Comments on: Embracing the (Covid) evening hours with little kids

By: Kat Loyacano

Kat Loyacano — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 18:01:44 +0000

Prior to COVID, I was attending a weekly improv class. Now that we cannot attend classes, my teacher offers free bi-monthly virtual improv hangouts. They have been a wonderful way to stay connected to my improv family, laugh heartily, and take a break from the current issues of the world. It really provides a happiness boost not just for that evening, but provides lasting joy for the remainder of the week.

By: Cb

Cb — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 10:22:04 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam.

Oh, that’s great that there will be more room to walk/cycle etc. We’re moving to a bigger (for us/the UK – 3 beds) house next month, and I’m looking forward to driveway and a backyard. As well as the ability to cycle quickly to the shops.

By: Diane C.

Diane C. — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 04:13:06 +0000

Absolutely agree about taking the night off. About a month or two ago, my husband and I realized that we were both getting really burnt out by evenings, so we made up a schedule for each of us to alternate having the evening off from dinner until bedtime- “isolation time” we call it. Our oldest (8 yrs old) is old enough to help with dinner clean up, so after dinner, one person goes into isolation and the other spouse and the eight year old clean up after dinner. (The 4 year old and one year old just get in the way…) Husband gets Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. I get Tuesday and Thursday. The eight year old gets Thursday and Sunday off. (The husband gets three nights off because he does Thursday all by himself). Knowing when I will have that hour and a half to myself has been amazing for my mental health. It gives me something to look forward to when the evenings are crazy. And yes, sometimes I use my isolation time to do work or pay bills or clean, but even then it is so nice not to have someone crying at me while I try to do it.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 13:56:14 +0000

In reply to Jamie. @Jamie- shaving cream in a kiddie pool sounds like a level of ambition/mess tolerance I could never achieve. I got rid of all the kinetic sand because I couldn't stand it!!

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 13:54:53 +0000

In reply to Cb.

@CB – no, but we are on a private dead-end road and have a really long driveway. It will be possible to go for walks without seeing any cars whatsoever! And oh my goodness, the trains. We have the entire Thomas collection (well, mostly) and different children have, in the past, insisted on organizing by color, order in the Thomas song…

By: Cb

Cb — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 10:06:20 +0000

Our evenings are pretty chill now that we’ve figured out that there can’t be trains on nursery nights (there will be a prolonged effort to put all the trains in the roundhouse and tears ensue when we hurry him along) and the “animal parade” in which my son hops on his hoppy giraffe, I pretend to be an animal, and my husband sings parade music. We parade across the hallway and into the bedroom, and then set a timer for potty, change, books. If he moves faster, there is more time for books.

I do have to ask, will your new neighbourhood have sidewalks? I’ve always thought this was so sad that you can’t walk around the neighbourhood, especially since stroller walks were such a lifesaver for me.

By: Sarah K

Sarah K — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 08:05:21 +0000

I love this post and I loved the one from 10 years ago as well. I also have kids that just…don’t go to sleep. A lot of my weeknights seem to be about entertaining my 6-year-old who would prefer to be on the iPad 24 hours a day. When I feel like the evening has been long enough I sometimes bribe his older siblings to put him to bed. They will do toothbrushing and a story for about $2. It is a deal.

By: ARC

ARC — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 04:12:29 +0000

In reply to Grateful Kae.

Thanks for posting this 🙂 Mine are 8 and 11 and “putting them to bed” is me telling Alexa to announce “Girls, it’s time for bed”. I feel a tiny bit guilty about not actually tucking them in and saying something loving and sweet but at that part of the evening I am just DONE. 😉

By: Jamie

Jamie — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 03:03:17 +0000

Thanks for posting this! My kids are 1 and 3 and …. woof. I would give my left arm to go to a library, a weeknight little gym class or to a leisurely target stroll!!! I’ve at times tried to over engineer covid weeknights (let’s have bath beads and shaving cream in a kiddie pool in the backyard followed by 2 hours of everyone melting down). Really appreciate the simplicity here.

By: KGC

KGC — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:08:59 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam. My neighbor refers to this time as PTO - Parenting Time Over. At this point, she basically says to her kids (6&8): "Do anything you need to do in order to get to bed ASAP. It is PTO. Dad and I are done!" I have no idea how well this works at actually shuffling them along, but I love the acronym!