Ultimate Guide To Keeping Your House & Keeping Your Temper

I’m excited to be participating with iHomeschool Network to bring you the “Ultimate Guides“! Be sure to check out their Ultimate Guides page to see what over 30 other bloggers have to share.

It would be so easy to keep my home running smoothly and provide all meals if I could make a plan in the morning and stick to it.  If there were no outside forces working in my little world, my house would be in the Martha Stewart magazine every month.

Enter four children.  And a fifth on the way.

Honestly, I can’t even get a shower in the morning without 16 interruptions {and one or two little “shower hitch-hikers” running around in the bottom of the tub}.  Even if I leave detailed instructions for what they should be doing during the ten minute shower I am plagued with heads popping in:  “Mom, he won’t clear the table.” “Mom, can we watch another show?”  “Mom, I can’t find my shorts.” etc. etc.

These are brutal outside forces, when it comes to keeping house.

So how can I juggle all of my “jobs” as homemaker AND not lose my temper when these sweet children need attention?

Some questions to ask {a printable is available at the end of this post}:

1. Do I get angry with my kids/speak to them in frustration?
2. What sets me off?
3. What do they do that irritates me the most?
4. Do I have outside stressors?
5. Do I have a family history of anger/angry reactions?
6. What season am I in?  (toddlers, babies, older children, all ages, ?)
7. What are my expectations of myself?
8. What are my expectations of my children?
9. Are my expectations realistic?

There are so many factors here it’s crazy.  I’ve noticed in my own life it often comes down to selfishness.

But it can also be outside factors not really related to your children:  finances, marriage, extended family, or just being really busy are some common stresses.

How do I keep my house/get my jobs done, and be patient with my kids?

• prioritize: what are my priorities as a mother and homemaker?   (aside from God & my husband) 

children, home, meals, activities, ministries, work

• make a plan

there are a million ideas for homemaking binders, cleaning schedules, menu plans, homeschool schedules, chores – most of them FREE!  We need to use them!

• be proactive

assign and teach our children chores they need to do,  explain to them what you expect in every circumstance:

“We are going to the store, this is how you need to act, this is what will happen if you don’t act that way.”

“I am taking my shower, this is what you need to do, this is what will happen if you don’t do that.”

• make time for yourself.

Are you able to exercise?  Do you have any designated time to yourself to just think/walk/enjoy/craft/hobby?

Try not to play the victim.  Brainstorm some things you might like to do and ask around…if your husband isn’t able to help you with the kids, trade childcare with a friend, find an older neighbor who can watch your kids for a bit, get creative.

I have a girlfriend who loved to scrapbook.  She found another friend who enjoyed it too, and for years during the summer they would get all the kids together, let them play, and scrapbook one day a week.

• give yourself grace
• learn more about mothering

Chore Training/Chore Assignments

Managers of their Chores

Age-Appropriate Chore List {Amy @ Raising Mighty Arrows}

Homemaking Help

Creating Your Daily Schedule/Homemaking Notebook {a post of mine}

Money Saving Mom  {Crystal}

Quick Easy Cheap & Healthy {Anne}

Organizing Made Fun {Becky}

Cajun Joie de Vivre {Amy Bayliss}

Grace

Embracing Your Role As Wife And Mom for What It Is {Ruth @ Gracelaced}

Cultivating A Heart For Motherhood {Joy @ Grace Full Mama}

Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Revised and Updated

Mom Heart Online {Sally Clarkson’s contributor blog}

Homeschooling With A Meek and Gentle Spirit

Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life  {Emily @ Chatting at the Sky}

Fun & Practical Real-Life Managing of Family:

Smockity Frocks

Yourself

My series on Anger & Children

Give Grace In The Moment {The Better Mom}

How To Exercise & Be A Mom {a post of mine}

Peak 313 {Clare}

below is a printable to help you think through some of the questions asked above!

* I am currently starting a series on a book called “She’s Gonna Blow”.  If reacting in anger is something you struggle with, consider joining those of us who are reading it!