Are you a mum who feels like you are fighting a losing battle against the clock trying to keep your show on the road?
Whether you’re at home, back at the office, or simply fighting the eternal battle to keep the kitchen clean, these simple tips from Tanith Carey’s new book will help find you more time for your baby or toddler – and also yourself!
Choose the right highchair: You can save hours of stress simply by choosing the right highchair with the biggest tray you can find. That way little arms can’t lob food over the edge – and turn floors into sticky food debris disaster zones. (A lot of EB members suggest the simple and cheap IKEA ones - ed)
Clean your highchair and childseat: Don’t spend ages scrubbing and cleaning baked on food in hard to reach nooks and crannies. Instead wait until it’s a sunny day - take them outside - and give them a hose-down with your high pressure hose or pressure washer. Then leave them to dry in the sun.
Buy baby and toddler clothes that do two jobs: Dress babies in all-in-one body so you don’t have to worry about putting on - and then losing socks - and coats with hoods for toddlers s so they don’t mislay hats. For older kids in winter, thread scarves from coat loops so they are always ready to wear.
Buy the right bib: Buying the right size, shape and fabric bib is essential if you want to avoid changing your baby after almost every meal time. Avoid tiny terry towels bibs with gaping necks, which you have to wash – and which then snag your washing with the Velcro. The best protection of all are the plastic wipe-clean bibs that cover arms too that just need a wipe, not a wash. For dribbly babies, avoid changing tops constantly by dressing them all-day long in stay-dry bandana-style dribble bibs. These days, they are made to compliment any outfit.
Check neck openings: Nobody enjoys the struggling and screaming that ensues when you can’t get a top over a baby’s or toddler’s head. So look for boat necks or tops with poppers on the shoulders. Steer very clear of polo and turtle necks. Make it fun – sing a song of ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ as your child’s head comes through the other side to press home the idea that they’ll only be in the dark for an instant. If your child really hates pullovers being yanked down over his head, try cardigans until the phase passes.
Plan ahead for potty training: When you’re toilet training, buy pants in bigger sizes, so they are easier for little ones to yank down in a hurry, or leave the bottom half off completely in the early stages when you’re at home. Don’t dress children in dungarees when they are earning to use the loo. They are too fiddly to get on and off. Put boys in trousers with elasticated waists and girls in easy-to-manoeuvre skirts.
Choose wipe clean paint: There are few things that prove you have given up on your home more than kiddie handprints left all over the walls. It feels like it’s all downhill from there. So choose wipe-clean eggshell or kitchen paint, and you can clean them off in an instant. It sounds paradoxical, but white is the easiest colour – because you can touch it up more easily when the paintwork gets chipped.
Get practical photo frames for kids pictures: Never buy frames where you can only replace the picture if you unscrew the backs. Kids grow quickly, and by the time you’ve got round to finding the right screwdriver, the baby in the picture frame could easily be in secondary school. Instead, invest in frames where you can simply slide the pictures in and out, or even digital photo frames. Also, avoid silver or brass frames unless you want to add polishing off metal tarnish to your to-do list.
Wash toys in dishwasher: If your toddler toys are dirty or sticky, remember that plastic items like from Duplo and Playmobil which don’t need batteries, can be washed in the dishwasher in a mesh bag.
Buy a floor mat for your dining area: Forget the flimsy versions you get in the baby shops. Instead, hit the web and you will find cheaper, hard-wearing ones that you can order in a range of patterns and sizes. After messy meals, you can shake out the whole mess outside or into the sink, and shove the mat in the washing machine when things get really bad.
Look before you buy baby clothes: Don’t just choose baby and toddler clothes just on the basis of how they look. Never buy any item that looks creased before it’s even left the shop. Look for stretchy materials, thicker cottons, elastin and rayon mixes that are wearable straight out of the machine and never need ironing.
Think before you buy toys: Consider how much space a new toy will take up and how long the novelty will last. Toys with flashing lights or whirring noises will also need a steady flow of battery changes. Certainly avoid battery-operated toys with panels that need to be removed with a screwdriver.
Set toys aside: Younger children concentrate better when they have just a few good toys instead of too much choice. Keep extra items in boxes marked ‘Toys on holiday’, and rotate them. You’ll end up doing a lot less tidying.
Use your local library: On days when you can’t face tidying up a house that’s been ransacked by a toddler, make use of your local library’s story-telling sessions, craft sessions and story-times.
Get kids to help tidy: A toddler in full flow can create a new mess every minute. So harness that natural energy with some reverse psychology, and make tidying up a game. It may not work perfectly, but at least you will feel as though it’s all getting slightly better, not worse! Let them enjoy making a noise as they drop the blocks back into the box. Buy a mini shopping trolley and suggest they go ‘shopping’ for toys.
Get socks in just one colour or style: You don’t have time to waste searching around for the only other matching colour. If you only buy white from the start, most socks will go together more or less.
Get denim: denim is every mother’s best friend. It’s easy to clean and tough and it goes with anything. The textured colour will hide a host of things.
If your kids love chocolate: steer them towards white chocolate rather than milk chocolate. The stains and mess and finger smears will be considerably less with white chocolate buttons than with the darker versions.
Do more spot cleaning: just because your little one’s jumpers been worn once, it doesn’t necessarily need washing right away. As long as it’s stain free and the cuffs and neckline arent’ too grimy, let it be worn a second time and cut down your laundry pile.
Look for reversible clothes: The average one-year-old needs up to five outfit changes a day. So look for reversible baby and toddler clothes that can you turn inside out if it’s not convenient to change them. Alternatively dress your little one in just a few light layers. Every time, your baby dirties her top layer, just peel it off to reveal a fresh one underneath.
Tanith Carey is authors of How to Be An Amazing Mum - When You Just Don't Have the Time - the Ultimate Handbook for Hassled Mums.
