The past two days have past in a bit of a blur. The entire family has been sick over the past week, with the kids starting – one first, then the other – last week. Heike followed in Thursday, and is still not in the best condition. I am waiting for the bomb to drop, my throat and head are telling me that I’m not fit either.
It’s on weekends like this that I just get annoyed too easily. I don’t want to sit inside all day. However, I also don’t want to take a hike around the block. I guess I’ve seen the block a few too many times. The weather was amazing all day. I had hoped to go to the mountains. But with none of us really fit, it just simply didn’t work. My son didn’t want to walk outside this morning, and kept saying he wanted to play inside. Going on a hike with him was not a great plan. And so we sat inside for most of the time.
I try to read a bunch of articles online, but whenever I’m three sentences in, there’s someone interrupting. This is probably what frustrates me most as a parent. I’m no longer in charge of my own life. There’s just no time alone anymore, either. Therefore, work days start feeling more like holiday. Weekends sometimes feel like stressful work days. The world has turned upside down. And it also feels like my brain is falling apart. I somehow need to feed my brain information, but satisfying it doesn’t work out, at all. All it gets are Duplo and children’s books. An alternative to keep my brain happy is exploring new places. When it doesn’t get either of those two things, it gets grumpy after a while. So today I just feel like a grumpy asshole. I hate myself for it. I’m just not fun to be around anymore.
I wonder how other parents deal with this. Where do you schedule your self time?
Robin Heinen 