To hate Thursdays

[Elsieandjean]

I know I’m being unreasonable but it’s my day off. And I have two children who will ensure I don’t get a seconds peace. I will have shouting and squawking and yelling and squabbling all day.

I will take them out of course but I don’t want to go out really <petulant> I just want to stay in!

Get the dog to do the housework! Brilliant idea!

Having a tooth extracted today after having paid hundreds trying to save it.

Swapsies...?

Seriously though... things will get better. Part of the problem is that their usual routines etc will change on a Thursday.

Do you have a list of what their childcare provider normally does each day. A step by step approach to any discipline... what would THEY do if there was continual squabbling etc. It can help if everyone is on the same page, and the kids will be more settled and less confused on a Thursday.

How old are they?

One is four (well, four next week) and one is 17 months.

Tough ages. Mine are 12 and 14 now and the last 10/11 years were a blur.

Husband is forces and 6 hours away 😢😢

@BeyondMyWits oh my I've spent £300 on a filling to now be told I need root canel treatment. I'm going back to the dentist today.
To be fair I was a stay at home mum and had a good routine established for the week. Could you find any toddler groups, swim classes etc. that you go to every week so they have a routine. Home for lunch then nap quiet afo at home?

3 and 1 was the hardest age!!

It is hard OP. I was a sahm and there were definitely days I was so over it by 9am. I paid for mine to do some preschool mornings, mostly for my actual sanity!

My advice is maybe have something you do on a Thursday. A class maybe? A toddler group? Go swimming?

Activity in the morning. Home for lunch and nap for the little one. Tv on for big one. And then you’re into the homeward stretch after nap where you count down until bedtime/daddy is home!

This arrangement doesn't seem to working for anyone.

Surely the answer is to up your work hours and put the children in childcare on Thursdays. Sounds like everyone would be happier that way.

This too will pass, just surrender to it.

Can you do two half days at work and nursery. So basically you have two afternoons of chaos supposed to one full day?

Mine are simillar ages, I have to go out, else the day drags.

I try plan it so that my 4yo has quiet time during younger ones nap time we watch a film together, or do some crafts.

I try my best to get organised the night before like packing a day bag or pack lunches, setting out clothes for everyone so that come 8.00am we can go. The days I dont do this and I'm running round finding socks, making sandwiches etc are chaotic.

...also do you have a partner? My DH can WFH which means he can take the eldest out for a walk on his lunch break. Or generally assist for an hour.

I might be but the kids wouldn’t be.

Besides, I can’t just change my hours like that! The earliest I could do that would be September.

I think you need to change your attitude a bit. Presumably you wanted to have children? I know these days can be long, but this is just the reality of raising children: you don’t get to do what you want.

Having said that, if they’re constantly fighting and following you around crying that is a bit unusual. Maybe they don’t feel secure in the amount of attention they get from you, which is why they’re always seeking to reconnect.

I would suggest you get into a routine so everyone has expectations of how things work on a Thursday.

When mine were small we had set things we did on those days - swimming or a trip to a cafe etc. We even had the same thing for lunch each week. Kids love routine and they’ll start to look forward to it.

They’re also old enough to know that ‘we all have a rest after lunch on Thursdays’. Set up an activity for them so they’ll be quiet for a bit while you do what you like for half an hour.

@Elsieandjean
Still start looking into it and arranging it, so you can start as soon as possible then.

The answer to clingy children is to spend even less time with them? 😵‍💫

Basically what you’re pushing at me is ensuring that I add to my workload at the point when things might get bearable!

On their own my children are nice. Together they are horrific. Next year I’ll only have the one. Yes, the 330-630 period probably won’t be fun but that’s OK, it never is in fairness.

Well, yes and no. We always do a morning activity; the same one, but I don’t know that it makes them feel secure!

It’s my younger one who follows me around. She’s just exceptionally clingy at the moment and I think it is linked to teeth but it is a bit exhausting.

Quiet time <laughs hollowly> never happened, never will.

I feel like this about my Mondays! I love my DD but she isn’t very relaxing to be around having to keep alert all the time. It’s made me value my work days a lot more.

I can't imagine it's possible to hate a job so much that this would be better. Unless it's working with other people's worse kids.