Do you think your children can tell when you’re phoning it in? If you follow me on Twitter* you saw that on Friday night I was out very late attending a bachelor party. (Standard guy rules forbid me to give any details other than I looked pretty awesome in my suit and I drank a tanker of vodka.) As I crawled into bed at 4am, I knew the next day was going to be rough. That I was going to suck as a parent.
Okay, after a night of carousing I know that I shouldn't be trying to drudge up any sympathy for being tired. But what about those times when the exhaustion comes from doing the normal stuff? Not too long ago, I was sitting on the lawn with the Bean at the end of a very long weekend. He was filled with his usual amount of energy, running around and wanting me to chase him. But I just wanted to sit and sleep. I fantasized about being inside, but W0nderWife™ had already claimed the moment as her break period and was inside. Somebody needed to watch the kid and I was the only other person available for the job. I was hungry and couldn't stop thinking about the food cooking in the oven.
I’m pretty sure the Bean noticed that my heart wasn’t in it that evenin g, cause he took pity on my and kind of gave up on playing with me, choosing instead of ride his train down the sidewalk.
*If you're not following me on Twitter...why the heck not?
5 comments:
Yeah... my daughter knows when I'm at the end of a long day. She'll usually try and pick something I'm more likely to agree to (like reading a book or whatever) than something too strenuous.
Doesn't make me feel any less guilty though.
My husband has a tendency, when he's tired, the lie down in the middle of whatever is going on and doze. Geekling responds in one of two ways - completely ignoring him or winging a blunt object at his head to get his attention :)
For me, she has no sympathy when I'm tired, though I can sometimes get her playing by herself by suggesting something and then quietly withdrawing.
I think they do. Sometimes they care and sometimes they don't But being on-call as a parent 24/7 is pretty much impossible. I do ask my kids to play alone sometimes. There's nothing wrong with that.
My daughter doesn't get the clue that I've "phoned it in". Unfortunately, this happens a lot more than it should. I'm a bad mother. You, on the other hand, seem like a pretty attentive parent. We all have our breaking points, and we all have limits.
Everyday I phone it in... are you kidding me? I'm always exhausted!!!
But I'm glad I have a good tag team member (my husband)... :)
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