - and I was reminded of that by a friend, who also happens to be an Autism dad, just the other day. "Managing" fun and spontaneity. Remembering that yes, we have things that need to get done but REAL life happens when you sit back and allow those special moments to take place. That is when real life lessons are learned and precious memories are created. 

That is why I have this hanging in my work space.

To remind me to not always take life so seriously.

Hope and happiness, 

Shaunessy