A few thoughts on parenting and life with two little girls…<\/p>\n
-It’s been almost six years since I’ve been on a 80% work schedule, and for a long time my Fridays – designed to be totally uninterrupted\u00c2\u00a0time with the girls -\u00c2\u00a0felt like a\u00c2\u00a0kind of mini-vacation. In recent months, though, my Fridays\u00c2\u00a0have\u00c2\u00a0started to fill up with\u00c2\u00a0appointments, errands, paperwork and lots of driving (some days I find myself taking three separate trips to school or camp); they don’t feel\u00c2\u00a0as much like “time off” anymore. I don’t mean to complain – I’m still eternally grateful that I’ve had this schedule – but I do sometimes long for those days when the only thing on my Friday agenda\u00c2\u00a0was a\u00c2\u00a0playdate or a stroll around the neighborhood with my baby.<\/p>\n
-Speaking of all the running around: Right before we went to Phoenix I was feeling super drained. My physical exhaustion – from newborn-induced sleep deprivation – is long gone, but the emotional exhaustion seems to be sticking around. I thought it\u00c2\u00a0would get\u00c2\u00a0easier (i.e. I would feel less tired) as the kids get older – but\u00c2\u00a0I’m slowing realizing that might not be the case. On most days, I feel like there is more<\/em> work to do with older kids, not less. (Why didn’t anyone ever tell me??)<\/p>\n -A friend with older girls once told me that she made a mistake when she was younger by always getting involved with their disagreements. Her words have stuck with me ever since, and so I try to be somewhat hands-off when it comes to the girls’ conflicts. When, for example, Avery runs up to me and says, “Zoe took (X) from me,” I tell her that she needs to work it out with her sister. And if they’re fighting over a toy, I usually tell both of them that they need to come up with some sort of resolution or they won’t be able to play with that toy anymore. This isn’t an easy thing to do, and it’s not always appropriate (if one of the girls does something more serious, like pushes or hits, I’ll intervene right away), but I’m hoping it will teach the girls conflict-resolution skills and prevent them from putting me in the middle of (more serious) argument when they’re teenagers.<\/p>\n