I doubt that anyone has noticed, but I haven’t been online quite as much today. There are a few reasons for that. I was having another batch of trying to get things done; it was swimming lesson day; I tried to say more yesses than nos to questions like will you read this and play with me.
Also, Small had had a screen ban since last Thursday, and after the first day of abject misery, he was actually much happier. He built construction sets, played endless games with Smallest, did a jigsaw with Big, and read a book. Today he earned screens back, and within an hour was miserable again. We had a chat about this and I was really surprised that he recognised too that he’d been much happier without as much screen time and we’re working on a way for him to balance it better.
It seems only fair if he’s going to cut down on screens I should too.
I need to balance work and parenting better. You’d think that home education and home working would mean there’s plenty of time to go around, what it often feels to me is that I don’t put enough effort into anything. I read a blog post tonight about someone who replaced their income with 10 hours work per week on a blog; I’m fairly sure I do rather more than that and mine doesn’t even keep me in, well, any cliched item you care to name.
And despite that I feel like I’m short changing the children, particularly Smallest. She got the shortest time out of all of them at being the baby, and I seem to spend all my time saying not right now, in a minute, when I’ve finished this, I’m busy. (I’ve done it just now, while writing this post. I did read her a story (twice, including all the words in the pictures) and help her with a sticker book first. )
Partly what I need to do is manage all our expectations. Another part of what of what we need is me to get more focused on the work thing and actually do things when I’m online instead of waffling on social media. (Although some of the waffling gets us stuff. So that is good waffling and has to stay really. )
So, it’s possible you’ll see less of me around and about. I won’t disappear completely, because twitter in particular is the only adult conversation I get outside the family. And of course I’ll still be here. You never know, less tweeting might mean more sense here.
And then again, maybe not.
Allie says
I was just thinking the other day that I’m glad that things like Facebook weren’t around when my kids were little. I never/ very rarely switched on the computer during the day when mine were little – nothing online seemed that fast-moving or urgent. There were no smart phones, no constant whistling, humming demands for attention and I’m sure that made it easier to focus on the kids’ needs. I’d certainly struggle now and that saddens me a bit. I have a love/hate relationship with social media really. I don’t do twitter, even tough I’m tempted sometimes, because I don’t know that I could control my use very well. These things are so new and we’re just babies in managing their impact on our lives.
Mrs Teepot says
Less guilt is needed too I think, less beating yourself up!