This post may contain affiliate links. This means by purchasing through one of these links I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Please see my disclaimer for more details.
Being a stay at home mom certainly has its challenges. To be honest, it can be a total bore-fest. You spend all day with tiny humans who make huge messes (in 0.5 seconds), can’t hold a conversation and all around demand a lot out of you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the most rewarding job ever, it just comes with its own unique set of obstacles!
Today I’m here to dish on how I embrace my SAHM role… and how I’ve removed “bored” from my personal vocabulary.
Contents
So how do you prevent stay at home mom boredom?
With a little intentional planning and making sure you look after YOU too. A happy mom makes for happy kids, after all.
You can’t spend all your time cleaning, cooking and playing kiddy games. You’ll drive yourself crazy. It’s really not so much boredom, as stay at home mom life is BUSY. It’s more SAHM monotony. Sleep, cook, clean, play with kids, repeat. All day, every day.
You have to break the cycle and do something for yourself every day too.
Just think about it. How much more fun are you with your kiddos when you’ve had enough rest, eaten a decent meal and taken a hot shower? Compare that to the days when you were up all night, found yourself covered in spit up and hadn’t exercised in who knows how long?
It makes a difference.
Self-care is trending for a reason. As the saying goes, it’s pretty darn difficult to pour from an empty cup.
So yes, without some intentional planning, stay at home mom life can become very monotonous… but it doesn’t have to be that way!
10 Key Ways to Avoid Becoming a Bored Stay At Home Mom
- Have a family schedule that is flexible
- Create an empowering morning routine
- Get adult conversation in
- Go outside
- Find a hobby or two
- Do fun activities with the kids
- Spend time individually with your kids
- Exercise
- Stop the social media comparison game
- Join a moms group
Have a family schedule (that is flexible!)
If you’ve been around here before, you know I love having a good flexible routine. There has to be room for adventure and spontaneity, but having a general schedule is key to creating flow.
A family schedule helps you ensure that the cleaning gets done, without taking all day every day. It helps the kids understand what comes next within their day (and helps promote their independence), and it helps YOU make sure you have time for yourself too.
Click here to read my in depth guide on creating the perfect SAHM schedule for YOU (I share my personal schedule too!).
Create an empowering morning routine
OK, first things first, you don’t have to be a morning person to have a morning routine. But if you are a mom – you probably should have one. Unless you love being woken up by your kids running into your room and not having a moment to yourself. You do you! Some mamas LOVE that, and that’s awesome.
I prefer to have a hot cup of coffee and plan my day. I like to read and just start the day off doing something for myself. It helps me be in the right frame of mind for a busy day minding my daughter. Most days my morning routine is about 20-30 minutes. I know plenty of moms who wake 1-2 hours before their kids, and others who like to just get 15 minutes of quiet time in.
Like all things in life, there’s NO ONE WAY. You have to consider what you want. Are you looking to get some work done? Maybe you need to be up 1-2 hours early. Are you just looking to have a quiet cup of coffee? 15 minutes might do the trick. Find what works for you!
Read this post here on how to create an empowering morning routine that works for you.
Getting adult conversation in
Adult conversation is essential, for both introverts and extroverts! Some will need more of this than others – but we all need it. We are social creatures. We need to bond over and share our experiences with one another.
There are plenty of options too. Some of my favorites include:
- video chats with friends and family
- play dates
- mommy meet ups
- fitness classes (plenty of mommy & me options exist)
- spark up conversation with another parent or child caregiver at the local park
Go outside
Sunshine and fresh air are natural mood boosters. Plus – it totally breaks up your day and time tends to move much quicker when you are out and about! I try to get outside once a day or more, if at all possible. In the dead of winter this can get challenging, but we still do our best.
Have you heard of the 1000 hours outside challenge? Check out their website for all the details. Their mission is to help families get outdoors and enjoy the health benefits of playing outside!
Find a hobby or two
Sure, there isn’t a ton of free time as a busy stay at home parent. But you can find some! This blog started as my hobby and outlet.
Need some more ideas?
Here’s a list of some potential hobbies to get you started:
- scrapbooking
- crafting
- upcycling furniture
- reading
- learning a language
- writing
- journaling
- photography
- cooking
- baking
- knitting
- weaving
- sewing
- painting
- blogging
- learning or practicing an instrument
- listening to podcasts or audiobooks
- gardening
This should help get your ideas flowing. Hobbies can grow and change too!
Do fun activities with the kids
Obviously some things kids are into are going to be tedious and boring to us adults… but there are plenty of activities you can do together that are fun for EVERYONE!
- You can build some pretty epic forts together.
- Get outside and enjoy nature together.
- Do crafts together.
- Make homemade gifts for holidays together.
- Volunteer together.
These are just a few favorites. Try not to get stuck on doing the same things’ day after day!
Spend time individually with the kids
I have to admit I’m not yet experienced in this area as I’m currently growing our second. BUT, many of my friends with multiple kids have adopted date days with each child and I love the idea! How fun to bond individually with them and enjoy activities that light them up. They will be ecstatic to have your attention, and you’ll feel great too.
Exercise.
Confession. My husband can tell when I’ve skipped my workouts for a couple days in a row.
I get GRUMPY.
Exercise releases endorphins. We are meant to move.
Get moving. You’ll see a difference! It’s another natural mood booster.
Stop the social media comparison game.
I know, easier said than done.
It’s easy to be a victim to the scroll.
No matter the platform, it’s ALL A HIGHLIGHT REEL. Nobody posts every lousy moment of their day. They simply don’t.
And pictures are altered and edited. Items are swept to the side to get that perfect shot making you think that mom has a perfectly clean house, perfect kids and that they are perfectly happy.
So stop getting sucked into it.
If it’s affecting you, take a social media break. It’s game-changing.
Turn off your notifications. Be intentional with the time you spend online. It’s also game-changing.
Look after your mental health!
Join a parenting group
I kind of went into this one above in getting in adult conversation. But it’s important to have yourself some parent friends. People who can truly relate to what you are going through and who can offer you advice for the various difficult stages of raising children. Parenting is not easy, but we are all in this together! Find some friends to laugh and cry with.
Stop being a bored stay at home mom with these 10 tips!
Remove boredom from your vocabulary. There’s always something to do. You need to balance what needs to get done with having fun too. Life is too dang short.
I hope you enjoyed these strategies for tackling stay at home mom boredom.
I’m an open book – drop me a comment below to chat!
Xo,
Kinzy
You might also like:
How to avoid distractions and get more done
A realistic cleaning schedule for busy moms
The laundry schedule you need
Couldn’t agree with these tips more! Now that I have two kiddos, I realize how important it is to invest in myself. I recently decided to schedule a professional carpet cleaning appointment to deep clean my floors. It relieved so much of my stress, and was totally worth it.