Kid responsibilities on the weekends?
One question that comes up every weekend morning at are house is: "Can you take the kids for me?"
The weekends often feel like the only time to "Get things done" and at the same time, are also the only time to recuperate from the weekly routine, but, it's also the only time where we can all be together as a family.
Do you have any tips/tricks for parenting + Getting Things Done? How do you and your partner divvy up the responsibility of watching 2 (or more) kids on the weekends? Do you spend most weekends together as a family? Do you trade off both kids between the parents?
Many times, both my wife and I feel like we want to have some time for personal enrichment, hobbies catching up with friends (and without kids), but at the same time, things like laundry, chores, shopping, etc. are always hanging over our heads, especially on weekends, and that's all not even thinking about taking care of 2 kids!
What's your advice for getting it all done, feeling like you're still maintaining your self-identity, and also still spending time with the family?
3 Answers
-
I broke down and hired a housecleaner to come every two weeks to take care of the cleaning. Laundry we try to get done during the week in the evenings. Grocery shopping I do every Saturday morning with the 3.5 year old while hubby watches the baby. It's kind of our little ritual because he gets a Jamba juice everytime too. But for the most part we all try to spend at least one day together as a family doing something fun. For adult time, whether apart or together, again we try to take care of that midweek.
-
I'd like to second the part about getting house stuff during the week. I go grocery shopping at night after the kids are in bed. I do a load of laundry almost every morning before we leave the house and either pop it in to dry before work or when we get home. I sleep in on Saturdays because I never get enough sleep during the week, but otherwise we mostly use the weekend for fun.
-
Babysitters babysitter babysitters.
That's my best advice, but sometimes I find it hard to make it happen. I've tried to just line up a sitter for some time each weekend, but sometimes I fail. When I do, my husband always asks - so.. when is the sitter showing up? Sometimes the sitter takes the boys somewhere, like the park, so Dennis and I can do something around the house without being pestered, and sometimes we go out to dinner alone.
And yes I have a cleaning lady once a week. I Get the laundry and shopping done during the week. But that's a luxury I have since I don't also hold down a full time job outside the house.
Call Grammy to come over.
- Suzanne, Mar 7, 2010