Wednesday, February 19, 2014

My Time

Actually, labeling this post "My Time" gives me shivers, because it is the name of our clocking system at work. It does not bring about feelings of peace and tranquility for me, but rather feelings of wanting to beat one's head against the wall.

The time of day that I love the most is those amazing hours after the children go to bed, where it is quiet and when I can do what I want to within my own house.  I need 2-3 hours after the kids go to bed to unwind and recharge before I go to bed myself.  If I can get those hours, I am golden. 

When the kids were younger I had even more time, because they would go to bed so early.

I was not gifted with sleepers, however, and that is growing more and more apparent.

They are going to bed later, and still getting up at 7 and my time is scooting backwards, and I feel like I am losing my mind.

I am probably an extrovert at heart, but I am an innergized person. I need to be alone to recharge, because even though I love being with people- people (my children included) drain the energy right out of me.  

I have a friend that told me that everything shifted as her children got older- they turned from being more needy and demanding during the daytime hours to needing her more in the evenings.  They were up late doing homework and processing their days and they needed their mom.  She shared that was a hard transition for her, because that was time that she liked for herself.

This will be a struggle for me as well, I can see it coming.  I don't know what the solution is, maybe Noah and I will have to take turns being the "on parent" while the other locks themself in a room.  Maybe I will have to insist on a hard and fast homework done, mom off duty time.  I don't know, but as I feel my temper getting shorter as the evening goes on, and as I wake up and get started with my day feeling drained instead of recharged- I know that I need to figure a new system, something that will not short change them, but will also not kill me.

3 comments:

Thia said...

This really is an issue as the children age. My grandmother always said that if they were old enough to stay up later, they were old enough to amuse themselves in their room until lights out time. I believe she went "off duty" around 8.
We tried a later bedtime for our crew and I was so thankful that it didn't work for them. I got some quiet time back.

The Three 22nds said...

I think I would like your grandmother, Thia!

Elise said...

Oh man, that's not what I want to hear. I need my night time off-duty time too. The girls sometimes stay up late, but usually they are just playing together in their room, so I just ignore them. Maybe they will always like playing together so much they can decompress together???