Managing time

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vesnianka

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Hi everyone -

I have been wondering how all of you mom’s with very young kids, manage your time that incorporates your spiritual life. I only have one 20-month old and I work at home, but I find that I cannot manage my time to pray. I am sure that others have several kids, have a plate-full of other responsibilities but still find the time for spiritual life. How in the world do you do it??? I feel that I’m suffering without formal prayer - praying the rosary takes me a lot longer than 20 minutes. Always has. I do have chit-chats with God, but I seriously feel this is NOT enough. A few prayers here and there throughout the day are sent up, but I miss the old days, when I could read, meditate, etc. I felt I was much closer to God then. When my boy goes down for a nap, that’s when I race to get things done. I’m always running against the clock. Any suggestions???

Thanks!!!
 
I think there are several different ways to go about it. If you want to pray the rosary, try making it a family rosary. Sure, at 20 months, your child will likely be running around making it difficult to concentrate. But, in time, that will change. Start now and be consistent. Not only will you be gaining time to pray, but you will be teaching your child to pray (which we all want to do!).

It’s not an uncommon struggle for parents. Back in college, I could go to daily Mass, get in an hour of Eucharistic Adoration, and still have time for praying the rosary daily, going to prayer groups, and doing spiritual reading. Now as a married father, there’s no way I can do all those things every day anymore. It’s a tough lesson to learn to let go of the old ways and embrace the new.

Just do something. Be intentional and be consistent. That’s the most important thing.
 
Just ideas, may or may not work…

a) Have DH give you a “night off” so you can go to Adoration or a group
b) singing the divine mercy chaplet while cleaning… use a CD to keep place… just sayin’ 🙂
c) nap time- even if it’s only 45m, or it’s “Stay in your room quietly for an hour, when the buzzer goes off” with older kids, may give you a chance.
d) rather than devotions per se, I find more ways to incorporate things into daily life. St Francis? Let’s go visit a farm or zoo! St. Valentine? Make cookies! etc, talking about the saint with details appropriate to that age. A two year old is happy to color a Saint, or do an activity “St. Francis could talk to animals! Let’s color him talking to his animals! How about we say a special prayer that he watches over Rover” whereas a 3-4 year old can handle more detail.
e) I know many moms that either get up before the kids, or have their devotions after the kids are in bed. I can’t figure out either while working- up at 5:30, not waking up earlier, and I’m beat by the time the kids are in bed at 7.
f) Go to “Church Stuff.” Special blessings, special masses (if they are not extra long, just have something neat about them), processions, look/talk about special displays in church (nativity at Christmas, for example).

D and F are what we use the most at the moment. And lots of little silent 2-3 line prayers throughout the day.

I’ll look for other posters’ ideas on meditation/alone time, I’ve yet to discover that one with young kids 😦
 
When my oldest was little, I couldn’t find time either. I started little with him, teaching him to pray the prayers of the rosary and then the order of the prayers in the rosary. Of course we went to Mass but often had to take him out for a few minutes. By the time he was in bed, I was sleepy too. I would start a rosary and sleep before I finished the creed! My mom assured me that by trying to teach him to pray I was doing everything God asked of me, but I still felt I needed the prayer time. I started praying a decade of the rosary here and there throughout the day as time allowed. If I only made it through three Hail Marys it was better than nothing. Eventually it got better.

One of the reasons those of us who have many children can have that one on one time with God is because we have older kids to watch the younger ones, and because the younger ones follow the bigger ones. They don’t need us to entertain them or supervise as strictly because the older kids are able to do that. At my house we don’t use the buddy system or anything like that, but the kids do it naturally. When two are mad at each other they play with someone else. When we have family prayers the little ones imitate the bigger ones.
 
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