Why does time go so fast once you have kids…

[Rememberthatcharlesandeddiesong]

And it feels like there’s barely any time to do anything?

I mean, we only have one dc, 5 and I feel like since we had her, time flies by. The year goes by much more quickly and there’s barely any time to do things we used to..but the time is still there, if that makes sense. It all feels so packed and full. I mean, I enjoy it, but also miss the slower pace and the things we did.
What’s the reason for the time suddenly hurtling ahead when you have kids?

@Picklemeyellow Aw 😢 this has made me realise I need to appreciate my time as much as possible whilst my two are still young even the hard times.

Enjoy every single moment.
When I had ds, the ladies at dh’s work were all older and told me to enjoy every moment because you blink and they are all grown up.
All I could think at the time was ‘Yeah, yeah whatever. I just want these sleepless nights over and done with’ Now those sleepless night are back because I’m fretting where he is at night, in his car with his mad-arsed friends lol!
I’d much prefer to go back to the days when he was gently snoozing in his cot upstairs. Safe and sound.

Haha, thanks for making me almost spit out my beer @MiddleParking .

My grandmother always used to say "life's too short" and I didn't understand what she was talking about. How could life possibly be considered short if it was usually over 70 years long?

I know now exactly what she meant and 70 years is actually not a very long time at all! It rushes by faster than you can possibly imagine.
Each year seems to be only a couple of months long now. Each decade is only 2 years long, if that. I'm often gobsmacked at how many years ago things happened as they seem so recent. How on earth can it be that the London Olympics were 11 years ago? Weren't they just the year before last? And how come my "babies" are in their 40s?? Surely that can't be right, especially as I'm only 35 myself! 🤣

That's a really good point.. right I'm definitely blaming the school!!

What everyone else said.

Mine are 21 & 17, how did that happen?

My mum says the same but hers are 55 & her baby (me) is 51.

I think about this a lot. One minute I was 35 and having my first baby, the next I was 50 with two teenagers. Those 15 years honestly felt like 5.

I think maybe because time does get faster as you get older because each year is a smaller proportion of your life, plus with kids you realise the difference in how much longer a year is to a five year old than it is to you!

I don't find the time too short, but every now and again you have a realisation - like me realising last summer we probably didn't have many more regular holidays together as a family, as oldest DC is doing GCSEs this year and may soon be holidaying with friends rather than us.

It's definitely partly the chunks of year that having a child gives you. DS started school a few weeks ago and it's half term mid-next week, then only 7 weeks or something until Christmas. When he was in year-round nursery, October was just October!