A mom-of-6 has shared how she manages the chaos of raising six children. She uses earplugs and allocates her children one cup and one bowl to keep them quiet.
Sharon Johnson, 36, is from Brigham, Utah. She has found ways to make life easier for her children.
Stay-at-home mom has a strict time limit for screen time and assigns each child an annual chore to complete in order to manage all the children.
To reduce the number of dishes and conserve cupboard space, she gives only one cup and one platter to them. One color-coded robe is also given to keep the laundry clean. Other rules are enforced to calm the storm.
Sharon Johnson, 36, a Utah woman, said that she uses earplugs to cope with the sensory overload from her large family. She also enforces’strict’ rules.
She knows how to make her children’s lives easier. Lusilia, 12, Sophia 10, Pratt (9), Coop (7), Philp (6), and Nadine (3).
The mom of a stay-at home mother admitted that she limits screen time to just one hour per week. She also only gives one cup and one plate to her children and follows a weekly dinner plan.
Sharon has a rotating weekly meal plan that is set up to help with mealtime.
Sharon also admitted that she uses earplugs at night to help her sleep better.
Sharon shared that she was surprised to become a large family. It has been a difficult adjustment.
“We are finally getting there, and doing some things like these helps me manage my mental load.
“My sister suggested that we do a chore each year. I thought she was crazy, but it’s actually great.
“Earplugs can be used to reduce loud noises at night.
“I can still hear them but not loud enough that it damages my brain.”
Sharon lives with Kerry, her 36-year-old husband, and their six children, Lusilia (12), Sophia (10), Coop (7/7), Philp (6/6), and Nadine (3).
Over the years, she has accumulated some valuable tips to help her manage her hectic household.
She explained that each child has a cup, a water bottle and a robe. They only need one.
“It helps us keep track of washing, and it stops us squabbling about who gets which mug. Eight plates are what I have so that we can wash them all day.
“We let every child learn one instrument and one sport extra curriculum to ensure that it is fair and financial viable.”
Sharon noted that the couple became a huge family unintentionally, and she now has to enforce’stricter’ rules than other families. Sharon also had to learn how to calm down.
Sharon gives each child a chore for the entire year. Sharon doesn’t switch between them week after week. Sharon wants to keep it simple.
Sharon assigns each child a chore throughout the year. Sharon does not switch them from week to week in order to keep it simple.
She said that her sister suggested it to me and that I initially thought she was crazy. However, it helped her keep an eye on each of my children’s progress.
“Nadine is too young to do this task so I help her make her a bed.
“My eldest Lusilia cleans up the TV room and unloads dishes from the dishwasher.
“Sophia cleans out the outside and takes care of the downstairs bathrooms.
“Pratt does upstairs living room and bathroom.”
‘Coop takes out all the bins every day and cleans up the hallway.
‘Philip takes care of the cat and cleans out the entrance.
“The chores are appropriate to their ages.”
Sharon swears that the weekly rotating dinner schedule is her greatest savior.
“Each child has picked a meal to eat for the week, and we keep it the exact same until they get bored or want to change it,” she explained.
Sharon lives with Kerry, her 36-year-old husband, and six of their children. Sharon is a stay-at home mom. This has inspired her to find ways to simplify the chaos
Sharon claims that her biggest saving grace is the rotating weekly dinner program. She swears it saves her a lot of grief and each child chooses one meal per week.
Sharon takes out her earplugs after dinner and tries to calm down in the chaos. She said that the earplugs “reduce” the noise from her children’s voices ‘just enough.
“Then, we’ll just replace this one meal.
It doesn’t always go according to plan, so I might end up eating chicken nuggets. However, it helps me with my mental load and means I don’t have the responsibility of planning every week’s meals.
“The kids help out in kitchen with their favorite meal instead of all of them every night, so it doesn’t get too crowded.”
Sharon takes out her earplugs after dinner to try and calm down in the chaos.
She found that using earplugs can help drown out the sounds of her children.
She stated, “It could be a sensory overload.”
“The earplugs reduce it just enough to hear them, but not as loudly.
I limit my screen time to half an hours twice a week, but sometimes I can be flexible.
“A family of eight must adhere to stricter rules.
“Everyone understands the expectations in this way.”
