And honestly, there should be some sort of degree or reward moms get for their husbands finishing too! Although, I'd only want to do it if there were no actual grades... Maybe just a pass/fail would be fine! Lol.
Well, with John doing his MBA through night classes, it could be rough sometimes.
Add on being pregnant during the first year and having a baby at the start of the second year, and it was exhausting during much of it. Not to mention developing allergies that gave me a headache 2-3 times a week... Yeah, not fun.
But we got through it!
And thinking back on it all, I realized there were a few things I did that helped me make it to the end (thank goodness there is an end!).
So, here are a few tips and tricks for being an MBA Mom.
1. Have a weekly movie night.
For us, we did this every Monday. The catch was that the kids had to be in pajamas and ready for bed before we could start the movie. This motivated them to get ready faster and also helped in case one of them fell asleep during the movie.
2. Easy. Meals.
As an MBA Mom, leftovers are your new best friend. Easy microwave/oven meals are your 2nd best friend.
3.Keep your kids' bedtime the same.
This helps with consistency.
Another option is to move their bedtime a little earlier since it will take longer to get them to bed on your own.
Once they're in bed, spend some time for yourself. Almost all of my "me time" is after 9 pm. And my husband wonders why I go to bed so late. Lol.
4. Have kids earn their TV time.
In our house, the kids have to do their "4 things" every day if they want to have screen time.
These 4 things are: get dressed, eat breakfast, help clean a room (or do some sort of chore), and do a learning activity (during the school year, it's usually homework, but we find other good learning activities to do during the summer).
One reason I love using the "4 things" strategy is because if my kids ask me if they can watch TV, but aren't motivated enough to do their chores, they usually go play outside or with their toys, which is usually way better in my opinion.
Eventually they'll finish their 4 things some time during the day, and that's when they earn their 2 hours of screen time. They can break it up however they want, but they know that 2 hours a day is the max.
It's also helpful to remind them after a half an hour or so in case they wanted to save some time for later but zoned out and didn't realize how much time passed.
5. Use Grocery Pickup.
When I found out that Walmart Grocery Pickup was free, it was a game changer! It saved me so much time and was especially useful when I was pregnant and had a newborn. Every once in a while, I prefer to go into the store to peruse the clearance racks, but in all honesty, I probably save money every time I don't go in. I'm definitely the shopper that runs in for two things and ends up with a cart full. Haha!
6. Have one meal as a family each day.
I know this one isn't always possible, but a lot of the time, we would try to do this.
John would leave for work before any of us were up, come home for an hour after work to eat dinner and be off again for class. On the days he didn't have class, He would keep a similar schedule but usually ended up at the library or shut in a room to do homework. Sunday was literally the only day he took a break from school and we had him to ourselves.
Even though this meant eating dinner at 3:30 pm sometimes or driving to his work to eat lunch with him during the summer, it was nice to have a little bonus time with him each day.
7. Have Family Fun Nights (and Date Nights).
This one's another tricky one and it definitely didn't happen every week.
We did our best though to try to still have time together and usually included the kids as well. As much as I didn't like having John gone a lot, the kids missed him too and really liked when had "Family Fun Nights".
8. Take advantage of breaks.
The first thought with a break from school was to get a house project done.
However, I would suggest not doing this for every break.
There were a few 2 week breaks in between semesters where we went somewhere farther to forget how busy life was (like our trips to Tahoe and Dana Point). Even if we didn't go far during some of the breaks, it was still nice to use the break as a break and not as a week to do more work. I know John especially appreciated that.
For now, those are my main tips for being an MBA Mom. Good luck to all the mom's helping their husbands get through it! It's a long ride, but at least there's an end in sight!
And now, a few more pics...
Even though there was no actual graduation ceremony, John's mom wanted to have a small family party for John and his sister Jenny (who just got her Bachelor's Degree).
No comments:
Post a Comment