To find days off with my kids almost unbearable?

[saynn]

Which is horrible but hear me out. They are 4 (5 in October, start school then) and 1 (2 in August.) I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off with them. And I hate it.

I know it’s horrible but it’s the way it’s just impossible to get anything done at all without someone wanting something, whining, falling out, demanding something. I know I need to lower standards but I do find it hard when there’s a mess or something and plus we do need to eat!

I do take them out as much as I can but even that’s getting to be hard work as one is a very slow walker and the other a very speedy runner.

I’m desperately counting the days until my older child starts school as both of them together just about finishes me off.

Op look on it professionally and look up early years fyc or something like that to get structure in.
But also it will highlight all the incredible things that are happening to them even when it seems like a tough day for you.
I'm sure it's been mentioned but church hall toddler groups where toddler can run off steam and cheap and usually baby toys also

Finally as gruelling as it is remember how valuable these relaxed and chilled days with you are...

No, I was just trying to explain why others do like reading to children and that literature is not just found in books for adults.

Yes parenthood is hard. Your poor children!

Put your youngest in a buggy surely? She's 1, making a 4 yr old dawdle will be a nightmare.

Softplay or the park will work for both, I've the same age gap and it's a tricky one but my 1 hr old could be pushed round museums, join in at softplay, go on my back in sling to get a good view at zoos etc etc.

Getting things done I couldn't master at that age, we did everything at nights and weekends.

This is parenthood - welcome to the club(!)

Just wait until you also have elderly parent's needs to deal with. I don't know how old you are, but, for me, as my DH was the youngest child & MIL was into her early 40's when she had him. One of his brothers lives in NZ the other about a 5 hour drive away so no help from them. I had 4 children at home when MIL started needing support taking her to medical appointments, rapidly increasing to visiting every day, organising carers, dealing with her admin etc. Then my father was diagnosed with Parkinson's, mum had a stroked (she was 57) which disabled her down her left hand side - she was left handed.

All became rather fraught dealing with teens, a job and a business. I ended up weighing 4.5 stone & size 4 clothes were baggy on me-admittedly I'm only 5'1 tall, but I was skinny & looked ill. Colleagues tell me that they thought I had cancer.

Just wait until you also have elderly parent's needs to deal with won’t be happening on account of the fact they are already dead. I realise you couldn’t have known that but the post could have been worded a little more tactfully, to be honest.

It could have been better worded, indeed.
What worries me is the number of people on here who don't enjoy reacting with and being with their young children. Yes, sometimes it's a bloody chore and I just want to read a book, paint a picture, clean the cooker (never want to do that - that's a chore) rather than read 'Rosie's Walk' one more time. But a great deal of it is interacting with small people who are new and see the world new - not saying sitting on the floor building brick castles that DC knocks down or doesn't like isn't boring, but it's only boring sometimes - and you can read 'Rosies' 'bloody 'Walk' again in a minute - though I preferred stories about dinosaurs. (But DS's fave book was a cheap copy of 'Aladdin', a pop-up book from Tescoes, I was forever sellotaping it - would never throw it away, of course, one does not throw books away!)

Because not everyone likes doing young kids stuff. People don't have children just for the preschool stage. there's many more years after

I am not sure why people have children - it's a basic drive to replenish the species, I suspect. I have no interest in children at any age (a huge disadvantage considering my ex pushed me into being a teacher because I would then have the same holidays as him (and also earn less than him) - I prefer admin and never felt successful as a teacher) but I was interested in my own at every stage. Perhaps it helps that I like painting, reading stories, making stories up, visiting museums and amusement parks, swimming, music and singing...? I love my children - everything I did with them and that they did was a matter of interest to me. But people are different, of course, and no-one can control what they feel.
FWIW I don't enjoy reading stories to my DGC or playing with them etc - the interest was just in my DC (tho' I love the DGC, naturally). I am a distinctly hands-off grandparent - unless they are interested in acting.

I think this latest bit of the discussion is still just showing how different all the individual children are. I had a unicorn toddler who was (and still is) happy to sit and listen to stories for an entire hour. Sometimes even all different ones! Some of his friends won't listen to one story all the way through. But either way, I couldn't do that if his younger brother was awake and rampaging, so you still have the difficulty of trying to meet two different sets of needs at once.

Same goes for the park and soft play. My 4yo is quite physically confident and can be pretty independent at the playpark - unless he's in a clingy mood, in which case he 'needs help' all the time. My friend's 4yo won't go on the climbing frame without a parent hovering underneath. I might manage the park with both my kids; I couldn't do it with my rampaging 1yo and my friend's 4yo.

We all love our children but I didn't have children at all for the baby/toddler years, I do enjoy the toddler part more because they are more interactive and interesting yet I don't find every single thing that they do to be interesting.

I like museums, amusement parks, swimming and even soft play. I'd definitely pick all of them over playing pretend play, painting or building things. Though my 2 year old doesn't agree with my opinion about museums yet and amusement parks will be more interesting when they can ride the bigger rides.

Mine too. It's be a privilege to have their needs rather than the weight of grief.