This post topic made me laugh. I mean, I get it. There are people out there who get up early, do yoga or go for a run or make a proper cooked breakfast or journal before starting their days. That’s never been me. There are people who have leisurely baths and warm milk and curl up in a sleep hygiened room with a book and orange lights and then curl up under a weighted blanket with a sleep mask on. Also not me. I’m a mom. So here’s what my mornings and evenings look like:
In the mornings I hit snooze one too many times, stumble into the bathroom and somehow roll myself into a shower that has to be an un-soothingly quick one because of the extra snooze. I throw on some kind of clothes and thrown my wet hair in a bun and then go to wake up my kid. That in itself usually takes at least 15 minutes during which time I get yelled at, grumped at, pushed, and hidden from. (I do not have a family of morning people.) When the kid is finally up and dressed it’s another frazzling hour of trying to make food and teeth brushing and socks and hairdos and coats happen. Weekends are usually similar, except there doesn’t have to be a coat or hairdo right away.
Evenings are a mad scramble of packing lunches, cleaning up the kitchen, throwing laundry in, and trying to get a child who is entirely uninterested in bedtime ready for bed. Eventually it’s time to read a book (or, recently, much to my joy, be read to) and turn out the lights. You’d think that’s it, then it’s me time for a while before sleep. NO. The kid pops up at least three more times due to some small injury, being “hungry,” needing to pee, or wanting a 10,000th hug. By the time sleep happens I’m about 12 hours past my own bedtime but can’t sleep because I still have about 50 things I have to do before I can call it a day. So I get to bed later than I should, which results in the inevitable snooze button the following morning.
So that’s it for me. My routines are basically just me trying to finally go to sleep or avoid waking up. It’s life with a kid, at least for someone like me who has never been good at the whole self care thing. Maybe one day I’ll learn to organize my days better or get my kid to STAY in bed or not push snooze that extra time… but not today. Or tomorrow.
What about you guys? Any other barely-surviving frazzled parents out there? Anyone appalled by this description and now re-thinking whether their life actually needs tiny humans in it? Let me know what your reaction is in the comments!
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Yes. Same. Except my “kid” is my 95-yo mother who is pretty much helpless. She can feed herself and walk with a walker, so what is that like? A toddler? So physically a toddler but also like a teenager because she stays in bed until 1pm or 2pm and answers me mostly with an irritated nod.
So yah. My routines are also “basically just me trying to finally go to sleep or avoid waking up”. It’s a quarter til 1am as I type this and I should be asleep because the plumber is coming some time tomorrow…who knows when…but the 95-yo was feeling nauseous so there’s no point in me trying to go to sleep until I hear her breathing deeply or snoring.
So I guess I’m a barely-surviving, frazzled care giver. LOL You are not alone.
Yes, it’s amazing how life circles back around! Mine is little but already has teenaged attitude, so I’m already worried about how ACTUAL teen years will go. I’m expecting caregiving to be in my future as well, and I can imagine it’s highly demanding. I hope you do manage to find a way to do some self care as well sometimes. She’s lucky to have you!
Hi!! I totally relate!!!! My son is an adult now but still lives with me as he has autism. He is a morning guy but I am not!! School time about made me insane!! He is doing a day program now and totally gets ready himself but I still wake up to make sure he is going along good. I so remember scramble mornings and late late nights! It does get better Momma!!
Yes, I think one lucky thing for me is NO ONE in my family is a morning person, so at least we match, though it does mean zero alone time at night! You sound like a great mum. I have my suspicions that that desire to check in with your kid in the morning and make sure to see them off okay won’t ever go away for me either, no matter what!
This is a good answer. Kids definitely complicate the waking up and going to sleep processes. 🙂
Along with pretty much every other time of day, yes. 😉
I remember those bleary days of parenting young kids. We had a bedtime routine which seemed to help. We called it our “Wash your face-Brush your teeth-Read a story-Go to bed time” and we made up a song which we would sing as we marched toward the bathroom. I got the idea for singing the song about the routine from my daycare lady who had clean-up songs and songs for just about every transition. My daughters, both in their thirties now, can still sing our bedtime song and I know my oldest daughter sings with her young children. The songs, of course, don’t make ore hours in the day, nor allow for more sleep, but they do seem to help with the going-to-bed hassles.
That is one of the awesomest parenting stories I’ve heard so far! I love how each family has their little traditions and fun quirky in-jokes and memories. My kid used to say “wumpfterpul” instead of “wonderful” and we still use it to this day! Pretty sure I always will. Thanks for sharing!