Hey working moms, I know you gotta love this article. I just happened to catch this while I am helping my friend about new parental tips. Read this and I hope you’ll treasure them.


When I am at work, I think about the baby and how I wish I had more time with him. That’s a huge working Mom dilemma – how do I spend more time with the baby given that most of my day is spent at work? No matter how tired I am when I get home, I try to do the following activities with the baby. I usually only have a couple of hours left to spend with him before his bedtime, so I try to squeeze in what I can.


Get on the floor and play with the baby. This is stress relief for me too! Goodbye Powerpoint presentations, hello stacking rings! Bye-bye busy office desk, hello busy playpen! My baby and I usually take out his favorite toy trucks, and he shows me the tricks he learned that day. Sometimes it would just be a quick game of Elmo playing peekaboo with him from behind the curtains, or Mommy from behind a pillow. Playtime is a must for me and the baby, whether I’m still in office clothes or not.


Read books together before bedtime. I love it when my baby points at a page, looks up at me and gurgles in a questioning tone. It’s as if he’s saying, “What’s this, Mommy?” I enjoy reading a few books with him before we turn out the lights. It’s the only learning part of the day we share, and I cherish these moments. From Dr. Seuss’ silly rhymes to colorful picture books, we turn the pages together as I tell him about the stories in each one. My eyes may be tired from reading charts and numbers the whole day, but they will never be too tired for my baby’s reading time.


Get rid of that cell phone during baby time. I’m guilty of keeping my phone close by as I play and read to baby. Sometimes work-related texts would come in and I’d be distracted answering them. I’d think “This will only take a minute.” Well, those minutes added up. My son would be looking up at me to read what’s on the page and I’d be furiously punching in a message on my phone. It robs me of special time with the boy, and so I’ve learned to put away my phone as soon as I get home from work.


Prepare for bedtime together. Once bedtime nears, I would scoop up my toddler in my arms and we would go prepare for bed together. We’d walk to the closet to pick out his nightclothes. Then we’d go to the bathroom to prepare his wash cloth. After washing up and changing for bed, I’d scoop him up in my arms again and we would clean the room together. We’d put his used clothes in the hamper, pile his books in one corner, store his toys in their little container. Our room isn’t that big, but I enjoy carrying him in my arms as we fix up everything before bedtime together. Instead of leaving him on the bed while I go prepare his nappy or clean up after him, I like involving him in the process. He seems to enjoy it too. I love the extra time I have with him in my arms.


Say good night to the world together. A routine my baby and I share is to look at the evening sky and say good night to everything until he gets sleepy. “Good night neighbors! Good night grass! Good night roads! Good night lamp post! Good night frogs!” Sometimes it takes just a few good nights before he snuggles up to me. Other times I’d run out of things to say good night to! I especially enjoy those longer good nights as we get to bond more before he drifts off to dreamland.
Another thing that’s been working for me recently is eating on the way home. I grab a snack before leaving the office, then munch on the meal while on the ride home. A sandwich usually fills me up, then I eat dinner once the baby is fast asleep. It’s just another way of managing schedules with baby time as a priority.


Spending more time with the baby means simply focusing on the activities you share together. Forget work, you’ve already left it for the day. Forget chores, you can deal with them when the baby’s asleep. Your baby waited for you the whole day, and finally you’re reunited!


When I walk through the front door and am welcomed with a huge smile and giggle, that’s my cue to completely log out of work mode. Only a few more hours till it’s his bedtime again, so it’s time to log in some quality Mommy-baby time!


Source: ph.yfittopostblog.com

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 5:36 am and is filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.