School me on being a Dad

[arcticcat522]

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1 kid at a time would be so easy lol! My day starts at 5:00am with my son (18.48 mo), then my daughter gets up around 6:30 (45.6 months old). Then it's insanity until nap time when I get maybe an hour to stuff food in my face and clean up a bit of the mess before round 2 starts. Then it's insanity again until 7:00pm when bed time routine starts. Clean up and lunches isn't done until 8:30 and even then it's half assed. That brief period between 8:30 and 9:45 is the free time, which hopefully doesn't involve any projects that come up. Hopefully I can be asleep by 10:30 and it's a rare night when I'm not woken up by one of the kids before it all starts again then next morning at 5:00.

With 1 little kid, it's not a hardship doing 1-1 so the other parent can get something done, but dumping the other parent into a 2-1 situation is rough. The best thing for us is to get out of the house and do something. That cuts the grind down quite a bit. The other option is to just check out and plop your kids in front of the TV, but we're not there yet.

Too familiar....wait until the nap gets cut out. I never had it too bad since the kids always wanted/want mommy

[bigbadboss101]

Took the kids to Trolls Fall and Kidzgo last week. Now my son has a cough and runny nose. The other day my wife and son had sick stomach. Our daughter said her stomach feels funny.
Since November they have been 'sick' a dozen times between the three of them. Need to strengthen the immune system.

[you&me]

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Get a nanny if you can, or try to source some outside help on a regular basis. My girls are young (2 and 5) and there's obviously daily challenges to get them organized and behaving appropriately etc but I find the endless daily house/life chores layered on top to be absolutely soul sucking. This way, there's just more bandwidth available to have fun with them rather then slowly descending into a relentless state of frustration tending to their every single, never ending, backbreaking need. I realize that to have a nanny is a privileged position, but our quality of life has improved so dramatically, that I would advocate for this type of solution to any family if it was a feasible option.

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If anyone in your neighborhood has a nanny, see if you can hire them for 1 day per week of laundry and chores to free up your own time. Lots cheaper than full time, but makes a huge difference.
Immigrant type nanny highly preferred for the chores aspect.
We had white canandian nannies, and well, that's a whole different deal.

Agree completely. And not necessarily a nanny, but anything you can do to take the load off some of the household chores makes an immense difference, both in quality of life for you and your wife, but also in the extra time it frees up to spend with your kids, especially while they're young.

[Neil4Speed]

I can definitely relate with many of the comments on here, with 1 - 18mo.

A small lifestyle upgrade that has been huge with a kiddo is a garborator. All of the partially eaten food on the plates/floow no longer thrown in the compost etc - just right down the drain.

[ExtraSlow]

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I can definitely relate with many of the comments on here, with 1 - 18mo.

A small lifestyle upgrade that has been huge with a kiddo is a garborator. All of the partially eaten food on the plates/floow no longer thrown in the compost etc - just right down the drain.

Weird, I hated our garburator, and think my life is better now without one.

[Tik-Tok]

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Weird, I hated our garburator, and think my life is better now without one.

My lifestyle has not decreased one iota since ditching ours. In fact I would say it's improved (very minusculely thought)

[killramos]

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I can definitely relate with many of the comments on here, with 1 - 18mo.

A small lifestyle upgrade that has been huge with a kiddo is a garborator. All of the partially eaten food on the plates/floow no longer thrown in the compost etc - just right down the drain.

Wait a few months until your kid figures out the parents jump out of their skin when they turn it on.

[XylathaneGTR]

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Wait a few months until your kid figures out the parents jump out of their skin when they turn it on.

Wall-mounted switch well out of reach ftw. Our kid will be 7 before she can turn it on.

[bjstare]

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Wait a few months until your kid figures out the parents jump out of their skin when they turn it on.

What kind of moron installs a garburator switch within reach of any small child? That’s comically poor placement.

[killramos]

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What kind of moron installs a garburator switch within reach of any small child? That’s comically poor placement.

It’s an experience.

We mostly keep it unplugged, but anyone with a garburetor knows they get clogged up like no one’s business eventually and need to be run to clear fairly often.

Wondering if some kind of safety switch can be installed.

[R-Audi]

Hit a milestone over the holidays in which we went skiing with both kids and had zero meltdowns and did a decent combination of blue and black runs. Its been a long time coming, but at 8 and 10 we are starting to be able to enjoy activities like this again! (Not that teaching them on the magic carpet wasnt enjoyable, but being able to fully enjoy a day at the hill together on the actual hill) Im sure this could have come earlier if there hadnt been so much hockey, but happy none the less!

[haggis88]

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Hit a milestone over the holidays in which we went skiing with both kids and had zero meltdowns and did a decent combination of blue and black runs. Its been a long time coming, but at 8 and 10 we are starting to be able to enjoy activities like this again! (Not that teaching them on the magic carpet wasnt enjoyable, but being able to fully enjoy a day at the hill together on the actual hill) Im sure this could have come earlier if there hadnt been so much hockey, but happy none the less!

I can't wait for this kinda stuff...i mean i love watching the babies and the toddler learn and grow but it's gonna be so good to teach them "big people" stuff

[ExtraSlow]

School-age kids who are actually "into" things are pretty fun.

[JfuckinC]

well, big changes for kids sure make things different. Recently switched to a big girl bed, ditched the soother and started potty training. our toddler is a fucking monster now

[bjstare]

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well, big changes for kids sure make things different. Recently switched to a big girl bed, ditched the soother and started potty training. our toddler is a fucking monster now

haha that's a lot to do in a short period of time.

We ditched soother at like ~6mo for both of our kids (well, one kid did it on their own and since it worked out well, we forced the second around the same time). Whenever I see a 3yo with a soother, all I can think about is how much of a fight it's gonna be to take it away.

[ExtraSlow]

My kid stuffed the soothers down the heat-vents, the second time they did it, we "couldn't find them" and it was all over. Don't even remember how old they were, it was a real non-event.

[bigbadboss101]

Our kids are 4 and 8. I asked them about boxing and soccer but neither are into it. Some forms of gymnastics/climbing would be cool too. For now, only swimming, piano lessons, and pottery.

[XylathaneGTR]

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It’s an experience.

We mostly keep it unplugged, but anyone with a garburetor knows they get clogged up like no one’s business eventually and need to be run to clear fairly often.

Wondering if some kind of safety switch can be installed.

Look into a Pico switch. Remote contact switch allowing you to place the on-off control elsewhere, out of reach. If you can install a normal switch, you can install one of these too.

[ExtraSlow]

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Our kids are 4 and 8. I asked them about boxing and soccer but neither are into it. Some forms of gymnastics/climbing would be cool too. For now, only swimming, piano lessons, and pottery.

When they are small, try doing some day-trips to places where they can try out the skills. Gymnastics, trampoline places, climbing gyms etc all have all drop in or party rentals. Same with a lot of art places.

[rage2]

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When they are small, try doing some day-trips to places where they can try out the skills. Gymnastics, trampoline places, climbing gyms etc all have all drop in or party rentals. Same with a lot of art places.

That was our strategy, let them try absolutely everything to see what sticks. They won't know from asking. The only bad that came out of that is that we have one in baseball and boxing, another in cheer, and 3rd into hockey and art. Our kids schedules are insane.

Things should look up next year as the oldest can get his license.