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Convenience

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I dislike the idea of “convenience” when it comes to life and motherhood. We are prompted to constantly chase and seek out what is “convenient” when it comes to parenting, life, daily routine, and even food. And it’s such a lie. There aren’t many convenient things that are healthy or genuinely help us. Convenient foods are typically fast food or prepackaged. They contain all sorts of ingredients that are meant to support production speed and shelf life of the “food” and not support our bodies.

How much does convenience factor into your food choices? Do you spend a lot of time looking for a quick fix? Write about how much convenience is influencing your daily food choices and if it is indeed serving you and your family. Be specific. Note if you’d like to see this trend continue or change for your family.

Bonus: Brainstorm about how you can work food planning into your daily routine so that you are always prepared and don’t have to rely on last minute food choices when you and the kids are beyond hungry.

Personal Goal:
Whole Foods:
Sugar:
Water:

Journal Review

This is where each day’s work really comes together. On the very last day of every month, take a moment to read back over your writing. What did you learn? See? Notice? Did your writing voice change? Did you write more or less as the month went on? Did you set the example? Check your expectations? Did you get one more moment of Alone Time than you did last month? Is it still a work in progress?

Has your attitude about Alone Time changed? Has your family’s? What will you do more of? What will you do differently? Do you feel more mindful of your needs? Of your family’s needs? More mindful in general? Have your needs changed? Are you pausing more? Taking more deep breaths? Look over the goals you chose on March 1st…have they been met? Changed? Expanded?

Let it all out! This is our last day to journal about Alone Time before we switch to April’s topic…Date Night. March was about our time away, April will be about our time together.

Time to write a few Thank You notes!

Write one or two heartfelt thank yous to anyone who helped you this month…your spouse, a babysitter, your kids, a friend, an internet stranger whose comment inspired you. Say “thank you.”

Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting my goals. I want us to be a strong, balanced family—thanks for seeing that time away can improve our time together (that sort of thing). Be kind. Be specific. Be genuine.

Engage online!

Engage online! Join the conversation over on our Facebook page or comment on IG! Share what you’ve learned with other mamas, ask what’s working for others, gather ideas, talk about it! What’s been the hardest part of this month? What did you

March Bonus Days

Engage online! Join the conversation over on our Facebook page or comment on IG! Share what you’ve learned with other mamas, ask what’s working for others, gather ideas, talk about it! What’s been the hardest part of this month? What did you learn about yourself? Your kids? Your family? How has your attitude about Alone Time changed?

Last day of week 4!

Way to go! There are a few bonus days in the Month of March we’ll get to tomorrow, but for today, this is it! How do you feel after 28 days of mommy steps?

Now would be a good time to review screen time. Too much? What else is fun besides screens? Is all of your Alone Time online? Strive for balance. First step is awareness. Mommy steps. Be open. “I’m going to try to look at my phone less, turn the TV off more, to create space for us to be more creative as a family.”

Ask your family what they’ve liked doing this week

Ask your family what they’ve liked doing this week. Do they feel like people are giving them space? Do you feel like people are giving you space? Are you giving space? Does it feel important to you? Them? Journal about their answers.

Ask again

Asking again helps being direct about Alone Time become a habit and normalizes it for yourself and your family. The more you talk about it, the more comfortable the topic becomes.

If you need to schedule a helper or do a mom swap, do it! Reach out today! Take steps (mommy steps). Suggest a trade off with your partner. Put it on the schedule: This Saturday, 2 hours for you, switch out, 2 hours for him (or something along those lines). Starting out with just a few hours can feel less overwhelming for everyone involved.

If it gets overwhelming, stop, go outside, take a deep breath. Clear that feeling. Turn on a favorite song from that playlist you made to lighten your mood. Make that cup of tea. Pour that wine. Write about it.

Gentle reminder: it’s not really fair to tell someone else what to do with their Alone Time.

Write about how it’s going…well? Not well? Any resistance from anyone? Who is benefiting most from this week’s Alone Time?

Ask again

Ask your family and yourself—what do you want to do with your Alone Time today? Guide siblings through it: “Let’s give your brother some space…” “Please give your sister some space…” How did it go? What worked? What didn’t?