How I Survive Evenings

2hourI have been writing for Liberating Working Moms along with some talented ladies for over a year now. I love it because we are all from different scenarios and can shine light on a variety of issues. But with that said, sometimes I feel like I have talked about it all. Money, working out, recipes, how to make my kid play by himself, pumping, making mommy friends, daycare crafts and appreciation(pssst it’s Teacher Appreciation month). All of it.

Then when I think of something, I look at my situation and realize I am often the contributor with the fantasy working mom set up. I toe the line of bragging and looking like an ungrateful bitch. It is like the ultimate in first world problems when I complain about the subsidized child care or how I can’t find time to get to the gym that is literally 200 yards from my office. See? Bitch. I know I am just the lone voice from this side of the world but the perspective stick keeps wailing me on the head when I read about other people’s struggles.

So recently I asked some folks what they wanted to know about me as a working mom. I had a lot of great ideas (thanks, y’all) but the resounding one was “how do you do evenings?”. That? We can ALL feel in our own way but it is a staple issue for all working moms (hell all moms). You have to spend quality time, feed, bath, and cuddle all within a few precious hours…after you’ve worked a full day. Some days I don’t want to put the boys to bed and sometimes I view bedtime as a finish line that I can’t get to fast enough {they have wine and quiet there}. This week I decided to detail our evening routine as “The 2 Hour Sprint“:

“Let’s start with the fact that I love routine. It makes me feel like I have some control over the chaos. Every day we are like well oiled cogs in a machine. I luckily married another type A person and together we concur every day life with all the to do lists and alarms out hearts desire.

I asked twitter recently what working moms wanted to hear about from me. The resounding answer was how we do evenings. When I have talked about my evening routine before, I usually get a lot of questions around the fact that we do early bedtimes. I am pretty adamant about it actually. It gets my boys the rest they need and the alone time for Kevin and I. I don’t believe keeping them up for extra time together works when they are massively overtired from getting up at 7 every day. In order for that to work, we have to do everything in the evening in precisely 2 hours from the time we walk into the door until we put the boys to bed. It ain’t easy and some nights an utter disaster but we make it work.

So in the words of Montell Jordan- This is how we do it!…[keep reading this ‘ish]

2 thoughts on “How I Survive Evenings

  • May 7, 2013 at 8:52 pm
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    That is a lot like how we roll up in this piece. You nailed it with getting them in bed by 7:30pm. She HAS to get that sleep. I don’t understand parents who are like, “We’re pushing out her bedtime.” Huh? Not my kid. She needs to go to bed!

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