Busy weekend sabotages chores
This has been one of those weekends where I’ve had absolutely no time to prepare for the upcoming week, and I’m already feeling “off kilter” and it’s onl Sunday night!
It was a busy weekend of kids sports schedules, social activities and urgent errand running that has kept me out of the house from sun-up to sundown and left me no time to fold the mountains of laundry, clean out the refrigerator, go to the grocery or get things ready for school.
I’m contemplating taking a day off this week to catch up on my routine chores.
While I realize I’m fortunate to have paid vacation, I wonder if this type of thing is the best use of it.
On one hand, it’ll do wonders for my mental state to get this work done, but on the other hand, what kind of person need to take a day off to get the laundry folded? Shouldn’t I save my benefit time in case the kids get sick or something?
If I’m going to call it a “mental health day”, it seems like I ought to do something I like with my time off and nothing on my current to-do list qualifies.
But, on the other other hand (I already used an “other” hand. See above.), if I buckle down and take some time to get things back in order, I can focus on work a little better and perhaps have some extra time for the kids.
I don’t know what I’ll decide because deep down my “to-do” list is probably not realistic. I know I’ll never be really “done” with the things I need to do, but I’d sure like to put a dent in the list and have a brief moment of being on top of things, even if I have to do it all over again the next week.
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POSTED IN: Busy Parenting
3 opinions for Busy weekend sabotages chores
Modern Mami
Apr 21, 2008 at 4:49 am
I have taken a half day off in the past to catch up with some chores. I was torn just like you, but figured my sanity was worth it, otherwise I would have been in a funk all week long. It’s so sad, really, that we have to go to these extremes! :)
JayMonster
Apr 21, 2008 at 7:08 am
One of those things that go into the “Cons” column of being self-employed is the whole “no such thing as a paid day off” dilemma.
Then between sick days, school closings, etc. both TheWife (who does have paid days off) and I have to negotiate days to try and keep some sort time for something that is actually for our mental health, like a vacation.
Sadly, it seems that this issue consumes a lot of people, that “vacation time” is almost rarely about a vacation any longer. And in the end, makes for less productivity, because people don’t actually get the opportunity to “recharge their batteries” they way they should, and instead spend that time dealing with the day to day dramas.
Here is where I would normally like to insert a solution to said problem… I’m just not that smart though, and don’t have one.
anastasiav
Apr 21, 2008 at 1:21 pm
As a mom who works a full time job and then also a part time job, my weekends are almost always just a single day off - normally Saturday. It can be a challenge to pack everything we want to do into that single day (well, day and a half, really, since I work on Sunday afternoon/evening). I’ve certainly taken time off in the past to just have an empty house where I can get “stuff” done without needing to also change a diaper, retrieve an elephant from under the sofa, or keep the toddler out of the road while we do yardwork.
In our pre-baby life, it was much easier for one person to “get stuff done” while the other one was at work or otherwise not around. Now it really takes two for the bigger stuff (raking the lawn, for example) - one to manage the toddler and one to do the task - which really limits our chore time because that is also time that we feel like we should be spending together, doing something fun as a family.
Hopefully as my son gets older it will be easier to involve him in the cleaning, raking, building, and painting, but I think a lot of that is just on hold until he’s a bit older and less impulsive.
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