To ask you to see if I'm missing something in my day

[bapplebanana]

Could you help me to manage my time better in the day- every day is the same, never enough time to go to the gym / do something for myself, or so it feels.

6.30am wake up, get two young DS ready, do breakfast, get myself ready
7.30am leave the house for first drop off at nursery
8.00am second drop off at breakfast club
8.20am arrive at work (secondary school)
4.00pm leave school, pack up school work I haven't finished, and pick kids up, be home by 5.00ish
5.00ish start dinner
6.30 husband arrives home, me and husband eat
7.00 husband starts bed time for the boys, I start work
9.00-9.30 finish work and fall asleep on sofa by 10!

What can I rejig there to make life a bit less repetitive? I love working out it makes me feel much better and currently only managing a work out at weekends

Are you a teacher, hence the work in the evening? Can your husband take over morning drop-off a couple of days a week?

The only obvious one I can see there is that you appear to be spending 90 minutes preparing dinner. Can you do some sort of home workout in that time, and find a quick and easy meal to prepare once or twice a week? It doesn't look like you have much time to work with!

What time does your husband get up / leave for work?
Is there room for him to get the children ready a couple of mornings a week to allow time for a work out?
Is there one evening you could not bring work home?

DH to do drop offs twice a week when you go to the gym?

Could you and your husband do some meal prep at weekend

Try and find somewhere that does an early class. I do a 6am -6:45 and so much better for it. Secondary school teacher here too

The only thing I can think of is do you eat with the kids? If not then try it as would be a good opportunity to get some more family time in plus then a bit of time after to play a game.

Other than that I’ve no idea, it’s good you actually get a decent amount of time T home after work before bedtime starts. I work part time at the moment as DC isn’t in school yet but the days I work I don’t get home until gone 6 then it’s bedtime routine starting at 7pm. There’s hardly any time for anything.

Where is your DH in the morning? If he has an early start can he do sone prep the night before while you are working? Eg laundry, pack bags, lunches etc

Then try to find sone YouTube workout videos that are 20 minutes max and do them as soon as you get up. There are plenty out there. It may not be the longest workout but it’s something

I set an alarm and wake myself up earlier than everyone else, just to have a cuppa and relax before the chaos begins! Also prep breakfast the night before, lay all the outfits out ready for the morning but overall I think your day is pretty normal for a working Parent unfortunately! I go swimming one night a week once the DCs are in bed It's late but it's lovely to have that time!

you don’t mention what time your husband leaves the home in the morning. He could prep dinner or prep and put a meal in the slow cooker so no one has to cook in the evening.

Why are you doing drops off and collection for both children, every day?

You have a husband problem not a routine problem!

Is the dinner in an oven being cooked for half an hour? If you can do it safely, with no boiling pots on the top, I would do a YouTube exercise video for fifteen minutes each evening.

Could you get up at 6 and do something at home? That’s what I do as I struggle to fit it in and even though I don’t have extra to do in the evening I lose motivation by then

Seems like a long time spent cooking dinner every night. Do some pasta, a traybake, cook double and reheat etc. 1hr30 spent cooking could be cut down to 30mins three times a week which you could do a session at the gym or home work out. Do you all have dinner together, if not, then don’t eat so early and go to the gym when you husband gets back.

Im quite jealous of all that sleep, I think I should try and be more disciplined in that respect!!

What time does your husband go go work?

I go to a gym class at 6 am and am walking through my front door by 7.05 am. It's full of teachers and parents of young children!!

Whilst you are doing the kids sorting in the morning, dropping and collecting them from childcare and doing dinner, what does your dh do in it's place?

Can you batch cook and eat the same meal as your children? (If reheating, rather than cooking daily, will save time.) Then either go while husband eats on a couple of days or do work while he eats and go after? Or as others mentioned see if DH can do drop off? It’s not easy at all, but I do think two separate dinners and cooking both each night plus be shortened a bit.

Consider getting a childminder so that they look after the younger child and take the older one to school. You then only have one drop off.

You'll probably gain an hour that way.

There probably are things you could do like have husband take 1 child in the morning to give you an extra 10 min which you would of course use to prep dinner in to a show cooker so you have more time at The end of the day which you will of course use to do an exercise video instead of trying to break up the fights of your over tired children while you cook the pasta to go with the stew.

But really you've just set out normal life when you work and have small children. It is a relentless cycle if drop offs, pick ups and cooking. And evenings are just hell with small ones.

What’s your husband doing?

50mins for journey to work via 2 drop offs seems a lot- are they very far apart?

5-6:30 seems to be your window to do some stuff to free up your evening?

can husband do some drop/pick ups ? Can kids stay at after school club/nursery a bit longer a few evenings so you aren’t leaving work til 5 with less to do in evenings?

Wake at 6 and get in 1/2 hour before the kids get up.

5.00-6.30 is dinner cooking eating plus reading books and spellings for dc... knew I'd missed something!

I do the drop offs and pick ups as we only have one car, and both are near to my school. We live in a small, very very busy city, so it ends up taking longer driving to ds school than it would walking most days, maybe that's something my husband could do.

Husband commutes on train to and from.

6am gym class sounds great though, and if dh could start getting kids ready I should be able to squeeze that in.

Show cooker also great idea, going to order one right now!!

Do you have a preference for what type of workout you want to do? Eg, you like to go to gym/class or are happy with a run or something you can do at home?

Everyones assuming you’re a teacher, but there are lots of other roles in schools.

There is a massive absence of your Dh doing any child-wrangling in the mornings. or ever doing school drop offs or cooking dinner. Why?

I'd try this 2-3 nights a week:
DH gets home at 6.30 and I leave for my 7pm gym/dance/yoga class. Back by 8.30 for dinner with DH. You will feel more energised, after working out, so quick shower and then do your marking or prep and go to bed at 10.30.

And another two nights a week:
Make sure that at least twice a week dinner takes 5 mins to prep - e.g. filled tortelloni with pesto or ready made tomato sauce and bagged salad, or Indian ready meals. DC can have beans on toast and a banana milkshake if they don't eat with you/the same as you. So once DC are home, have had a snack, they can chill, watch tv, play in the garden or with toys and you get to sit with a good book and a huge cup of tea, or do some crafting for an hour instead of prepping dinner.

Make 5.15-6.15 down time for you twice a week and really register it, ritualise it, so you don't carry the stress and distractions of the day into the time off. Three deep breaths, 5 minute youtube meditation with earphones in and then pick up your book or your sketchbook or knitting. If you craft, add really gorgeous music in the background too.

Another thing worth doing if you can, is, when dh comes home, sit down together, with a cup of tea or glass if wine and just catch up. Share funny stories, ask about weekend plans etc. Just be adults for 10 minutes.

Also, get DC to do a 5-minute toy tidy up before bath, so the living room isn't dominated by train tracks or lego or tiny toys to stab your bare feet. Sitting down in an adult space is so much nicer.