SAHM Living in Jamaica: A Day in the Life

I’m Shandean and I am a millennial stay at home mom aka SAHM living in Jamaica. Whatever else am, that is the bottom line. I am my family’s admin, so to speak. Being a SAHM in Jamaica is not very typical culturally. Especially since the family unit is not what most of us would like it to be, resulting in women stepping up to the plate and taking the reins in providing for families. And doing it like a boss, too. Literally. Some years ago, a study found that close to 60% of managers in Jamaica were women.

Being a stay at home is considered a luxury. To be able to care for your family with a partner as an intact unit is a blessing. All the same, it is no small task, and doing it in a developing country may look a little different than in a developed one [country].

We are a single unit family of three with no help, paid or otherwise. Our daughter is in Kindergarten and my husband has a demanding career. In addition to that, we have one car. This means I am the flexible party and it’s my job to ensure that everyone is where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there.

My husband gets started on his day with ungodly hours for his routine. It’s even that way since I met him ten years ago. Sometimes, he is up as early as 2 or 3am and only as late as 5:30am on a weekday. He’s pretty big on his routine.

Morning Routine of a SAHM Living in Jamaica

6:00-6:30am

My day begins between six and six-thirty on weekdays. My husband comes in to make sure we are awake or wake us up if we aren’t. We’ll typically have a little cuddle session and good morning kisses between the three of us.

6:30 -8:00am

Once I’m out of bed, hubby will be doing the ironing. He irons his clothes and our daughter’s for the day and packs her snack bag while I move around checking her school bag and books to make sure everything is in order in accordance with her time table before shuffling the little one for her bath.

After her bath, I get her ready, put on her clothes and fix her hair as needed. Then, I make my way to the kitchen to make clean up if hubby hasn’t done it, and make my coffee/green juice while hubby heads to the shower if he’s working on that morning. I may also put out laundry if I did any the night before.

My shower follows while everyone gets themselves together to head out. If we are in a rush, I shower after I’ve dropped the tribe off.

Somewhere before eight. We head out for drop-offs and I am back home by the latest some time after nine if don’t have errands. On days with errands thrown in, it could be as late as midday before I’m back home.

You may have noticed there is no slot for breakfast in this timeline. That’s because neither myself, hubby nor our daughter is big on early breakfasts. Our daughter has breakfast at school (It’s included in her tuition). If I do have breakfast, it typically a late one, whenever I find the time free to make something.

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Afternoon

10:00-3:00PM

Depending on the day, and what needs to be done, my afternoon is split between home chores, working, attending to my blog, any other writing I need to get done and/or more lengthy errands. For three out of five weekdays, I have up until one-thirty to get whatever I have to do done before I need to pick up my daughter and take her to her extracurricular activity (and stay there for the duration) or pick up my husband from work on a early day/ drop him off on a late day. The other two days of the week, have until three.

3:00-7:00pm

By three on any weekday, I am on the road again because that is the normal time I pick my daughter up from school. Once she is with me, our next step may be home or heading to the location my husband is working on that day. If I don’t have to go right away, I go home and get started on dinner if I’m going to cook that evening. (Yes, I am a stay at home mom. No, I absolutely do not cook every day.) In fact, if I’m not able to employ any of the dinner hacks, I’ve previously shared, the probability that there will be dinner made at home decreases significantly. Sometimes, we order in, scavenge around the kitchen or hubby makes dinner.

This time is also when I catch up on any time sensitive work or commitments. Typically, hubby is home from work but cracks his laptop open right through the door and is right back at it even if it’s just for a hour or so.

Sio and I do homework, practice her spelling and reading, or we laze around the the living room spending down time as a family.

Evening Routine

7:00-9:00pm

The evening time is for finishing up and having dinner. Then do some homework if there is more or any missed and do bath time and wind down with Sio. She is usually in bed before 9. Some days babe decides to rest and the household is in bed before 10, other nights one of us or the other is asleep while to other is up well into the night.

This is a typical weekday for my family and me. Any other SAHM living n Jamaica reading this blog? Does your day look similar?

Xo, Shandean.

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