Are sunday's coming faster? I think they might be!
This week was halloween and the twins first birthday. I had 2.5 days off paid work and 2.5 more days than usual watching kids. I've been thinking a lot about the work-life concept that people keep mentioning to me as I start back at work.
My time log this week shows over 45 hours of active childcare along with my two days of nanny cover. When people talk about missing their kids when in work (or when people say, as they have, "I don't know why you would have kids if you plan to work all the time and just put them in childcare") I start to wonder - how much time should I spend with my kids? How much active parenting is the "right" amount according to the anti-daycare club?
My kids are up at 6:30am and sleep at 7:30pm. If I work from 9-5 I will have a minimum of 30 waking hours a week with my kids - basically the same as a job - plus another 30 hours on the weekend. Is the argument that 60 hours a week is too little time for active parenting and I should be doing 97.5 hour a week, and the real benefit to the kids is between the 60 I spend and the 97.5 I could spend if I wasn't in work?
I digress. This is sunday update!
Reading
Slowly reading The Ministry of Time. I'm 25% through and it seems to be *almost* catching my attention. It's an interesting plot - I hope it goes somewhere soon.
It's also National Blog Posting Month! Which is far beyond my writing or reading capabilities at the moment. IF you want some great reading, check out San's blog for the complete list. There will be lots of great blog reading this month!
Sports
When I was looking at buying a Peloton I did a lot of research on whether I could have it in an attic room and what the noise levels would be. One reddit commenter said "It will be noisy for the first week, but after three months you won't hear it at all". Jokes. It's not very noisy at all (fyi!) but I am LOVING it so far. It is week 1 though.
- Monday:
- 30 Minute Halloween Ride
- Tuesday:
- 45 Minute Your Day One Ride
- Thursday:
- 30 Minute Halloween Ride with Ally Love
- 10 Minute Core with Callie Gullickson
- Friday:
- 30 Minute Pop Ride with Ally Love
- 30 Minute Core with Robin Arzon
- Saturday:
- 30 Minute 1989 Taylors Version Ride with Ally Love
- 30 Minute Full Body Strength with Selena Samuela
- Sunday:
- 30 Minutes Sundays with Love Ride
I am sorry you have to defend yourself to the anti-daycare club. Everyone should what they think is right for their kids. And it's not like you park them in front of a screen and then do your me-time. People...
ReplyDeleteThe Ministry of Time is on my TBR as I have heard so many great things from my book club friends. And I am in love with time travel stories.
Thank you! I think daycare is one of those things where you're judged if you do and judged if you don't. And maybe some of the judgement is internal anyways.
DeleteI will report back on Ministry of Time! I have not read a lot of time travel so this is a newish genre for me.
I am 100% with you re early wake ups. When I travel with other people, I generally get up very early, do a bit of this and that, then go for a run. That way I can have some satisfaction that I have done "my" things, and I can be back before anyone gets up so I can be "on" when they want to do daily activities. Otherwise, I feel like I am rushing around, or need to cut my run short to get back to join the group. However, this often means I get only 5-7 hours of sleep. It's totally worth it, but may get a little hard day after day. Maybe you should plan to do it 2-3 x per week so that you can alternate your number of sleep hours each day.
ReplyDeleteI think I might try alternate early mornings and see if that works? 5 hours of sleep would not be enough for me! It's great to hear you carve out Kyria time when you are with others, that is always very tricky.
DeleteYeah, I agree... getting up crazy early sounds great in theory, but it's not like there's some "time magic".... the hours still come from somewhere! It's just a matter of shifting the time around. I get up around 5:15/5:30 every day, which gives me approximately 1 hour to myself before E gets up for school and I transition to seeing him off, dealing with the dog etc. It is NOT enough time to do all the things I would "like" to do. (e.g. I'd love to: read for a bit with my tea. Plan out my calendar for the day. Update my time log. Read blogs/ comment. Write a blog post! Oh, and exercise in there too." LOL. Yeah, no. It's still frustrating sometimes to think like, ok, I wake up "early!" Why do I still feel like I don't have enough time?! But as you and I both know, an hour flies by....
ReplyDeleteAlso, interesting thoughts on the childcare/ time with parents thing. Eh, I don't think there's some magic number, at all. And I always think, it's only a few years and then the kids are off to preschool and school etc usually anyway, so, what's the big difference between that and daycare? It's fine. You spend more than enough time with your kids.
I'm glad you understand! I have the same dream list of things I would do in the morning, but I think my dream is about 3-4 hours long lol. And with that much time I may as well be sleeping.
DeleteIt's true about school and preschool - it's weird that I felt such a pressure to spend days with my kids when they wont' remember it, and then once they get interesting they are in school and suddenly I don't have the option of days with them. Thanks for the insight.
97.5 hours is too many hours a week of ANYthing. -rachel
ReplyDeleteVery astute observation and very true!
DeleteI remember feeling like I didn't have much time with my daughter when she was little, because I worked 8-5, and had to get up and shower and put on make up and get to work, and then get home again after work. I didn't count the time I had in the morning as real time with her. So I had 2 hours in the evening of her grumpiest time of day. I loved weekends when I had those cheerful morning hours with her. Once she started daycare/preschool, I actually had more time with her, because I was able to shift my work schedule. I went in to work at 6 and got off at 3. Of course, that didn't leave me with any me time whatsoever, which I did really, really miss. Now she's an adult and I have so much me time, and I love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for Ministry of Time from the library. :-)
Yeah I definitely think working from home helps me spend a lot more time with my kids. But even when I was doing the commute and nursery piece I had an early riser and all weekend with kiddo. At the time i felt like I was spending *no* time with my kid but I realize now I was spending time with him, I just wasn't acknowledging the time I spent with him as "real" time because it was in chunks before and/or after work and weekend time, not full days.
DeleteUrgent! Min of Time violates its own world rules to bring the story to a conclusion. Should be illegal. Were I you, I would abandon it. Good riddance! Same to anti-daycare people. They should do their thing but stop the criticism. You guys are great and your kids are great.
ReplyDeleteHaha, now I'm 70% through so I think I'll finish it but thanks for the warning!
DeleteYou know I am MOST excited about the Peloton!!!!
ReplyDelete