Comments on: When hours have to give what you ask of them

By: Pavithra

Pavithra — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 05:48:54 +0000

Wow you are super inspiring. I have no kids and no real off-work duties but I would definitely not have 5.75 focused hours per day! I definitely dont ask enough of my hours-and I def need to practise cranking out focused work between admin/other work.

By: Camille Preston

Camille Preston — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:47:40 +0000

Thank you… I am drowning in family logistics and it is nice to read I’m not alone. 🙂

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:30:06 +0000

In reply to Saumya. @Saumya - well, they have some upsides too!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:29:32 +0000

In reply to Mary.

@Mary- we are working on food. The 12-year-old makes mac and cheese for himself and his siblings frequently. The 10- and 14-year-old do pasta. The 10-year-old helps with breakfast for dinner night (she does the pancakes) and I’m pretty sure they could have handled grilled cheese, we just hadn’t talked it through before. But yes, I think they can start doing more of the cooking. Certainly more of the cleaning up!

I like the idea of there being accountability for both the babysitter and the babysittee being good!

By: Saumya

Saumya — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 17:24:52 +0000

This is the reason why I don’t want kids, let alone 5

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 15:37:06 +0000

You are in the middle of some tough years! When I was in that time of life (with a little, and 3 busy older ones) it helped to delegate some simple cooking. I had prepped them, observed, and had them do a recipe independently several times beforehand. Once I was sure they were tall enough to safely reach the stove controls, and knew to use pot holders every time with the microwave, then they could “cook” something while I was gone for a 20 min drop off pick up. Starting about age 12-13. The little one came with me, and I didn’t choose any food that involved knife skills or opening a can.

Also, I occasionally paid babysitting for siblings. The younger got paid if the older sitter reported good behavior, and the older one got paid if the younger one reported the older sib had been nice to them. Both had to be satisfied or no one got paid. Sometimes used this when the oldest kids weren’t old enough to be left alone (8-11) at home but I needed to do something with minimal interruptions. I only had to respond to big things, the kids managed other kid sized issues, snacks etc.