I have the boys in a Super-Hero training camp this week from 9-11 a.m., which gives me about an hour and a half of free alone time EVERY MORNING THIS WEEK! This comes at a crucial time, because I’m packing up to spend a month in Maine this week (leaving Saturday) and last week Greg was in Barcelona on business and I was home with the boys by myself.
Needless to say, my batteries need recharging! And the laundry needs doing, and the clothes need to be packed, and I need to meal plan and go to the grocery store and clean out the fridge and exercise and take care of volunteer stuff for the mother’s forum and I’d really enjoy writing a blog post and working on my Rosetta Stone French, and I ought to figure out something fun we can do this afternoon so I don’t spend this whole week home packing when it’s beautiful outside.
Except it’s only AN HOUR AND A HALF of free time, not a WEEK. If I’m not careful, I can spend that entire hour and a half cleaning up from breakfast, de-cluttering the family room, and checking twitter. Sometimes I have so many things on my to-do list that I’d like to accomplish in the small amount of time I have with a babysitter that I’ll stand paralyzed, trying to figure out what on earth I should do, unable to act because I’m overwhelmed by the quantity of things I want to get done.
This morning I realized that I don’t want to always spend my kid-free time cleaning up from breakfast and de-cluttering – I want to spend it doing something that I really CAN’T do if they’re home.
So I made a cup of coffee, sat on my front porch with Rosetta Stone French on the tablet, and did 45 minutes of French lessons. Then I went upstairs, did the ab workout from T-25 Alpha, which accomplishes a workout in 25 minutes, took a 10 minute shower, folded a load of laundry, and made it early to pick up the boys at Super Hero camp.
When we got home, I finished cleaning up and made them lunch while they watched, then we ate outside on the porch together and they biked around the driveway.
It was super.
What I’m realizing is that I need to prioritize my time and do the things that I CAN’T do when the boys are home when they’re not home. I often do my Rosetta Stone French while the boys take their afternoon nap, but that leaves me frustrated and disappointed on the days (which are becoming more frequent) when Will resists his nap and ends up downstairs just as I’m about to sit down and learn my French. I’ll have him look at books and sit next to me while I work on it, getting more and more irritated every time my french phrases register wrong because he’s singing under his breath two inches from the microphone and crawling all over me for attention. It’s just not a good task to do with a 3 year old next to you. I need to do it while he’s occupied by a babysitter, those few hours he’s at camp this summer, or after he goes to bed at night.
This doesn’t sound like rocket science, but my first inclination when I get free time away from my kids is to set the house in order before I take time for myself. Unfortunately, there’s ALWAYS something to do, and even if I do just the immediate tasks like clean up from breakfast, I lose most of that precious time when I could be doing something I want and love to do that I won’t be able to do later. Will can help me empty the dishwasher, but he can’t read independently next to me while I read on my kindle. That’s an irritability cocktail with a side of disappointment just waiting to happen. For both of us.
I’ll be thinking about how to apply this to other areas of life. When can I best accomplish certain tasks? Could I make it to the grocery store after breakfast and before camp some morning, rather than going at lunch time when it’s busier? Would it be helpful if I went by myself some evening when Greg has work to do and the boys are sleeping? Is it time to rediscover the slow cooker and better utilize the freezer so I can make meals before the dinner time rush? I got into the habit of showering at night when Greg was in Barcelona, because I never knew what time I would have to wake up to beat the kids out of bed… maybe I should always shower at night so I wake up with one less thing on my morning to-do list. Maybe I should run at night, too.
What do you do on your lunch break? What do you do in the evenings? When is your free time, and what do you do with it? If you could shift your free time to another time of day, would you do something different? (IE, what if I folded laundry at night instead of watching television, and then went for a run in the morning instead of folding laundry…) When do you get your best work done?
Maybe a little shift here or there could make a difference in your day, too.
I work full time and have a 9 year old at home. Even though she can entertain herself for the most part, she hates to run errands so I usually use my lunch time to run errands or even the grocery store. Also, try and get my run in at lunch at the gym although I’m only able to get 2 to 2.5 miles in or I’m over the hour. Freezer meals are the bomb! Cook up a month of meals on a slow day and look at all the time left for the rest of the month!
It’s great that you’re getting a few miles in even though it’s not as many as you want! That’s one reason I’m planning to incorporate more speed workouts… the faster I run, the less time it will take me to get the same amount of miles in.
That said, time is time, that’s twenty plus minutes that you’re doing aerobic exercise with your heart rate lifted, which has amazing health benefits and probably energizes you for the afternoon. So it’s great!
I do absolutely every household task when I’m with the kids. I fold laundry while they play. I prep dinner while they help or do homework. I do the breakfast dishes before they leave the house for school. When I have kid-free time I do things only for me. My rule is if they’re at school or with a sitter I’m not allowed to empty the dishwasher, move laundry, but groceries. Those are household tasks to be done with children around!
I remember now reading that advice on your blog! I have had so much trouble actually doing that, because household tasks take twice to three times longer with two toddlers wreaking havoc upon each other or their environs while I’m trying to do it. Now that they’re becoming more like preschoolers than toddlers, I need to ramp up my efforts to do things while they’re around!