Reply to If you spent 14 hours straight with your children every day would you be happy?

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Reply to "If you spent 14 hours straight with your children every day would you be happy?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is me now and I love it. Maybe it changes as kids get older though? Mine is only less than a year old [/quote]

It changes. Come back and report on your level of happiness from, say, age 20 months and 3 1/4.  :lol: [/quote]

Care to share how it changes? I had a very difficult 0-6 month old (woke up 4-6 times a night, napped only when held and only for 30 mins, fussy a lot) so I’m hoping that I’ve been through the worst somehow[/quote]

See, mine was a complete angel until 18 months. Ate great, slept through the night at 5 months, napped happily at home or in her stroller if we were out. I could clean, do laundry, cook, exercise, pay bills, meet friends for lunch, chat with people on the phone or at one of our houses. She was content, easygoing, easy to please, and agreeable. It was work but I had plenty of time to work out, socialize and get things done home with her, plus free time during her naps and at night to watch trash TV or scroll my phone or read. It was amazing and most of my mom friends wanted to punch me in the face when they heard how easy I had it!

Of course that all backfired when she turned about 20 months and became absolutely defiant, grouchy, and ornery and began  pushing boundaries, which is common for toddlers that age. Climbing furniture, jumping on couches, trying to open the doors or the oven or the refrigerator, emptying all drawers and baskets of their contents, chasing the dog and hitting the cat, throwing toys and food, meltdowns and snits galore, screaming and bucking with refusal to be seated in her stroller or car seat, insisting on doing everything by herself and collapsing in tears when she could not, and a phase where she screeched at the top of her lungs when we were in a grocery store. This behavior coincided with an immediate need for constant attention, interaction, and entertainment. She would be happy to play with her blocks by herself for a couple of minutes, but her attention span was low and she then wanted me to entertain her nonstop. She also dropped her nap, and woke up for the day at 6:30 AM and went to bed at 7 PM, which is after my spouse went to work and before he would return home, so on top of all day entertainment and attitude management, I was also responsible for all of her care and feeding, getting her up in the morning, bathing her every day, and putting her to bed every night during the week. My free time throughout the day was nonexistent, and unfortunately so was my evening time since that’s when I had to cram in house work, life administration, catching up on emails. My me time became waking up at 5 AM to exercise and shower before I had to get her up for the day. I’d spend an hour after my husband got home cleaning up the house and getting prepared for the next day, talk to him for a few minutes, and collapse into bed. I didn’t have time to socialize or do anything for myself during the day, and I was so busy catching up in the evening or getting up early to try to do some thing at the crack of dawn that I always felt like I couldn’t catch up. She is 3 now and easier but it’s still hard.

It is tiring in a different way than having a newborn is, but I truly think it is 1 million times easier to be a stay at home parent to a child under 1.5. I’m hoping you have an opposite experience since you’re having a rougher time with your baby now and I honestly had extremely smooth sailing at that point![/quote]

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