Morning Moms: Bucks County mother shares parenting hacks for pandemic living
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- In today's "Morning Moms," a mother from Newtown, Bucks County has become somewhat of a pro at juggling her young children while working from home during the pandemic.
Now she is sharing some of the parenting hacks that have helped her family.
It was nearly one year ago when Emily Advani had to pivot and adjust to lockdown living.
She has an 11-year-old step-daughter and three young girls all under the age of seven at home, and that includes her 7-month-old, a "pandemic baby."
"So you can only imagine what our life is like on a daily basis," Emily said. "There are toys strewn around. There's a chorus of at least two to three Zoom meetings, singing in the background at any time, and there's me bouncing around."
Emily has found the key to her success is to start early - actually, the night before.
She gets a head start organizing lunches and snacks for her crew.
"It has saved so much time in those daytime hours that are so important for work and school," Emily said.
Emily says another big change is learning to let things go. That means sometimes virtual learning is a family affair, and the laundry is now on hold until the weekend.
And she's learned to set small goals throughout the day.
"I really look at my to-do list in small, bite-size chunks, where in a single hour maybe it's 'all I need to accomplish this hour is vacuum' or 'in this hour, the only thing I need to get done is help my kindergartener with virtual school," Emily said.
Emily and her husband Reuben have also split up the daily tasks; each knows what's expected of them while they are both at work.
When it comes to romance, instead of dinners out, date nights are now at the kitchen counter.
"At least this way we get a little bit of one-on-one time and we feel a little of that parenting relief where we can have a meal sort of just the two of us and try to catch up and spend that time together," Emily said.
In the end, Emily says it's the support she gets from other working parents that encourages her.
"Those little moments where we feel, as parents, that we are all in this together has been the one thing that has really kept me going," Emily said.
