We have covered the topic of weekends before on the Best of Both Worlds podcast, but it’s been a while, and we keep having weekends every week. So we decided to revisit the topic.
Weekends tend to become more complicated as families grow and as children get older and have their own interests to be accommodated. But I maintain that it is usually possible for the adults to get some relaxation time too. Ideally everyone has something to look forward to.
In the Q&A section we tackle a question from a listener who’s pondering going part-time in order to write (particularly blogging and the like). In general, we suggest building the habit first, and then if you need time to accommodate the growth of your blogging/writing career, that’s a different thing. Or if you can afford to go part-time and want to, great! But the words don’t always flow just because a workday is available, and it might take a while to replace the income of a more traditional career with writing income.
Please give the episode a listen and leave us a rating/review!
I will say that it’s funny (and not necessarily in a ha ha way…) this episode is airing this week (we recorded a few weeks ago). This past weekend featured a ton of stuff and I created a schedule that allowed for EVERYTHING. And then some folks did not follow the schedule, which naturally led to many problems, and I said I was not going to do the work of planning weekends anymore. We shall see how that goes!
I just have one preschool aged kid, so our weekends are pretty free and easy. I cook breakfast on Saturday and we hang out and do Lego until it’s time to go for swim (know thyself, I got offered a 9am swim spot and turned it down because I know it would make us miserable, 1130 is much more manageable). We get some lunch, go to the farmers market, beach, or library or run errands en route home. And then play, rest time, screentime. Sunday we try for an adventure or a playdate. This week, we went to see my husbands colleagues newborn lambs, and my son got to bottle feed one! Next week, we’ll meet up for a walk or scoot with some friends. We use the rest/screentime to get some rest ourselves, tackle projects, read or take a walk.
My friends with school aged kids seem to constantly be going to birthday parties, which fills me with dread. Both my son and I are neutral on other peoples’ children and noisy places (bounce houses, soft play etc). He’s a serious wee soul, and I think we feel awkward he’s not joining in the rambunctiousness, preferring to sit and chat. So we will have to see how that goes…trying to convince my husband that we don’t have to say yes to every invite.
I am a big fan of planning weekends. One my kids had 5 baseball games and 2 soccer games this weekend and my husband went to them all. It was really bad planning because neither of us were happy with that arrangement. That kind of thing doesn’t happen when we have had a chance to plan. I do miss my kids being a little younger because I feel like our weekends are filled with sports and I miss having more time for family adventures.
I am currently working 80% and it actually has not been as helpful as I was hoping. I have only done it the last three weeks and my husband was out of town the whole time, so I may get into a better grove eventually. We are moving this summer so my plan was to take Thursdays to get things ready for the move. I don’t think I have done anything for the move- I bought saxophone reeds and soccer shorts, met a friend for lunch, and took a nap.
With 4 kids planning weekends is a must over here. This past weekend felt very normal. On Friday my husband and I attended a benefit for our local library (the first benefit we have been to in-person in 2 years). We had to time out departure to work with a late piano lesson and the fact that our au pair had a meet-up (lead by the local au pair organization and required).
Saturday I ran with a friend at 7 am. I spent the morning sorting through hand-me-downs for my younger boys and making sure they have some clothes to wear as the weather warms up. At noon one kid had soccer and the other a doctors appointment so we split up. In the afternoon my oldest had soccer practice and number 2 had a martial arts promotion and tennis back to back. After number 2 got back and she I went through her closet to prep for warmer weather. We had burgers for dinner.
Sunday I ran at 7 again with my friend. We all went to church (most Sundays for us). After church there was a lunch honoring one of our clergy most of us stayed for that, but my husband and oldest cut out early to drive 45 minutes to a soccer game for the oldest. After lunch I worked and planned the week while the 3 younger kids had screen time. Husband and kid 1 got home around 3 (the rest of us got home around 1). My husband took kids 1,2 and 4 to an MLS game. I took the au pair and kid 3 to dinner. We were all home and in bed ready to start the week by 8.
Pre-kids, the less I had planned, the more I enjoyed my weekend because I could fill it with whatever I wanted. Since having kids, I find that having plans is almost essential! But being in the house with a 1 and 4yo without any specified plans makes for a long day! It will be a bit different when the weather is nicer and we can go to the park/etc. I almost always run with my neighbor on Sat mornings around 7 and then the 1yo has swimming lessons on Sunday mornings. I try to always have a few other things planned or in mind, like going to the library if it’s cold outside or meeting friends at a park if the weather allows. But going into the weekend with nothing in mind is no bueno for us! I often blog about what we did on the weekend and will get some comments about how busy our weekend was. Having a “busy” weekend pre-kids could have left me feeling tired but now having a busy weekend is less exhausting than trying to fill hours at home!
This was a great episode – I loved hearing what each of you considered “non-negotiable” in a weekend – and thanks for the shout-out to my BOBW episode 🙂