Guys, I have a bad mom confession: I suck at staying present for my baby. I try really hard, but I’m still trying to figure out how to balance my full time job, full time blog, and being a stay at home mom five days a week. Because this is an area I’m needing a bit of work on, I’m really grateful for this month’s Let’s Talk Motherhood Series. I know I’ll be able to get some great advice from the other moms in this series. And hopefully I can do a little bit better at being present for my baby.
1. As a blogger, how do you balance working from home and staying present with your children? Haha. I try really hard to only work while Bastian is sleeping. Sometimes that’s just not what happens, if I have a huge inbox of emails to respond to or a lot of work from my full time job to catch up on. Since we’ve (sort of) mastered sleep training, I have a pretty good portion of the day that I’m able to work and blog and not have to feel like I’m being a bad mom.
2. What is your favorite way of spending quality time with your little ones? One of my favorite things to do with Bastian is listen to French music and sing with him. Or, to him. We spend a good portion of every day listening to music, and I love hearing him babble along.
3. In such a fast paced world, how do you slow down with and without your children? I spend so much of my time working, that I rarely even have a free moment to scroll through social media. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I was on Instagram and just scrolled through my feed. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but it gets really tempting to take time to look at my Instagram or Twitter instead of spending time paying attention to Bastian. To try and slow things down, I try to have phone free time every day. At least once a day, when Bastian wakes up from a nap, I leave my phone on the couch until he goes back down.
4. What is something you do every day to be present in the moment? Honestly, I think the constant presence of technology puts us at a disadvantage as parents. It’s tempting to spend time looking at our child through our phone screen, documenting their every move and sound, putting snapchat filters over their face, or even just sharing how cute they are on Instagram. There’s no harm in this, but there needs to be time where it’s just you and your little ones. No phones, no distractions. I don’t want my baby to have his earliest memories of me include me staring at my phone screen. Thinking about that helps me be present and disconnect from my phone.
5. What advice would you give to new and future moms about staying present as a parent? Don’t overthink it. Staying present is important, but don’t obsess over it. Your baby is going to be okay if you spend time on your phone. Or watching tv, or on your computer. That’s life, and no matter how much I wish I could devote every single moment of my day staring at my perfect child and celebrating him, that’s just not practical. Don’t let yourself feel guilty, but make a conscious effort every day to stay present. Put your phone down and play with your sweet babe. They’ll only be this little once.
Don’t forget to check out the other mamas in this month’s series!
Mckell, www.lifeasmrswilson.com
Melissa, www.melissalynnchurch.com
Mandy, www.thestrivingmomma.com
Breanna, www.soulfullysanchez.org/wp