How to Find Time to Read as a Mom
After publishing my reading list for 2018, and sharing what I’ve read with you all on Instagram, you often send in a question asking how to find time to read as a mom. This is something that goes in spurts for me, and most of my reading does get done in the winter, but today I wanted to share with you all some tips to help you find time to read in between the duties of motherhood and marriage.
As a girl, one of the harshest punishments in my house was for my mom to take my books away. She joked that she was probably the only mom who had to threaten taking books as a punishment, but it worked great for my family. Many of these tips are things that I learned from my mom growing up. 
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Tips to help busy mommas find time to read
1. Make time.
This first one is the most important one, but you have to actually make time to read. Each month on my Powersheets I include reading time as a daily goal. This reading isn’t always a book that I am reading necessarily, but also includes reading blogs, reading with the boys, and magazine articles.
If you want to find time to read, the easiest thing to do, is to pencil it into your calendar.
2. Create a home atmosphere that encourages reading.
A bookshelf in the living room, a basket for library books, side tables to hold drinks, and blankets to cuddle under all encourage taking a moment to stop and read. I like to keep books in stacks around the house so we can grab one wherever we are and fill our minds with stories or knowledge.
Pinterest and Instagram are great sources for creating cozy and reading friendly atmospheres.
3. Arrange your books in an inviting way.
Putting books on a bookshelf in and random order works, but sometimes a little more though put into how books are arranged encourages us to go grab one more often. Some arrange by color, others by topic. Personally, I don’t like books just on the bookshelf the normal way. I like some stacked on top of each other, and arrange by topic too.
For my toddler’s books, I’ve pulled all the board and little books out of our boys’ bookshelf and put them in our living room in a cubby on our window bench. This makes books more accessible to him and reminds me to read to him more often.
Again, Pinterest and Instagram both have lots of great style options for you if you can’t figure out how to arrange your bookshelves. {BTW this type of decorating is like the only kind that I’m good at. I still haven’t figured out what decor style I want to use in our house, I might just have to make up my own style. 😉}
My mom has a wall covered with homeschooling books arranged by topic and then also some by grade. It was always fun for me to go pick out a book above my grade level or choose a new topic to start learning about.
4. Throw a book in your purse or diaper bag.
By carrying a book with you everywhere, you are more likely to open it up and read it while at the park, waiting in the car for the littles to wake up, or if you get a free moment at a coffee shop. You’ll feel more rested after reading a book then you would have if you scrolled social media, and the thought of crossing that book off your list might be a good motivator for you.
5. Read non-fiction as well as fiction.
I’ve learned more since graduation high school and becoming a mother than I thought I would. Motherhood and marriage bring up so many new conversations and point out areas that I want to know about. I don’t actually read a ton of fiction; I much prefer to expand my knowledge and learn about things that excite me. Birth, homeschooling, teaching, and raising boys are topics that I read a lot on. I also like motherhood and any book that brings the gospel into family life. I usually get bored with non-fiction and then will grab some fiction, but I have a hard time finding fiction that I like, a lot of it seems repetitive.
Anyways…mix up your reading. It makes you use your brain more. 😉
6. Have your children join your library’s summer reading challenge. {AKA look at where you are spending your time.}
Having your children in a reading program and either seeing them read, or reading to them to get the required reading minutes forces you to look at your own reading habits as well as looking at what other things you spend your time doing. The reading program is always a great “Reset” for me and makes me think about what kind of example that I am setting for my children. Do they see me on my phone all the time, or do they see me enjoying a book and gaining knowledge by using my mind?
For example, when I noticed that my oldest got his eight hours of reading time in three days, I wondered what I had been doing while he did all that. What was I doing with the time he spent reading? Of course, some of that time was spent on things around the house or helping another boy with something, but I found that the majority of the time I was scrolling on my phone. I have a pile of books to read, but I spend a ton of time scrolling, time that could be spent reading, or working on a craft project, or doing some small home improvement things that don’t get done but bug me…
Take the time to go through and see what you are actually spending your time on through out the day. You’ll be surprised, even if you have reading on your “to-do” list, at how much time you could be using to read.
7. Have a book list.
When you spot a book on someone’s shelf, see a friend promote a book on Instagram, here a book mentioned in a sermon or class you are taking, and you are interested in it, add it to your list.
Having a running list of books to read gives me some extra motivation to actually sit down and read because I want to be able to cross off as many books as I can.
Really, all of these tips don’t work unless you do the first and the sixth ones. If you want to read more, you need to make it a priority in your life.
Have any other tips or a book recommendation for me? Feel free to share in the comments, or email me at rebekah@survivingtoddlerhood.com If you found this post helpful or encouraging in any way, could you take a moment to share it with a friend or add it to a board on Pinterest? Thanks!
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