My daily schedule as an SOS mother

To reduce chaos, Elizabeth runs her home on a strict schedule. Eight children means: eight morning showers, eight breakfasts and lunches that need to be made, and eight kids she needs to get to school.

In Canada, my children wake up around 7:00 a.m. to go to school for 8:45a.m. I generally get up around 5:30 or 6 a.m. to get myself ready and do some work before my children wake. In Namibia, school starts at 7:30 a.m., so the children have to wake up by 5:15 a.m. every morning, not leaving Elizabeth much time to get things ready before they wake-up!

Here is Elizabeth’s morning schedule that I followed as an SOS mother in Namibia:

• 5 a.m. wake-up
• 5:15 a.m. wake-up the children up
• 5:30 children’s morning showers start. Children sweep their bedroom floors, iron their clothes, and get dressed for school. In the meantime, I need to start to prepare oatmeal and boil water for tea.
• 6 a.m. make fresh juice for lunch and add fresh fruit to the children’s school snack. Children eat their breakfast
• 6:15 a.m. children wash the dishes and I check if anybody’s shoes need to be shined
• 6:30 a.m.  walk the younger children to meet their friends to walk to school
• 6:45 a.m. come back from walking the youngest children. Sweep the kitchen and prepare the evening meal
• 7 a.m. the rest of the children go to school
• 8 a.m. make the youngest child breakfast and eat with him
• Take my shower
• Clean the toilets
• Do Laundry