To think they are lying

[Fairyloo]

Just read article about being a busy working mum (on back of new SJP film) won't in article are saying that they haven't had a uninterruped phonecall for years? And not had full nights sleep for years nor a bath!

Now I'm busy and tired but still manage a bath a full night sleep and an uninterrupted phone call.

Do you? Or is it really that busy

Ragged, I'm not being smug. I was a CM with 4 DC under 5 yo at one point and could still find the time, despite working full time and then doing paperwork in the evenings. Sorry but it is down to discipline. Unless there is a disability that prevents a child from understanding the boundaries then it is lack of organisation.

Why does he kick doors? My dcs whether my own or minded would not dare to kick my doors!

Haven't had a full night's sleep in 6 years.

But get uninterrupted showers and phone calls, because Mickey Mouse Clubhouse causes DS2 to fall into a semi-comatose state. Hooray for far too much telly!

They are all in bed from 7.30, so I get my evenings to myself, even if the goblin DS1 doesn't actually sleep. He counts top trump cards. That's fine, it's quiet.

Actually, I currently work PT from home, with 3 under 8, and manage that OK, although with frequent annoying distractions. But they probably distract me less than MN. (I'm working RIGHT NOW, can you tell?)

So much unsympathetic smuggery on here, women can be so mean to each other sometimes.

I am thinking that some of us are single and some of us have a partner or husband and thus far more support than others.

no one's really mentioned whether they're single or not apart from me. Come on...which of you 'of course I get a full night's sleep! people is a single parent of under 8s?

I'm single but I don't get a full night's sleep. Poor me, tiny violin playing a tiny tune please?

(when I don't have the kids, I STILL don't get a full night's sleep, because of a) guitars b)whiskey and c) Bad Men. I love my life!)

Oh gosh some dreadful whining there. It's really not good enough.

I'm no martyr but haven't had full night sleep for ages...youngest daughter (2 in november) has eczema so wakes scratching and crying every hour or two...(not exaggerating)...I do phone calls in the small amount of time when they both asleep, same with bath...
Oh and i do internet while they watch one tv program... :)

i have no issues with either of my kids walking into the bathroom when i am in the bath or shower....coming into my bed for a cuddle.

i make important phone calls in work, as then i get no interruptions

Single here Gloria. The only other single parent I know (who has also been single since day 1) agrees that as a singleton you have to actually be a bit more of a hard nut with discipline, because your relationship with your dc can be really close e.g it's harder for them to respect you as the authority figure. Just a theory.
Basically, I am not being smug-just selfish. I know if I let him ds would have my full attention 24 hours a day, and I would be even more mental!

I wish Bad Men would keep me awake nights Nac!

Or if eldest daughter at pre-school and youngest having nap...I catch up on tv and internet! Thank god for sky+ or i'd never see anything other than kid's tv!!!

Anyways I don't get the whole my life is so hard stuff...Yes you do have crappy days where nothing gets done but if you wanted non stop me time...then why have kids?

NorthernRock, that's fair enough and a fair point. However I think it becomes harder with two children or more.

I think I'd have had ds1 trained by now however his brother is still several years behind. So one swift punch at ds1 from ds2 produces the expected howl, however trained ds1 might be. And he is pretty good at 8.

ds1 at nearly 5 would have been fairly good on his own.

Mine aged 11, 10, 8, 3.

I don't think any of them has settled properly ever, and we never go more than 2 hours without waking- well I don't.

That's becuase ds1 ds4 and ds3 have SN, and ds2 has some milder things going on and knows how to be a PITA.

It's just a part of the parcel here tbh as is phone calls (OK if DH is about otherwise no) being interrupted and a complete absence of baths (Family Fund bougt us a shower! woohoo!).

DH is working (well work experiecne) away this week but usually it's just not a problem because I am at home and it is the way it is. I can imagine a lot worse things.

'some people have no common sense. Hilarious that no one can get a bath undisturbed but can spend hours faffing on tinternet

'Tis all due to the God that is Scooby Doo LMAO: ds4 starts school next eyar so either out at work then or looking for some or working from home but whichever, should be easier

Read back Gloria, I explained I've been a single parent for over seven years now since we lost dh. Dcs were 3 and 6 at the time and I had many interrupted nights in the weeks and months following that day. I also had many, many important phone calls to deal with - and I did. I think the sleep issues are different to the bad behaviour like door kicking and phonecall interruption - that would not be tolerated by me, and my boys (one of whom is asd) both understand that.

Sorry, 2blessed. I think it was your 'what rubbish' post that offended me initially. 'Surely' by the age of three you should be able to fit in a phone call', well, I never said I could never make a phone call.

And you yourself said 'manage an uninterrupted phonecall every so often...not every time but the original op said never'

I'm sorry you lost your DH. It must have been horrid.

I don't see how calling those who (also) don't always manage uninterrupted phone calls 'rubbish parents' though is helpful to anyone.

And of course door kicking isn't 'tolerated', it's something they just sometimes do and then you tell them to stop it...mine (ds1) did it when he was freaked out by separation anxiety, aged about 2 or 3, and it stopped once he had better control over his own panic feelings.

It wasn't ever a case of tolerating it, it was trying to sort out the cause.

Plus your children are now, I take it 13 and 10 or so? (forgive intrusiveness)

I hope mine too will understand they shouldn't kick doors by that age

i cant have an uninterrupted bath or phone call, and im a sahm, usually i just take the kids in the bath with me, and let them chat on the phone....

full nights sleep? your kidding right?

Don't your children go to bed nailak - am I that unusual in that I have a bath late at night, before I go to bed - 10.30ish - does everyone else expect to have baths in the daytime?

Well that was probably true of me until about 3 years ago when DS2 was 5. I had sleepless children

Phonecalls - maybe not, I would just tell them to bugger off if it was an important phone call.

Well, I have had under 3s for 5 years now, and will continue to do so for another 18 months.

So in all will be 6 years of broken nights/phonecalls/baths.

Surely that fits the OP's description? My dc are just bad sleepers and pretty full on, so the early years are just like that.

gloria i said some people make life harder than it needs to be. if you recognise yourself in that then fine but i did NOT specify who those some people were so why you think i am talking about you is beyond me. i know people who do make life harder than it needs to be. you telling me that you don't, doesn't make my statement any less true.

single parent here too of a 2 year old and 6 year old and get a full night's sleep most nights (if i am woken it is usually the dog wanting out for a pee), can have a shower every morning in peace (or night if i wanted to) and can make phonecalls in peace. "mummy's going into the hallway to use the phone, that means playing quietly and no fighting" put it down to whatever you like, luck,discipline,personalities,whatever but i manage all those things. sorry if that annoys anyone

I'm on my own with two preschoolers and definately get my 8 hours sleep - I am rigid about going to bed at 10 so I can face my 6am alarm call!

I think to have good sleepers is luck more than anything else.