Bored as a Stay at Home Mom? What to Do When Every day Seems the Same

Bored of Being a Stay at Home Mom

AH! Help me, I just feel like I’m stuck in a cycle of neverending poopy diapers.  If you are living the same day over and over, you are probably a slightly insane and bored stay at home mom.  I have some answers so keep reading!

Everyday BOREDOM

I used to tell my husband that I actually know what it’s like to live in the old movie Groundhog Day. Do you know of this movie?

I know I’m getting old but maybe you know what I’m talking about. When I saw this movie as a teenager it was something I found interesting and funny… that is until it was me! In the movie, a tv weatherman finds that while doing a news story on Groundhog Day in a small town he keeps waking up to repeat the exact same day again.

As a new mom, a new stay at home mom, who didn’t have a car, I thought I was going to go crazy, in earnest. I was at home most days and without anyone interjecting, every day was the exact same.

How to Not Be a Bored Stay at Home Mom

Some stay at home moms don’t have friends, they don’t have family and sadly many don’t have church! I can say that if it wasn’t for our church (2-3 times a week) I may have lost a bit of sanity and ended up doing something hurtful to myself or my child.

God is good ladies! If you don’t have Him as your Savior, get Him

–NOW!

The motherhood journey is scathing without Him. He says He will never leave you nor forsake you, even when your father and mother do (or if they already did before you even had kids).

He is always there.

Your first movement away from the insanity of the ‘same day’ cycle will be by praying to Him and asking Him to show you who He is and how you can be renewed and know His Son Jesus.

It was only God that got me through that never-ending cycle where every day felt like the same day all over again.

What Causes Motherhood Boredom?

There is a reason why every day seems the same.  It’s not just all in your head.

You hardly sleep because of baby, you wake up to a morning that you already saw coming on (because you were awake at first light nursing again). Your day goes on in a repetitive manner of feeding, cleaning, cooking, comforting or playing with your child, and before you know it, it’s dinner.

After dinner, if you are like me, you try to stay up after baby is in bed, hoping for some resemblance of yourself or for a distraction from reality (Netflix anyone?). But deep down you feel unaccomplished and bored, every day. BORED!!

My goodness I thought I was bored as a teenager, I had no idea.

Before kids, when I was practically one myself, my problem was I had no inspiration, motivation or innovation to use my time wisely.

I thought that was boredom…

and it was but I also had plenty of things and people dictating my schedule. School, college, jobs, parents. I had lots of input and output in my life and most of all opportunities. To come out of all of that, now mature with many dreams and aspirations but no order to it, no real outlet, left me truly bored as a mom at home.

Coming out of the workplace, which gives you 8+ hours of scheduled reality, into the world of no schedule except the frequent alarm of baby cries. It leaves you not only confused but also bored.

Let’s not forget there is a huge lack of input, output, and opportunities.

Not much can be done with all those thoughts and dreams when you are needing to change and feed the baby at least every other hour. You cannot do much not until either baby gets a bit older or you get a faithful babysitter.

I did not have a babysitter plus I didn’t know how to go about my day so I had to wait on time.

Time and diligence helped me, by God’s hand, to finally get a rhythm.

How to Stop being a Bored Stay at Home Mom

So the second thing that happened that broke me out of that neverending cycle where every day felt the same, was having a rhythm.

A rhythm to your day is having a flow or tune to your day.

When you have a rhythm, there is a general direction that will prevent you from feeling bored as a stay at home mom.  Imagine how the sun peeks out in the morning and ever lightens the sky until it is its brightest, then it warms into the afternoon, finally dimming to evening, twilight and night.

This is a flow.

The Lord allows the tide to wash in and pull out, it is consistent and brings comfort to many who like to visit the shore.

This is how your day should go, as a flow or a tune. This rhythm can go by 2 methods, either a routine which is a lot more flowy or a schedule which gives more structure, like a bird methodologically building her nest. There are situations and needs for each but generally a routine works best for moms with young children.

It took me a long time to get a flow going for my home but I don’t want you to have to go the long way around. So I created a post that maps out my actual routine for when I had babies, toddlers and preschoolers.

Conclusion on Being a Bored Stay at Home Mom

As moms we are always learning and always renewing. But I am seeing that some things are foundational and I go back to them again and again. Two of these I’ve mentioned here:

• having Christ as your Savior
• having a routine

I may give you all the tips in the world but if you don’t have these two in place you will continue to have a hard time as a stay at home mom.  If you do have these two in place visit my links on Life Organization for further help on getting yourself together!