Probably the toughest thing to acclimate to was the amount of time it takes to make things happen on schedule. That is, if bedtime is 8:30 P.M., then you've gotta be in the bathtub really close to 7:30, so there's time between there for a little dab of Blue's Clues or reading a few books. We typically get home from work close to 6 P.M., prep & have dinner. See where this is going? You end up with around 45 minutes of playtime if you're lucky. And that's where the trouble is. As Summer draws nearer, my wife is really resisting 8:30 P.M. bedtime for our just-turned 3 year old. Goes something like this, “Y'know, since it's still light out, maybe we could play outside just a few more minutes…”

I love my little guy. I enjoy the extended Summer evenings and the outdoors playtime. But not just no, but heck no. As it is, 8:30 P.M. bedtime affords us maybe an hour and a half or so of “us” time. And often that has to include domestic tasks like laundry-folding (which we usually do while watching shows off of the DVR) or bill-paying. And our son is not all that independent yet – he's pretty clingy and attention-demanding, so that brief time we have after he's in bed is all the more vital for, as you aptly put it, decompressing.

We veer a bit off-schedule on weekends if we're away from the house and naptime has to slide (or be skipped altogether), so adherence to bedtime routine becomes all the more important.

Plus, I'm a staunch advocate that children of all ages need more sleep and downtime than we often afford them. Mornings begin awfully early in our home (usually 6 A.M.) so 8:30 P.M. bedtime isn't such a stretch.

We aren\’t up to this stage yet. But the one question I have for practicing noodads, is – seeing as you come from the computer industry, how do you manage an ongoing routine when noodad can be a randomly l8dad or even an ondemandovertimedad?

This isn\’t an industry known for its forgiving operating hours. I guess I also ask as the sole bread-winner for the family.