Larger Family Life - A Large Family Blog: running a house

I have written before about how I strongly recommend waking up earlier than everybody else when you have a family to look after. I recommend it even more so after the events of this week.

I have been waking up at 5am for almost four years now. That is every single day, with weekends included. I wasn't always an early riser and it took some training to get used to doing it but I quickly realised that I far preferred the benefits that it brought.

Getting up before everybody else gives me the opportunity to "get my head straight". I can prepare myself, physically and mentally, for the day ahead. I can breakfast and have a coffee or two in peace. I can get the chores started and get ahead of my work and I can get myself dressed and ready before the small people start demanding my time and attention. I can deal with my online banking, my emails and I can write up a blog post or two. I like having the quiet time before the busyness of the day begins.

If I can get myself that one hour it makes a lot of difference to my whole day. This was brought home to me this week when I did the unthinkable and overslept. I hardly ever oversleep and if I do it is rarely by more than ten minutes. With a couple of babies to get up for during the night sometimes the tiredness tends to kick in. This week it gave me a real good kicking and I ended up oversleeping not once but twice. Furthermore, it wasn't by minutes but by over an hour each time!

By the time I awoke, the children were already awake and demanding my attention. The chores that would normally be done and out of the way were left so that I could deal with the kids. I hadn't had a coffee, hadn't had breakfast and hadn't even had time to run a brush through my hair, let alone get myself dressed and made up for the day.

As the morning passed by and I tried to play catch-up on the things I would normally have dealt with I got more and more stressed and short-tempered. Before I knew it lunch time had arrived and I still hadn't caught up on everything. I hadn't eaten all morning, not having had the chance to eat breakfast after all. The laundry was behind, schooling started later and I was trying frantically to prepare materials for lessons that I didn't get the chance to do already. The hoovering and dusting wasn't done and every crumb on the carpet screamed at me. The result? I was rushing around, maligning myself and getting in a fouler mood as the day went on.

I hadn't realised until this week just how much having this time in my day means to me. I hadn't realised until now just how much the benefits far outweighed anything that the extra few minutes of sleep could give. I appreciate far more the things I can do, the amount I can achieve and the peace of mind it gives me when I am firm with myself and my early morning starts, and this in turn goes a long way to improving my mood for the rest of the day. And the rest of the family appreciates that!

I often hear from other mums who say they wish they could do that, or have thought about trying it but then finish with, "... but I'm really not a morning person".

You don't have to be a morning person.

You just have to be firm with yourself for two weeks.

Don't look at me that way.

Two weeks.

That is all.

Try getting up before anyone else in the house for just two weeks and work out your own little routine. Make the most of having your morning coffee in peace and note how many chores you can get done in that time, without having to rush and without having the distraction of little ones under your feet. See if it makes any difference to your mood (once you've got going and stopped cursing my name under your breath). Try it out and see if it gives you a head start to your day, allowing you to get on top of things before they get on top of you.

I much prefer my 5am starts to a day of rushing about, getting an already stressed me into a worse mood as the day progresses.

I am willing to bet you will notice the benefits too.

Let me know if you try it.