Patricia’s situation is a little different than the other mothers. Her children are quite a bit older and more independent. She is almost the most recent single parent in our study. Patricia does not require out of school care for her children because she is able to work from home, although one area of assistance she discussed in length with us was her children’s use of the school bus. Her children take the bus to and from school almost everyday and she emphasized how much time this saved her. The bus allows her to get more paid and unpaid work done throughout her day, which meant she was able to direct more attention to her kids when they returned home from school. She mentioned feeling fortunate when she listens to other moms who do not live on a bus route and their constant complaints of the driving they have to do each day. …show more content…
Proactive scheduling and routine building with children was the biggest time management strategy used by the mothers we interviewed. The building of routines is not only beneficial to the mothers but has been proven to be beneficial to the children’s growth and well-being. Alyssa noted during her interview that building routines with her son, who is on medication for ADHD, allows him to be better prepared for the day and cope with his everyday tasks. One of Patrica’s daughters has also been diagnosed with ADD. Patricia noted the difficulty of waking her daughter up in the morning because her medication often keeps her up late at night. In her interview Patricia also stressed the helpfulness of building routines, stating that she found keeping her daughter’s schedules full of extra-curricular activities helped her tremendously. Although Patricia does this for both of her daughters, she notices it specifically