If you're a parent, you know your ever-growing list of roles as taxi driver, chef, cleaner and nurse get a regular run. And while we gladly swap these different hats as needed to support our kids, the weight of wearing all of them at once can really take its toll.
Before we'd even hit 8am this morning, I could feel myself losing the battle to balance all my hats. We had a missing drink bottle on the loose, so as I rummaged cupboards, I donned my mediator hat as a sibling squabble broke out, rapidly switched to one-woman cheer squad as someone yelled, "Hey Mum, watch this!" and then changed into my management hat as I delegated some of the remaining jobs to get us out the door and to school on time.
All the while, I was lowkey stressing about what was on the menu for dinner, if there was even enough food in the fridge and whether I actually had enough time to fit in grocery shopping.
While it's impossible to ease all of the necessary mental load that comes with this stage of parenting, it is possible to streamline the many jobs we find ourselves undertaking on a daily basis.
Here are some of the best hacks and advice for getting through the weekdays smoothly, leaving us with more mental space (and *fingers crossed* more time to enjoy our kids).
Make weekday dinners easier.
Let's start with my own hack. For me, one of the things that takes up the most real estate in my mind is mealtimes.
As keen home cooks, cooking can be a great source of joy in our household — but the monotony of deciding what we're going to eat and the lack of time to do so is a stress that surfaces as quickly as our fridge empties (which believe me, is quick).
The hack I've found to ease my own mental load during the first few busy days of each week is to use HelloFresh's meal kit subscription, which gives us the option to outsource the brainwork behind our meals, while still having the satisfaction of cooking delicious, fresh food the family will actually eat.
Instead of navigating each grocery store aisle for a long list of ingredients that I have to find a spot for (and try not to waste), I can easily order some meals for the week through the HelloFresh app, pick the delivery time that works for us, and have pre-packed and fresh pre-portioned ingredients delivered straight to our door.
Sure, I'll still run to the grocery store for the usual staples like bread and milk, but what I won't be doing is juggling return trips at the end of each day when I finally decide what to make for dinner… at the very last minute. Our usual MO in this household.
Second to the stress of planning our meals is serving a meal that meets everyone's preferences, so it's incredibly satisfying to be able to choose the meal combinations that contain everything I need to feed the picky eaters in my family (along with gluten free options we like, and when we want more protein added).
This was a busy week for us, so we chose a variety of quick meals that I could whip up quicker than you can say "episode of Play School". When it comes to dinner time, we try to expose our kids to a wide variety of cuisines and protein, so we chose the Quick Chermoula-Spiced Chicken, Quick Peanut Pork and Konjac Noodles, Quick Crumbed Basa and Parmesan Mash.
All of the meals were a hit with the kids (and us), but the Peanut Pork and Konjac Noodles were a surprise favourite across the board, full of plenty of protein and vegetables and packed with flavour. My husband and I enjoyed the option to sprinkle dried chilli on top while keeping it spice-free for the kids.
Since time is as scarce in our household as eggs are on the shelves of the local grocery store, I love that some HelloFresh meals can also be whipped up in as little as 20 minutes, and gives us more time back to enjoy around the table together.
Finding a way to streamline our busy weekday meals, and reduce the stress of forward-planning (oh, and using up all my time doing groceries for the third time in a week!) has honestly been a little bit life-changing for me.
Stick to your systems.
"One thing that helps is having a designated place for all school-related things, like shoes, bags, hats and jackets. I even have a hook on the wall for their ties. So even if we're in a rush, at least we're not running around looking for things." — Lily
"We love a good system in our house, so we use lots of systems for household things to share the mental load and make sure we don't spend too much time with things on our brain! Shared calendars are super helpful and we put everything in there, from doctor's appointments to catch ups with friends, as well as work days." — Steph
Share the load.
"We get a cleaner once a fortnight. It's great if you can afford it, it's my favourite day in my house! We also use a fridge calendar and fill it out on Sunday night so everyone knows what's happening." — Michelle
"Don't be afraid to lean on your village. If you have a trusted group of friends who are at the same stage of life, see if you can share some of the tasks that take up time and mental space or give each other a break. Lift sharing to and from after-school activities that many of our kids share has been a game-changer for us, and just saying yes to offers of help from friends or family has been a winner, like sharing pick-up duties from school. People love helping, and if we all helped each other out just a small amount, everyone's load would be less." — Ellie
Get smart about your time.
"I've found that getting up a bit earlier than my kids and hanging or folding washing has helped make my week more efficient, and I have my own deadline of having all the washing sorted by Friday so the kids can put it away after school. Then we don't have to worry about washing on the weekend or during the day. I put a load on every night before I go to bed." — Meagan
"I try to do jobs whilst the kids are awake so I can rest when they're sleeping. They often join in on the jobs! We also have a 'one touch' rule, so if you pick something up, you put it away where it actually goes rather than just moving it somewhere else. If I'm moving a cup from upstairs, I'll put it straight in the dishwasher rather than moving it to the kitchen bench." — Pip
Introduce new routines.
"My partner and I have a weekly meeting where we discuss finances, our work arrangements, plan our food, and figure out who's taking which kids to school and weekday activities throughout the week. It helps so much to be on the same page when you share so much of your life with someone, especially when you're also managing kids' schedules together." — Laura
"Having the school uniforms laid out the night before and spreading out the homework, including doing some over the weekend so you're not squeezing it in during the week with after school activities helps. And involve the kids in packing and unpacking bags and lunch boxes each morning and afternoon too." — Kimberley
"Every Sunday, we've introduced the new routine of using a hanging organiser, just hung up on the back of the kids' bedroom door, to organise their school stuff needed for the week categorised by the day it's needed. We've labelled each pouch of the organiser from Monday to Friday, and each contains school socks and hair accessories to be worn that day, sports uniform for Thursday, notes to return on particular days, and library books due back on certain days, too. Saw it on Instagram and I feel so smug!" — Shelley
Use free tools.
"Outsourcing is my biggest helper of the mental load. School weeknights are hectic running through the dinner-bath-teeth-book-bed routine, and by their bedtime I barely have anything left in the tank. The hack I swear by is using the free BorrowBox app, where you basically just enter your local library card number and it gives you access to a whole catalogue of kids' ebooks and audiobooks to borrow and listen to. I can rest my brain and listen to an audiobook the kids have chosen for 20 minutes in bed, and they love the animated voices (which means I don't have the pressure to perform and entertain!)." — Kirby
Order your HelloFresh meal plans using code HELLOPARENTS for $200 off your first 5 boxes.
Feature Image: Getty.