Weekend morning advice with two children and a tired partner

[msShowHair]

My partner has difficulty getting to sleep and then staying a sleep and so I get up with our 7 and 5 years olds in the morning (around 7am). I would love this time with them apart from trying to keep them quiet so my partner can get some sleep. I try my best to keep them in one location and not to make any loud noises but trying to keep them under control can cause noise in itself.I do try to take them out the house but some mornings because of the weather its not possible. I am also a little disgruntled at not having a regular day once a week to have a lie in. Any advice would be appreciated.

Take it in turns so you get a lie in one morning and your DP the other. It's a shame he has sleeping issues but to be honest he has a family so can't really expect to get lie ins just because he is a poor sleeper. If he was working nights on shift then i could sympathise. Try and see if you can help your DP address his sleep issues.
As for keeping them quiet can you stick a movie on while they eat breakfast. Or use that time to do their homework and school reading?

Honestly, your partner needs to sort out his sleep. Once in a while exhaustion is ok but to have to keep the kids quiet every weekend morning is very unfair.
Can he not go to the doctor or at least even wear ear plugs.
My husband used to work nights, for about 2 years when my dd was 2. So I had 5 mornings a week of keeping quite. The stress is enormous. You have my sympathy. But if it is him having the issue sleeping then he needs to do something about it.

Your partner need to get help with his sleeping patterns.

I’m a terrible sleeper, but also a lone parent. You just have to get on with it, no matter how tired you are. Your children can’t be silent all morning and you need to catch up on sleep too!

One day each, and the kids get a treat of iPad/YouTube on the telly with a snack still in pjs or onesies before proper breakfast an hour or two later which they think is amazing. Sometimes take them out but not always. The ‘up’ parent gets a lazy morning in pjs surfing on the phone with a coffee, so it’s not like being up up.

When we were that age I recall we were allowed to watch TV unsupervised for a couple of hours because we were so responsible, while our parents slept upstairs…

Take it in turns. It's not fair for your partner to claim sleep issues and get all the lies-in. All parents are knackered for different reasons, the rule should be everyone gets a break (and never quite enough of one!).

Has he tried anything to sort out his sleep? There's loads you can do to switch off from not using technology before bed to changes in diet.

It's not fair that you don't get a lie in. I'm a terrible sleeper (everything wakes me up) but I always make sure the lie ins are fair.

Ear plugs and white noise for him, so you can make a reasonable level of noise without it disturbing him. And then he needs to return the favour for an agreed portion of days per week according to your respective circumstances - but you get some lie-ins too!