How can you be "into" a hobby and still care for preschoolers? . . . Harlock?

[flyingfish]

How can you be "into" a hobby and still care for preschoolers? . . . Harlock? In many ways children have forced me to become a better person - but I'm starting to feel like an idiot too. I used to know most of the answers to the questions I saw about freshwater fish and plants. Now I fell like the brain cells that were storing that knowledge have shut down and sent the electrical pulses to the cells that listen for "little brother" to scream, or that remember which load of laundry needs done before the evening activity. :mad2 I hate being stupid! I've seen your posts Harlock - how do you stay intelligent with the chaos of children surrounding you? (I can ignore other stupid people but I can't figure out how to avoid myself) :rolleyes:

[Harlock]

Well, my wife helps with the housework, my five year old is very well-behaved and I generally post when the sixth month old is asleep or my wife is home. Also, I have a pretty good chance of remembering anything I read and Google has lots of information right at my fingertips. I swear, Google's slogan should be, "We even make idiots look good." 'Cause hey, it works for me!

Pretty much everything I do right now revolves around the children. The baby can't crawl yet, and you can bet when she starts, I'll likely find even less time to post. She sat up Sunday night all by herself! Today after Pre-K we went to the park with some of the other "moms". Then it was lunchtime for the five year old, nap time for the baby and reading and posting for me. I dunno how I am doing it. Blame the bipolar?

[flyingfish]

Oh, you're in a good few months right now because of their ages. Mine are 3yrs(almost 4) and 18 months old. It's really the 18 month old that is giving me the trouble, although today I'm not going to the store because the older one is out of control. Well, I guess I'll just keep plugging away and maybe when they get a little older I'll take advantage and steal myself back. :) I'm NOT giving up! :troll: Thanks for the input. Sometimes it really helps just knowing someone is in the same boat. Good luck with your little ones. God bless you for having a well behaved 5 year old! :bowing:

[Harlock]

Heh, I was a Psych major in college. I learned some good stuff regarding consistency. I learned a heap of crap as well, but the good stuff I practice and use. The five year old listens so well to me, but you should see what he gets away with when Mommy is around. She isn't as consistent. I'm not griping, I'm glad and he probably views her as the more nurturing parent, which is fine with me as well. When the baby hits the crawling/toddler stage I am likely to divise a way to keep her in one area quite a bit. Also, so far her nap time is very very easy for me. She ikes to sleep in, wake up, eat play for a couple hours, then have a nap. This suits Mommy as well, as she gets more awake time with her in the early afternoon and evenings and it is certainly easier on the two of us to share the majority of her waking time. All in all, I am really blessed. :)

[Obsidian]

Well, maybe my kids are just extraordinarily well-behaved, but I have a lot of spare time despite having a 5 1/2 year old and a 23 month old. Of course, I am not keeping huge tanks... just two 25 gallon tanks... 1 planted... and a 20 gallon goldfish tank. The kids like to browse the fish store. Also, I usually don't attempt water changes unless my husband is home or my busy toddler is sleeping. Still, my planted tank gets two 35-40% water changes per week, and the other two get 35% changes weekly. It really doesn't take a lot of time to maintain tanks once you have them cycled and a routine established.

[aknif]

For me, it's all about having a great spouse and naptimes and bedtimes! :D

I'm a stay home Mommy of 4 year old and 21 month old daughters. My hubby and I split all the housework... He was a stay home Daddy for 5 months when he lost his job and I went back to work when our first child was 2. So he knows I work as hard at home as he does at work and would never leave all the housework for me alone to do... We usually do our housework together on Saturdays and I do my weekly tank maintenence on Sunday when my youngest is down for her nap. Our 4 year old will either help me with my tank cleaning or be hanging out with Daddy while I do it. I also do scrapbooking (during naps or late at night) and I belong to a ladies Gourmet Group that meets once a month... These are my little breaks from being a 24/7 Mommy and my husband would never keep me from enjoying them!

I know what you mean about the brain fog though... I used to feel very smart and on the ball. I have some NASD securities licenses (which are going to lapse soon, if I don't go back to work) and worked with mutual funds and retirement plans. Then we had kids... now the extent of most of my conversations are along the lines of "Ok, who wants grilled cheese?" or "Hey, look at this rash on her chin! What do you suppose that is?" or, uh, someone's recent diaper contents... :eek: But for now, i'm happy that i'm the one who's teaching my kids what's important and how to be decent people. I always wanted to be a stay home mommy, and I feel very lucky that I can be.

I can be smart and on the ball again in a few years... if I remember how!

:D

[Obsidian]

I know what you mean about the brain fog though... I used to feel very smart and on the ball. I have some NASD securities licenses (which are going to lapse soon, if I don't go back to work) and worked with mutual funds and retirement plans. Then we had kids... now the extent of most of my conversations are along the lines of "Ok, who wants grilled cheese?" or "Hey, look at this rash on her chin! What do you suppose that is?" or, uh, someone's recent diaper contents... :eek: But for now, i'm happy that i'm the one who's teaching my kids what's important and how to be decent people. I always wanted to be a stay home mommy, and I feel very lucky that I can be.

I can be smart and on the ball again in a few years... if I remember how!

:D


ROFL!

*sigh*

My friend and I were discussing chronic constipation in children last week. Isn't it amazing and scary how you get a few parents together and eventually you start talking about diaper contents and BM schedules... without flinching.... while eating dinner. :laugh:

[Harlock]

ROFL!

*sigh*

My friend and I were discussing chronic constipation in children last week. Isn't it amazing and scary how you get a few parents together and eventually you start talking about diaper contents and BM schedules... without flinching.... while eating dinner. :laugh:
Ah, but it's so true. My wife and I often forget. We have her little (but grown-up) sister and her sister's fiancee over every Saturday for some social time and Roleplaying games. It's funny, my wife and I will lapse into a discussion about our baby's diaper business (when there is a berak or dice are being rolled, etc.) and we'll forget there are uninitiated folks around until we stop talking, hear nothing but silence and stare into their slack-jawed, wide-eyed faces. They need to hurry up, get married and have soem kids so they can relate, dangit!

[aknif]

It truly is frightening the conversations I overhear at Pre-k dropoff, at the park, in line at the grocery store... and at my own table during dinner with other child-having friends... and no one even bats an eye! But, my younger sister, who is also engaged, SAYS she wants to have kids, and then she comes over to babysit. My oldest is a mellow kid, my youngest is, uh, spirited. (Which I believe is the new PC term for screamin' twerp) Anyway, by the time she leaves, it seems that she's convinced to put off kids for a while.... :p

[flyingfish]

:o

[flyingfish]

You guys are a refreshing reality check. After reading the posts, and having a couple of days of no time to reply, I started taking a more objective view of what has been going on. For one thing I'm a "yes" person which means I won't even bore you with the list of things I'm involved in. :eek: I also took note that my son is teething right now (more than one tooth comin in). And both my kids are highly active. Generally that means that in spite of my consistency (I am) they will continue to express their opinion loudly from time out. In a small house (under 700sf) you can't get far enough away to not hear the noise. But they are also highly intelligent, my daughter is almost 4 and starting to write. My 18 month old son just today, when told he couldn't have more fries 'till he finished the two on his plate, promptly picked up the fries in one hand (hiding them) and waved the plate in front of his Aunt's nose. :laugh: And sometimes I regret (a little) teaching them to be submissive. At the Rennaisance Festival my daughter REALLY wanted to participate in a play. The Actor had told them to raise their hand and scream loudly at a signal to get parts. I've taught my daughter not to scream unless she's in real danger. So after 5 missed "calls" I had to squeek for her when she raised her hand - she got the part and had a wonderful time on stage - but how do I teach her to be aggressive enough to achieve her dreams on her own without undermining authority? [sorry for the long post :o )

[mishi8]

How can you be "into" a hobby and still care for preschoolers?

Try you hardest to ignore your preschoolers so you can focus on your hobby!:laugh:

I've got three kids: 7yo, 5yo, 2.5yo. I swear every age has it's share of developmental issues! My 7yo is at school (grade 1) every day now, so I only have to wrestle with 5yo & 2.5yo issues for most of the day. :) I sneak away to do fish hobby stuff when they're watching a video during "down time" (they don't nap anymore...and if my 2.5yo does, she's a bear when she wakes up!) On weekends I sometimes take much needed me time, which usually means running errands by myself!...sometimes they're hobby related errands. There's no way I have enough patience to take three kids on errands anymore. But I'm finding it nice to have a hobby to "lose" myself in...something that doesn't revolve around the kids! Eventually I'll likely go back to work, and will have even less time to do my thing!

mishi8