baby bunching tip #7: get thee a holiday elf (aka mother’s helper)

So your list looks like this:

• Make cookies for cookie exchange + cookies as gifts since you’re saving money this year.
• Get Christmas card pictures taken.
• Get Christmas cards done—either online or written out.
• Find addresses for cards. Address them. Stamp them without people putting orange-tinted fingers from Goldfish all over them.
• Buy presents online since it’s really too hard to get out with your bunch.
• Wrap presents for everyone without your toddler ripping everything open again.
• Get tree decorations up without baby eating hooks and/or other ornaments.

We’re sure the list goes on and on. Help yourself out this year. Get a mother’s helper to help you. We’re almost sure there is a middle school or even younger high school aged girl in your neighborhood looking for some extra holiday cash. Call her!

Mother’s helpers can be quite useful when you’re going to be at home anyway. It’s like having an older child around who you have empowered with the temporary authority to “parent.” They can often entertain your little ones while you get a few things done around the house—like address your cards, do some baking or wrap presents.

There are a few things to note about these helpful gals. They are not the best, usually, at disciplining your kids or directing behavior. They may not wipe poopy bottoms or put your kids down for a nap, but they should be able to clean up the spilt apple juice so you can keep your nose to the holiday grindstone. They are there solely to entertain and keep your kids out of ornaments, cookie dough or the stamps.

Price you say? I paid mine $5 an hour to play with my kids. Money well spent to know they were having fun with someone new while I raced around getting things done.

Comments

[MommyNamedApril]

oh, we have a mother's helper and she is a LIFESAVER!!!

[Christine]

I love your blog!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 years ago I had my first and 16 months later my second! SO I guess I follow in this "Baby Bunching" senerio. My BFF has FOUR kids...all just about 18 months apart. While we were in our babydom - we wrote a book together to scavenger every tip we could find because she broke her leg in TWO places and tore her ACL...all in one awful day...and I had a breast cancer scare and surgery. Mind you, we had all these little kids running around and we needed help! Our book is a tip book, fast and easy to read for the needy mom of bunches! Good luck to you on you book journey - it's one that I truly loved, but now that I'm on to a new season of motherhood, my persuits are now focused on the long term creative energy that was bottled up for so long raising my 'twins'! BTW, I am a twin and my mother says it's easier to have twins...who knows!
Great blog and I'll post you up on www.familyzip.com! :)

[Ninja Mom]

Why don't you all wrap up a Mother's helper and send her over to me in BFE? :-) My closest neighbor is three miles away, and he's a weird old guy. No older kids around here! Bummer!

[Casey]

That sounds awesome but I have no idea where to find one. I have a babysitter one day a week for four hours but I can't even leave the house unless one of the kids is sleeping since she's not capable of managing both kids. And she's 19 and making WAY too much.

[Casandra]

i got my first taste of a mothers helper about 3 weeks ago... OMG!! it was so nice to be able to do the dishes or lock myself in the bedroom to fold the laundry... or run to my post office box (only a 2 mile trip) without getting the girls into their winter wear and all that.
my particular helper was a 15yo girl in the community. i felt comfortable enough to leave her with my little ladies for short periods of time, but it was good just to be able to do some things around the house. especially the packing i have been doing for about 3 weeks... i would be even further away from getting it all done if i hadn't found her.
on finding a helper, just ask around. parents you know may not have children of the right age, but they might know someone who does. ask the older parent's in your area. if you live in a small community like i do, ask everyone. someone is bound to have a middle school aged child who might be looking for some extra christmas money.