Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

Original poster

To think 5pm is the worst time to be getting home?

11 replies

Misty9 · 05/08/2013 20:52

It's me,not dh btw, getting home at 5pm and it seems to be the worst time of day for all concerned! We're all a bit ratty and tired, and ds is usually starving. I've only just gone back to working after 22 months of full time sahm and ds is quite angry and rejecting of me, which is hard to take :( so it means just when he's needing tea, bath and bed, he is all unsettled by me appearing. I work four days and ds has either been with grandad or daddy all day.

I honestly sometimes feel like staying late at work, just to make things easier (yes, that is U I know) :(

How do other parents deal with this? Will it all settle down?

OP posts:

HollyBerryBush · 05/08/2013 20:55

Its called the Arsenic Hour for very good reason:

Main Entry: arsenic hour
Part of Speech: n
Definition: the time of day when both children and parents have come home but dinner has not yet been served, seen as being difficult due to everyone being tired and hungry
Example: 'Arsenic hour' was first used as a play on the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Children's Hour."

MrsOakenshield · 05/08/2013 20:57

could DS have tea at 4.30, then he'll be full of beans (literally) when you rock up?

iamadoozermum · 05/08/2013 20:59

Totally agree with you. Loved Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays as these were the days I'd finish work late and not be back until 7-8pm!

Original poster

Misty9 · 05/08/2013 21:00

He could have tea earlier, but he's such a fussy eater that we try to eat together as much as possible. Also, i don't think grandad would cope with making him tea given by what he gave him for lunch today

Arsenic hour - very appropriate!

OP posts:

FannyFifer · 05/08/2013 21:04

DP gets home at 5pm, I have dinner ready & we all sit down and eat.

DP then jumps in shower while I wash up then we go to park, for a walk or out in car, or stay in just depends.

Kids go to bed between 8-9.

Love that he finishes at 5.

NoComet · 05/08/2013 21:06

Yes, get DH/grandpa to feed him before you get in.
Then you can eat on the sofa while he plays round you, snuggles next you or inflicts CBBeeies on you.

Once he's played and you've eaten, you can bath and/or read to him and put him to bed.
(I don't get baths every night, in fact I only did baths when essential or we were running early. I have water mad DDs. Even as teens they swim and do water sports. Baths o them were an excuse for wild games, not calming at all).

NoComet · 05/08/2013 21:10

Ok snack of some sort at 3.30-4pm. Hungary children are grumpy. (DH was too, when I first knew him. Less so now he's much older and fatter)

MrsOakenshield · 05/08/2013 21:16

can you or DH send him to grandad's with something for tea that he can heat up? Or even just beans on toast or Heinz tomato soup? Presumably if he's so unsettled he's not going to have much anyway?

Original poster

Misty9 · 05/08/2013 21:39

starball that made me chuckle re your dh. I'm the same when im hungry..

He does have a snack at 3.30pm eats bloody snacks all day if he can and I don't think hunger is the only issue when I get home. Bedtime is 6.30pm, which doesn't help. His choice. As for baths, he can get very filthy in just one day! We used to do bath every other night, but at the moment it's every night. He loves his bath too but not his hair being washed

We have a lovely bedtime routine, I think it's just the reconnecting when I walk in the door that I find hard - and if I find it hard I'm guessing ds finds it harder. I'm going to try finishing work earlier when I can so I can get some playing watching tv in with ds before the evening routine starts.

Oh, and grandad looks after him at our house.

OP posts:

whois · 05/08/2013 21:56

No matter what time it is, if it is shortly before normal tea time it's a nightmare!

I get supper ratty when hungry, have taken to having a banana at work before coming home to avoid pre-food grumpiness.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 05/08/2013 22:03

We always called it the Power Hour.

Here's a tip.... When you get home from work, see if you can take 15 minutes (or 10, or 5, or whatever you can manage) to "arrive" and make the work-home transition. Especially important if you have a nasty commute. A friend gave me this advice when I went back to work and it's been invaluable. Go to your room, sit in the quiet, have a cuppa, have a quick shower, put on some music, anything, find out what works for you - I guarantee you will feel more refreshed and it will be easier to take on DS and whatever mood he chooses to be in that day!

Flip