Family Crazy Hour
Posted on 04 12, 2006 under The Manual by Noodad |
Most families have one hour in the day that, consistently, seems to be the most crazy. I like to refer this time as Family Crazy Hour (FCH). There is usually a time of day where you have tons of things you MUST accomplish before a set event. It could be in the morning and the set event is the school bus arriving in front of your house. It could be in the middle of the day and the set event is the start of your kid"s optimized nap time. Or it could be in the evening right before bedtime.
At my house, FCH occurs between 6:45 PM and 7:45 PM. The clock starts ticking the moment I walk in the door from work. Once we put the kids to bed, our FCH is finished. Within our FCH, my wife and I accomplish the following:
• Finish cooking dinner
• Eat dinner
• Clean up from dinner
• Do dishes
• Bathe both kids
• Dress both kids in PJs
• Potty time for my daughter
• Brush both kids" teeth
• Read books to both kids
• Play game with daughter
• Put kids to bed
Believe me when I tell you I don"t choose to cram all that stuff into one measly hour. But when the earliest train I can take out of the city gets me into my local station at 6:35, your hand is forced to a defined start time. And when you and your wife decide that 8:00 is an appropriate bed time for your kids, you have a defined end time. Your kids need to eat and it is very important to us that we all eat together. Your kids need to be clean and it is very important to us (and every one around us) that they get bathed. So as you can see, unless I make a job change with drastically different work hours, this is the routine.
It is important to work together with your spouse. Besides the occasional late train or "War on Eating", my wife and I are a well-oiled machine. We got that way because we divide the responsibilities and we stick to the plan. We are like Voltron (only with two cats). We are Voltron at dinner, split at bath time, and then we form like Voltron again during bedtime. While one of us bathes the two kids, the other cleans the dining room and does the dishes. If our son poops in the bath, the Voltron Cat on dish duty springs into action to assist. That"s what makes our family work.
Don"t expect to go all Nadia Comaneci overnight — A perfect routine takes planning and a willingness to adapt. But once you get a feel for a good program, you can optimize the little time you have.
Any other Noodads have tips to tame Family Crazy Hour?
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Consistency will get you through it.
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