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Based on my current schedule, I cannot even begin to imagine how people have time to fit children into their schedule.
Below is my schedule:
7:30 - Wake up
7:30 to 8:30 - Eat breakfast and get ready for work
8:30 - leave for work
9:00 to 17:00 - Work
17:00 - leave work
17:15 - Maybe run any possible errands
17:30 to 18:00 - Arrive at home
18:00 to 18:30 - Decompress and relax
18:30 - Cook dinner
19:00 to 19:45 - Eat dinner
19:45 to 22:00 - Relax, watch TV, read a book
22:30 - Go to sleep
Two times a week I tutor college students from 18:30 to 20:00 to earn some extra money and keep up my language speaking abilities.
I barely have time for my own life so the idea of starting a family and having children seems totally unattainable at this point. How do people manage children with busy work lives?
How did your people have time to have you? That may be a good start.
Prioritizing. Far too many families today want it all, they want both busy and active careers AND children.
Hubby and I chose to make sacrifices when the time came to have children. I stayed at home fulltime and raised our children. Even then it was a fulltime and busy job.
I remember my typical daily schedule when dear children were little.
7:00 - 7:15 am - down to the baby room to change the baby and toddler (cloth diapers, pins, rubber pants) and get them up out of their cribs
7:15 - 7:30 am - highchair time (breakfast)
8:00 am - lug plastic diaper pail downstairs to the laundry room, dump pail into the washing machine, wash diapers
9:00 am - change the baby's and toddlers diapers
9:05 am - prepare two baby bottles (homemade baby formula)
9:15 am - back downstairs to laundry room to empty washing machine of diapers, back upstairs and out to the clothesline to hang diapers to dry
9:30 am - sit down and have a cigarette
10:00 am - strip and change the cribs (sheets)
10:10 am - crib sheets into the washing machine
11:00 am - crib sheets out of the washing machine and into the electric tumble dryer
11:05 am - light a cigarette and take a break
11:15 am - change the baby's and toddler diapers
12:00 pm - highchair time (lunch)
12:25 pm - baby and toddler into their cribs for an afternoon nap
12:30 pm - light up a cigarette, rest my tired feet
12:40 pm - go downstairs to the laundry room and pull freshly laundered crib sheets out of tumble dryer, fold, put away
1:00 pm - grab the plastic laundry basket, out the back porch door to take the diapers down off the clothesline
1:10 pm - fold diapers and stack them on top of dresser in the baby room
2:00 pm - go in and get baby and toddler up out of their cribs from their nap... change their diapers
2:30 pm - start preparing supper
3:00 pm - sit down, light a cigarette (take five)
3:30 pm - do a rubber pants check on baby and toddler
4:00 pm - set supper table
4:30 pm - supper served
5:15 - 5:30 pm - clean up kitchen, wash supper dishes
6:00 pm - light cigarette, take a break
7:00 pm - prepare two baby bottles, warm them (pot of water/stovetop), whisk baby and toddler up from floor and pack them off to the baby room (one under each arm). Into their cribs, change diapers, nighttime double diapers for both baby and toddler, with diapers pin-fastened, rubber pants up the legs and over top of diapers. Raise crib railings, turn off baby room light
7:20 pm - sit down, light cigarette, and the read the day's newspaper
8:30 pm - run a hot bath
9:30 pm- bedtime
In addition to making homemade baby formula, I also made homemade baby food.
Last edited by Size18; 05-06-2023 at 01:12 PM..
Reason: addition
That’s why it’s ideal to have the mom stay at home.
Why just the mom? What if she's the one making more money??
Boy, the hate for dual-working families on this thread is STRONG. So many wonderful parents and their children I know came from double-income families, and they thrived as well as - if not better than - the ones with SAHPs. Especially once they're in school, why does it even matter? You can at least work during those hours, if you want or need to, right? Personally I'm glad my mother worked, as it taught us the value of self-reliance. She stayed home when we were very young, but I would have been fine either way. As are my niece and nephew, who've never had a SAHP there 24/7. They're amazing kids (now teens), who are probably way more self-reliant than their over-coddled peers.
I'm not hearing any judgement. I'm hearing what individual posters would like to have done differently or what they feel/did was right for them.
Because, perhaps in hindsight, many feel it best to have a parent home with kids, at least more time home with kids, while they are young does not mean they are judging others.
I had to work when mine were little and I was a single parent for most of it. I had a lot of help with childcare from my family or I probably could not have gone back to school and gotten the good job I have now. I did actually enjoy my career and found the year I stayed home to be mind numbing. I liked working, then. But looking back I wish I had been able to spend more time with my kids. Thats not judging others.
As far as the OP or anyone who is not a parent, I can see how they look at hectic lives of parents and wonder how they have time. At my age now I look back at my time parenting and working and wonder how I ever had the time.
Oh, they're judging... HARD. See the comment I quoted above, which may or may not have been a joke. And that's just for starters!
You slept only 5 hours a night before you had kids??? It’s super common to see depression, obesity & heart disease in ppl who regularly sleep less than 7 hours!
So shocking... lol... not really. It's pretty common, especially with how hard people work these days. I'm lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep (no kids), and usually that's fine with me. I have trouble sleeping more than that, tbh. Maybe it's not good for my health, but neither is tossing and turning to try and achieve 9 hours.
I'm literally at work right now... it's a slow night, and I'm stuck on the reference desk for 3 hours. Pretty much the only times I post on C-D these days, honestly. Look at my recent posting history, and it's almost always between the hours of 6-9pm (when I'm bored on the public desk). lmao
Location: As of 2022….back to SoCal. OC this time!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
It's pretty common, especially with how hard people work these days. I'm lucky if I get 5-6 hours of sleep (no kids), and usually that's fine with me. I have trouble sleeping more than that, tbh. Maybe it's not good for my health, but neither is tossing and turning to try and achieve 9 hours.
Well…9 hours isn’t necessary AND, ofc 5 hours is ok sometimes. Every night tho, especially before you had kids, that is really bad for your health. The body can’t function as well with less than 7 hours of sleep every night. It makes you susceptible to depression, obesity, high blood pressure, kidney disease, stroke, lowers your immunity & all kinds of stuff.
I would consult with a doctor or try to make changes in your lifestyle in how much time you are allowing yourself to sleep AND the conditions of your sleep environment. Some ppl won’t even turn on Do Not Disturb on their phone.
I know it’s going to be harder to get sleep when our baby is born, but that’s temporary.
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You slept only 5 hours a night before you had kids??? It’s super common to see depression, obesity & heart disease in ppl who regularly sleep less than 7 hours!
