Tag: working parent

Just to give a little insight into how upturned my life has suddenly become, I want to share a little glimpse into just an average weekend here.

7 months ago, I was a typical stay at home parent. I spent nearly all of my hours caring for somebody or something. We had scheduled playdates, outings, physical activities, etc. I was looking for a job to help provide income and give myself some solid structure.

Then all the lockdowns hit and I became a pandemic stay at home parent. Anything we did had to be done in the home. our outings turned into daily walks to get outside somehow. I could nap in the middle of the day when my kid took one. We consumed an unhealthy amount of screen time. It got lazy in our house.

But in the midst of the chaos that has been 2020, I did find a job, and began working. Intending on working for a while, learning the ropes so to speak. Eventually I was hopefully going to be able to further my education through the program provided by my employer to advance in the workplace. I was imagining like, a years worth of time in this process. But things don’t turn out how we imagine them do they?

Due to a combination of the effects of the virus and some fellow employees quitting, I was thrust into a higher position a little by happenstance. I have tried my best to live up to the expectations set before me, but I have so much to learn about things still. Because the position I am being put into requires training, I was given to permission to start online classes. A little unfortunately, the in person classes have been suspended and online is my only option right now.

So now, I am working full time, taking online classes, and spending time with my family, and trying to keep myself and my space from looking disheveled and insane. I could not do this without the assistance of my partner. Between the rowdy kids, outside stressors and obligations from regular life, the way the house seems to magically get messy, the fact humans need food to eat, and the need for rest, I would not be able to juggle it all alone.

I do most of my work on Saturdays because it is the most free day of the week. sometimes Sunday, depends on which day is our “Chill and Relax” day. We have one every weekend to give our brains a break.

Having prefaced all of that, this is how my day progressed.

I woke up at 4am to one of the kids crying and coming to my bed. This is not uncommon, they crawl into bed with us if they wake up in the middle of the night. I thought we just had wet the bed situation and treated it as such, but did not go into the bedroom because I thought I could deal with that in the morning. Everyone settled and went back to sleep. I woke up about 7am and laid there about 30 minutes before getting up. I woke the kids up when I got up. It was at this point I finally went into their bedroom and discovered the moistness of my child was not from pee, but from vomit. It was on the bed and the floor. So I had to clean the floor and strip the bed. Check on the child for fever and signs of sickness. Contact my employer and let them in on the situation in case it ended up causing me to need to call in on Monday. Got laundry going, and gave the kids breakfast.

Its about 8:30 and I sit down to do a class; the kids contentedly playing in the Livingroom. Each class section is 1-2 hours long. After I finish each section I get up and stretch, move around, chase the kids, build a Lego car, etc. Today I had to get up to move the laundry and vacuum as well due to the vomit situation. I did two sections before pausing to clean the bathroom and change the cat litter. I then did my store run and stopped by the library. I came back and made up some lunch and then swept the floors. All throughout this my partner has bathed both the kids, kept them occupied, mopped, folded the clean laundry and kept and eye on the probably sick one. So I was able to sit down and do another couple sections about 2:30pm with a couple pauses to help the kids draw pictures and build a tower.

I feel like every minute of time has to allocated to something, even if the something is rest, so that nothing gets forgotten. My planner that was all but empty back in April is filled to the brim now. We have a lot going on, all good things, but still a lot of good things. Adulting may be fun, but it also incredibly hard, and can easily become overwhelming. Remember to give yourself grace and time to rest. If your schedule is full, write in time to do something you enjoy. For me, my afternoon visit to the library was a moment of refresh. I take time to paint. We have one day of the weekend we purposely have no plans and just take a break from everything. Keeping busy is good for me, but taking a rest is also mandatory. Another must is setting aside the time to be with my children and my partner. They also need my attention and affection. I need to give them that. I Must make room for that in my schedule.

My time has gone from very empty to very full very quickly, and while I love it, it can also be a little frenzied sometimes.