Sinéad Leonard, 35, is a textiles teacher at a high school in Bristol. She returned from maternity leave earlier this year, and now splits her week between running her own small nursery, via the childminding agency tiney, and teaching. She has an 8-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. Here she shares how she balances her time.
6.30 am Mornings are usually the most stressful time of the day. I have to get my eight-year-old ready for school and also get my one-year-old ready.
My partner is around in the morning. He feeds my son breakfast and gets him dressed, ready for me to drop him off at his childminder. I have usually already made everyone’s packed lunches the night before. My daughter also insists on having her hair done every morning, which can take quite a bit of time. She doesn’t like her dad doing it.
7.30 am My daughter and my partner leave the house. If I am at the school that day, I will drop my son off at my childminder on the way. It’s about a 45-minute drive away from work. I love my drive. I listen to a podcast, or I listen to an audiobook. It’s really good to decompress, it’s a good way to move from home life into work mode.
I work as a product design and textiles teacher in a high school three days a week and I run my childminding business for the other two days a week. When I tried to find childcare for my son, all the nurseries were booked up. It felt like I needed to have registered him before I was even pregnant. So I set up my own. I had a crazy amount of interest very quickly and I had to take the advert down.
If I am childminding, the parents will usually drop their children off by 7.30. Running the childminding business is the most stressful part of my week; teaching can be quite stressful and I have a busy family life, so there isn’t much spare time. It is easy to get stressed.
8.15 am Babies do not like to be left with anyone other than their parents, so there is a lot of crying in the morning and trying to settle them all, which can take some time.
I follow an early-year framework. They are all aged between one and two and a half years old. They’re not really verbal yet so in the morning I spend time tracking their motor skills.
12 pm Lunchtime is very busy, they all need a lot of help eating. Still, it’s very cute. They are all just sitting in their chairs, looking at each other. When I am teaching in high school, it’s the only time in the week that I get to actually sit down and eat.
When I’m childminding, the children have naptime, except the oldest who is two and a half. I will do some sensory play with her, maybe we will do some painting.
2 pm When they have all woken up from their nap, we have a snack and it’s ‘rhyme time’. That’s lots of singing and nursery rhymes.
When I’m childminding, I don’t really get a chance to sit down and eat a full meal until they have all been picked up in the afternoon.
4 pm If I am working at the school I will usually finish up my meetings and head to pick up my son and daughter.
5 pm I have dinner with the children. I try to do a batch cook at the weekend, so we’ve got some food in the fridge. I’m still breastfeeding my son as well so normally he wants a feed once he is back from the childminder. I have to sit down then. It’s a good stopping point to catch up with my daughter. I don’t tend to have dinner with my partner during the week.
6.30 pm My partner gets home, and I then start getting my son bathed and ready for bed, and I help my daughter with her homework.
7.30 pm My partner will put my son into bed. My daughter and I will go out for a walk with the dog for about 45 minutes. I never want to do this because I have so much other stuff to do most of the time but as soon as I’m out of the house it’s so nice and you forget about everything. It’s a good way to take my mind off things. I have learnt to make sure I plan these sorts of things into my week to relieve my stress.
My daughter has a dance class once a week. This means I can pop into the gym for an hour while she is dancing. This is important – I feel so much better once I have exercised.
8pm I don’t really chill out in the evening. I don’t watch much TV. Most of the time I will cook and prep food for the next day. I sort out the food for my small nursery and I prepare my daughter’s packed lunch. I actually find that very relaxing. When no children are around I like to tidy up, chat with my partner and get everything ready for the next day, especially if I am childminding.
Things get very messy in the day when I’m childminding so there is lots of tidying to do. I also make sure I have activities ready for the next day. That is my wind-down time.
9 pm I check in with my husband about tomorrow’s plans. He is an engineer and is often up and down the country in the week so it’s important to plan.
10.30 pm Before bed I will check my emails for anything that might be coming up for the next day. Then I prioritise sleep. I have learnt from years of teaching that if you’re tired, everything is much harder. I’d rather be in a good head space and sacrifice other things.
But we don’t have a sleep routine. My son sleeps in our room with us so we can’t turn the light on. We get in bed and then it’s straight to sleep.
