What's the secret to keeping the weekends fun?
With 2 kids, aged 2.5yrs and 10mos, weekends have become somewhat of a struggle. If we don't think beforehand about what we're going to be doing, it's really easy to slip into the following routine:
- Wake up (6am for the young one, 7am for the older)
- Play
- Breakfast
- Play
- Lunch
- Nap
- Play
- Dinner
- Stories
- Bedtime (7:30-8pm for both)
- Clean up from dinner
The problem is that each "Play" segment is really only 30-90 minutes long. That's hardly long enough to get something useful done (shopping, groceries, etc.) never mind actually going out and doing something as a family. And, if we don't get ourselves out of the house in the morning before lunch, we get "stuck" just going through the daily routine as I've listed it above...
There's another problem that by 8pm, both my wife and I are pooped and just want to relax for the remaining hour of the day, before we go to sleep and do it all over again.
There's got to be a secret GTD-style approach to parenting, do you know the secret? How do you manage your time and family on the weekend?
Right now, the routine of the weekdays is actually sort of relaxing. It feels backwards to me!
3 Answers
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Unstructured play time is the most valuable learning experience a child can have (see article from American Association of Pediatrics at http://www.aap.org/pressroom/playFINAL.pdf). Kudos to you for maintaining it. That said, maybe you need to refill your gas tank with something else. How about if you and your partner divide and conquer (each take a kid), take turns giving each other time off, or find a babysitter who lets you take time off together? We all need a break from the difficult, relentless, and thankless work of parenting (plus holding jobs, sleeping, doing housework, maintaining friendships, trying to take care of ourselves, etc.). You are an awesome dad, and an occasional break from responsibility would be refreshing and make you even better. Plus it would give the adults something to look forward to. We all need a dangling carrot!
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When our little ones were smaller, we used to make a point of getting up and out of the house early. This was always easy for us since they were both early risers. (and we learned to be) We found that we could be out, do something fun, and be home in time for lunch and naps in the afternoon. Sometimes we accomplished more before 11am than many of our friends who just lounged around. The added benefit- tired kids who took better naps and time for us to get things done in the afternoon.
Great idea! What's "early" to you? 8am? 9am? Breakfast out or in? (Any suggestions for getting the old fogies - us - out of bed? Sometimes we feel like the bed-ridden grandparents in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!)
- andrea, Nov 24, 2009
Thanks, Care. I had actually forgotten how crucial this was in the early days with our first kid. It's a lot harder to get 2 kids out the door, but we'll try harder! Part of the issue is that we're both still a bit sleep deprived with staying up too late and having to wake up at 5am for our younger daughter!
- Steve Lacy, Nov 24, 2009
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Flying a kite or doing another outdoors activity will help naptime happen. Play dates are key too. And keeping a couple hours in the evening to yourselves is important.
But, really, my experience is that this age range is tough. Once your kids are both above, say, 6 years old, I think things will be easier. Luna is 8, and I can say things like "Make your OWN hot chocolate, and don't forget to brush your teeth." And she'll do it.
Another opportunity to call Grammy. She can either watch kids ( 1 or 2 ) at home while you go out to run errands, have lunch, etc. ---- or you can take one child with you for some special time, while Grammy stays home for some special time with the other.
- Suzanne, Mar 14, 2010