Today’s hodge podge conversational episode of Best of Both Worlds features a few topics.
First Sarah and I give some brief life updates. For instance, she and her kids have come up with a new screen time system.
Then, I discuss the Time Tracking Challenge and what I’m seeing in people’s time logs. There are no typical weeks! Also, lots of people might enjoy making space for a hobby.
Finally, we tackle a few more listener questions, since we had too many good ones to fit in our last mailbag episode. A physician applying for a high-profile leadership role asks how to present herself. A couple about to have 16 weeks each of simultaneous parental leave asks what they should attempt with the time beyond baby care. And finally, a listener with an older toddler asks what to do in place of nap time when a kid still needs some quiet decompression.
Please give the episode a listen! As always, we appreciate ratings and reviews. And if you enjoy Best of Both Worlds, would you consider telling a friend? Our Patreon community is also growing. Our next online meet-up will be February 22nd at noon eastern. These are always great conversations, and we’d love to have you there.
My husband was between jobs when I was on mat leave with our second kid. First kid was in preschool 5 days a week. We had a great time – it was amazing to have another parent around to handle the load. We did a TON of lunches out, little outings to museums and things, and it just felt so much more FUN than going through mat leave alone with the baby during the day 😉 The portability of the newborn really made it easy and she would sleep wherever we were (usually). If it didn’t work out, we’d just leave. Somehow it was easier to keep perspective and stay in a better mood with two people around vs. just myself. Because he was home, I could disappear into my craft room for a couple of hours here and there as well, while he listened for the baby. (And vice versa, he got his own time to do the stuff he likes.)
@ARC – that does sound like fun! Having another adult to keep you company really would make the experience better.
We do quiet time for our 4.5 year old, introducing it after he dropped his nap in month one of lockdown… After lunch, we play, read a few books, and then he has quiet time in his room. Sometimes he does some sort of big Brio project and sometimes he just lays on the bed. We put an audiobook on a sleep timer so after an hour, he can come down and that’s when we do TV. It means we have a 2 hour chunk to talk, rest ourselves, or do house stuff and I do think that he really needs a bit of decompression time. We keep this schedule on weekends (when possible, if we have other things on, we don’ts stress about it) and on days off,
The things that make this work for us – the audiobooks make it feel like a treat and TV time is contingent on a good rest. He doesn’t even argue about it.
@Cb – that’s great that he doesn’t argue about it. I am suspecting my little guy might drop the nap pretty young and we shall see how that goes…
Thank you for this suggestion! I immediately opened Libby and borrowed a few children’s audiobooks!
Like Sarah, we use screen time during quiet time as well. Our son will be 4 next month. We tried to have him play quietly in his room and he would not stay in his room. We use an ok to wake close but he would still come out of his room even though the clock light wasn’t green. So letting him have screen time was the only way we could get a full break. He only has access to ABC Mouse and the PBS Kids Video and Game aps. So I assuage some of my guilt about this by telling myself at least he’s doing educational things on the iPad. Sarah Powers from the Mom Hour answered a question about screen time on a recent Q&A episode and she talked about how she didn’t let her kids have screen time when they were little but then wasn’t able to get much done during the day/didn’t get rest time. I think the question was similar to the question you received. I think/hope when it’s nicer outside we can do some outdoor things with our son instead of quiet time. But it’s been a really cold winter here and I’ve been sick more often than I’ve been healthy, so I’ve really relied on the quiet time w/ screens to get a full break!