Parenting In A Funk

I’ve been feeling a little bit under the weather lately, folks. Been forced to use up my holiday leave before the end of the year, so I took a lot of time off work this last couple of weeks.

The problem is, this messes up my routine completely. I instantly got sick, and haven’t been feeling on top of things ever since. Being sick with kids is terrible - no exaggeration. Before the kids, I could take the day off and relax, watch a DVD and recover. These days the family steamroller doesn’t stop for sickness, which is depressing because it seems to last forever.

Both the missus and I are at such a low ebb at the moment, and nothing seems to perk us up. We’re permanently tired, it seems and at the moment quite irritable with the children. You know you’re making a mess of it when the kids start getting irritable back at you. Ray, in particular, has been letting us know how frustrated she is with us. It’s hard to admit, but she’s learning that from us.

You’re Not Alone

I found some solidarity this afternoon at The Reign Of Ellen. In particular, she’s tapped into some of the feelings of inadequacy we as parents get from time to time. The fallout from this is apathy (Ellen says laziness), negativity, insecurity and irritability.

I am lazy. Actually I don’t think that’s totally true. I feel like I am busy from morning til night, piddling around on projects and such. That’s not lazy. I’m never sitting around eating bon-bons. However, when it comes to the non-fun stuff (ironing, cooking, cleaning), I lose all my energy. I walk in to the kitchen to make dinner, and my mind goes fuzzy. It just seems like too much effort to think about it. So I don’t. We go get nasty fast food.

This is the Levee household circa December 2005. If I sit down for a moment I will fall asleep. Narcolepsy rules when I’m stressed….

I don’t want to paint a negative picture for people, but this is the sometime reality of parenting. It’s burnout, pure and simple. Some people handle it better than others. It takes me a while to recognise when I’m floundering and actually do something about it. Left to fester, however, this kind of fatigue can develop into really bad parenting habits, and that ain’t good!

Lifting The Spirits

Sometimes the children provide a moment of clarity. I’ll get a spontaneous hug, or maybe a sudden “Love you, Daddy” and the priorities come into sharp focus. Family comes first.

Sometimes you have to sit back and recognise that you’re burning the candle at both ends and you need to slow things down. Get some sleep. Get organised. Eat better - that junk food cycle is a real killer!