Even as a seasoned Buncher, once in awhile I am reminded of CRITICAL Baby Bunching lessons that no Baby Buncher should ever forget. Today was one such day.
With the Columbus Day holiday, all three kids were home from school, although hubby had to go into the office. Life has been pretty crazy lately (and by lately, I mean for the past 6 years), so I had it in my head that we might try to "pop down" to the Children's Museum for some fun and then maybe "lay low" at home for the afternoon.
Both crappy ideas.
Because as you know, there is no such thing as "popping" anywhere with a pack of kids in tow, nor is there any such thing as "laying low" when the adult:child ratio is 1:3.
Without a well-formulated plan, the entire day was, frankly, a giant cluster. Although everyone was up and at 'em by 7:30 am, I dilly-dallied around until about 9:30 before investigating the children's museum website, only to discover that they are CLOSED on Mondays. Reeling, I frantically (and unsuccessfully) tried to come up with another plan. Every idea sucked. We'd just been to Chick-Fil-A over the weekend, the neighborhoood playground is too hard to manage all three kids without another adult, the library was closed for the holiday, etc. etc. We I finally decided to have a "quiet" day at home playing in the yard, doing art project, playing games, and maybe watching a show or two.
HA.
Instead, my kids (including the toddler) spent the whole day alternately tormenting each other and/or me, and trashing my house. It took 2 attempts to nap the toddler before he finally caved and fell asleep, which was the day's only saving grace because if he hadn't left the house OR napped, it would've been meltdown city by 4 pm - leaving 2 1/2 LONG hours before hubby showed up to rescue me. Without a plan, I was left floundering all day long, darting from one child to another, to meet Constant Needs of the nourishment, entertainment, and personal safety varieties.
Lesson learned here is to always have a plan. Have a plan for the day, for the outing, for the meals, for the vacation, for all of it. Even if the plan doesn't involve leaving the house, it should include approximate times for meals, naps, playtime, downtime, etc. I've learned one too many times that letting the day unfold rarely ends well for a Baby Buncher. And I learned it again today - the hard way.
This is so true. Our days are so much better when I've got everything planned out. On days when we have no plan I get so stressed. I need to know where we are going, what we are eating, whose napping when and where and the timings have to be well thought out. I've learnt the hard way too and this article has given me the energy to make plans for the rest of the week!!!!
Posted by: clare | Oct 12, 2010 at 07:40 AM
We absolutely 100% have to leave the house for at least an hour in the morning. I don't care if it's to the park, a playdate, or just to the dreaded grocery store. If we don't have something to break up our day the kids drive each other crazy and then aren't tired enough to take their naps. And THERE MUST BE NAPS! Or I will go crazy.
Posted by: Andrea | Oct 12, 2010 at 08:05 AM