Learning to delegate as a mom

As a first time mom learning to delegate may not even be something you’ve thought about. With the newness of caring for a tiny human, wanting to make sure everything is done correctly is only natural. But learning to delegate small task can help relieve not only your stresses but those around you too!

So, why is it so hard for moms to delegate tasks? For starters, we care too much. Let’s be honest, as long as a task gets done (depending on said task of course) does it really matter how? Because that’s the core issue. We care too much about the how.

But I want to make sure it’s done correctly…

I know, I know. I completely get it. I’ve been there.

Take this picture for example. Koehn was hungry and I needed to finish dinner for the rest of the house. With Desmond at work, it wasn’t like I could feed Koehn and cook at the same time so I did the next best thing. Delegated that task to my daughter, Kinley.

Now I may have lucked up when it comes to her, but she loves helping with any task that involves baby Koehn. While her delivery and overall approach to feeding him is a far cry for how I’d handle it, the task got done. Was he a little messier then I would have liked, yeah. But it was bath night anyway. The older kids got to eat dinner on time, Koehn wasn’t screaming at me to be fed, Kinley got a much needed feeling of independence / confidence boost so to me its a win win.

Learning to delegate takes time, but I have found that starting off with smaller task can make it that much easier. Letting a loved one bath baby one night or fold the laundry for you can make such a huge difference in your mental health as a mother, sacrificing the “how it goes done” for that fact that it got done is truly worth it.

So what are some ways to delegate task and what even are some task you can delegate without going crazy? Start with the small stuff.

Having someone other than your partner help with baby may not be something you’re up to right away and that’s completely okay. Start by having others help with things around the house. One less thing on your to-do list is always a win.

Maybe grandma wants to come visit baby, that’s great! Ask for assistance with the laundry while she’s there. Folding the clothes and putting them up would be awesome, but even just transferring the washed clothes to the dryer is a life saver. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rewash a load because I forgot about it.

Friends want to stop by and check on you, how awesome are they! Ask for help with dinner. They can cook you something before hand, bring gift cards to a few of your favorite restaurants or even cook what you had planned for that night in your kitchen.

Maybe you’re like me and moved half way across the county and not don’t have very many friends coming to visit. That’s okay to. (sidetone, its hard to make friends as an adult, or is that just me??) If you have older kiddos, allowing them to help with dinner is a good way to delegate a few task as well.

This article by Mother’ly offers nine other ways to delegate around the home. First time mom, mom of three, it really doesn’t matter. Delegating task to those around us can help out tremendously. And at first it may work your nervous more then actually relieving stress, but give it time. Because again when it comes to delegating, its not about the how. One less thing for you to do is equates to more time you can spend with baby or even sleeping. I’ll let you decided which one of those is the better choice, lol.

What are some things you find hard to delegate? Or maybe you’re a pro at this and have some amazing tips for other mommas? Leave me a comment below either way!

Love,

Jazmyne