“How is it Thursday already?”
“I’ve achieved nothing this week.”
“We still need to do the x, y and z that have been on the to-do list since January.”
Sound familiar? It’s just chronic, isn’t it, as a parent. It feels like the to-do list adds items to itself when I’m not looking. The pile of bills never gets sorted, the pull-along car I’ve been ‘working on’ for M for months has actually gone backwards (it's missing a wheel), and I barely know what’s going outside my front door, never mind the rest of the world. Work? Ha. Ha. Ha.
And yet it still feels like I’m constantly rushed off my feet. I find it infuriating, this sense that I’m trying to do a million things at once but don’t do any of them properly. I make more lists, more meal plans, more attempts to reorganise my schedule because surely, surely I’m supposed to be able to fit it all in somehow.
Except I never really can. But instead of getting frustrated about it, maybe we simply need a new way to measure our efficiency. Forget new clients won and scientific papers published, here is the amount of work Mr P&P and I shift in an average month:
bottoms wiped: 80
meals prepared: 62
story books read: 56
toddler meltdowns navigated: many many many (and increasing in frequency)
dining tables wiped: 62
floors swept: 8
nappies rinsed: 140
toys tidied away: kilos and kilos
boo-boos kissed better: 90
moments spent worrying: too many to count
snotty noses cleaned: see above
washing-ups done: 36
laundry loads washed and hung and folded and put away: 20
songs sang: 350 at least
pretend coffees drunk: billions I tell you, billions
nursery drop-offs and pick-ups: 32
pokey sticks searched and found: 25
hours spent negotiating with a pint-sized tyrant: never-ending
baths/showers administered: 15-20
ingenious toddler activities dreamed up: 30
“I’ve achieved nothing this week.”
“We still need to do the x, y and z that have been on the to-do list since January.”
Sound familiar? It’s just chronic, isn’t it, as a parent. It feels like the to-do list adds items to itself when I’m not looking. The pile of bills never gets sorted, the pull-along car I’ve been ‘working on’ for M for months has actually gone backwards (it's missing a wheel), and I barely know what’s going outside my front door, never mind the rest of the world. Work? Ha. Ha. Ha.
And yet it still feels like I’m constantly rushed off my feet. I find it infuriating, this sense that I’m trying to do a million things at once but don’t do any of them properly. I make more lists, more meal plans, more attempts to reorganise my schedule because surely, surely I’m supposed to be able to fit it all in somehow.
Except I never really can. But instead of getting frustrated about it, maybe we simply need a new way to measure our efficiency. Forget new clients won and scientific papers published, here is the amount of work Mr P&P and I shift in an average month:
bottoms wiped: 80
meals prepared: 62
story books read: 56
toddler meltdowns navigated: many many many (and increasing in frequency)
dining tables wiped: 62
floors swept: 8
nappies rinsed: 140
toys tidied away: kilos and kilos
boo-boos kissed better: 90
moments spent worrying: too many to count
snotty noses cleaned: see above
washing-ups done: 36
laundry loads washed and hung and folded and put away: 20
songs sang: 350 at least
pretend coffees drunk: billions I tell you, billions
nursery drop-offs and pick-ups: 32
pokey sticks searched and found: 25
hours spent negotiating with a pint-sized tyrant: never-ending
baths/showers administered: 15-20
ingenious toddler activities dreamed up: 30
Cleaning up this lot takes patience and precision
Oh the ingenuity - who knew toothpicks could be so much fun?
Bonus toddler-entertainment points: stick AND foamy thingies to collect AND a balloon!!!
And all of that despite:
hours spent sleeping: way, way too few…
See? Here at P&P Towers we are the PICTURE OF EFFICIENCY. What amazing feats have you achieved so far this month?
hours spent sleeping: way, way too few…
See? Here at P&P Towers we are the PICTURE OF EFFICIENCY. What amazing feats have you achieved so far this month?
