Hello rlrenn,
I am a FTWM who has no family help (unless u count the 2 boys at home - hubby and son) and no maid. I cook 5 dinners per week (except 1 weekday night and sundays) and 1 lunch (on Sundays).
But I have a regular domestic part time cleaner who comes once a week to help me with some of the chores. Junior goes to full day cc.
I just had an oven a few months ago. Great - can "do more pattern"
No steamer but my rice cooker's stack up tray is doing a good job when I need to steam stuff. A double boiled pot is useful too, when u want to do great double boiled soup.
U how many kid ar? Me only one (although I always say I have 2 boys), so still coping. As we have no maid, I know I have to get my child to help. So we taught Junior to
- keep his toys and tidy his books as soon as he can
- help in the folding of freshly laundered clothes by learning to sort the short sleeves/pants/shorts/long sleeves etc. He is now an accomplished 'sorter'. The only thing that he still has a problem with is Papa's socks. They are all in black and the only difference is the tiny motif. Also, he enjoy opening the drawers and dump the folded clothes in.
- take off his socks and shoes, bring the socks to the soiled laundry basket and the shoes to the little shoe rack we have prepared for those tiny footwear. Now, he is able to bring his own socks/tee/short/bib to the soiled laundry basket without us asking (but he can’t take off his stuff on his own yet).
His ‘contribution’ may not be a lot but by keeping him occupied, we have made him feel useful and involved. That way, I spend less time trying to deal with the whining and tantrums. Also, since he’s occupied (e.g. by watching me cook) ‘cooperative’, I complete my chores faster.
But really, time is never enough and I don’t have much time to myself or to sleep. Also, there’s not much ‘formal education’ time like flashcard (but really, I don’t believe in that anyway). His ‘education’ is all thru play (the father and son will compete to see who will match the most pair of socks!) and ‘thru real life’ (watching me cook, seeing water boil, seeing the change of eggs from raw to cook and how raw eggs can “change into so many pattern” – steam/fried/sunny side up/scrambled)