I always remember when the kids were babies and toddlers that the 2 hours surrounding dinnertime were witching hour. Screaming, tantrums. Nobody was happy.
Poor Sean would come home to me frazzled and frustrated. I’d hand a baby over to him so I go stir the beans we would have with our toast without a crying child on my hip.
Now that they’re older, witching hour now takes place in the morning. As I feed, dress, clean and then corral 3 kids out the door.
Now that they’re older, witching hour now takes place in the morning. As I feed, dress, clean and then corral 3 kids out the door.I believe there have been 3 morning this year that I have not raised my voice or yelled while trying to get them out the door. Doesn’t matter how early we get up, how early everything’s finished by – getting OUT the door is hell.
Every Sunday I think “Okay. Not gonna yell them out the door this week. That’s my goal”
And every Monday I fail.
And every Monday I fail.
I think part of the problem is that our school starts rather late – at 9:15. Which you’d think would be great not having to rush out the door. But we do. Everyday. Usually with me sounding maniacal to the neighbours, I’m sure. I wonder if we didn’t have as much time as we do, if we could avoid a lot of the issues we have. If we could just eat, get dressed and go.
I think they have too much time to settle into activities or tv shows or video games. I’ve tried eliminating/limiting the things they can do. I do as much as I can at night so I’m not going crazy with breakfasts and lunches. I try and have their clothes ready so everybody has what they need. I try and dole out responsibilities as I see appropriate so they’re each in charge of specific things (packing their own bag, putting their jammies into the wash…)
I think they have too much time to settle into activities or tv shows or video games. I’ve tried eliminating/limiting the things they can do. I do as much as I can at night so I’m not going crazy with breakfasts and lunches. I try and have their clothes ready so everybody has what they need. I try and dole out responsibilities as I see appropriate so they’re each in charge of specific things (packing their own bag, putting their jammies into the wash…)
But I just cannot master the morning routine without wanting to pull mine and their hair out at some point before I drop them off school. At which point I switch off Radio Disney and go grab my myself a nice hot coffee from Tims.
What about you? Do you have a witching hour? What time of day do you loathe the most?
I am past witching stage – we have other things to contend with – like hormones. WOW.
But I am girl so I get it. We get up every am at 5:45. Crazy. Everyone is good though.
My daughter is still at school and has been there since 6:50 this morning and I will pick her up at 8 tonight!
I have yelled and clapped like a psycho for 12 years. Even whistled. I hate early morning surprises so the thing that helps me is doing everything the night before………
Mornings are definitely hard especially when it’s so cold and so difficult to dress them. I’ve started getting up at 6am instead of 630 so i can have a little time on the treadmill, to get organised myself or just sit quietly and drink coffee when i’m really tired. that does help. the pre-dinner hour usually 4-530 is also tough because everyone is tired and irritable. in the evenings, i used to rely on tv to help me through but now it’s worse with tv because the 3 kids fight over what show to watch. so, instead, we do piano practice (while i’m cooking) and the baby wanders around creating havoc.
Witching hour for us is still between 5-6:30. It’s a frustrating time because the girls need individual help with their homework and I’m trying to prepare 2-3 different meals. My youngest daughter is a picky eater so she doesn’t typically enjoy the same foods as the rest of the family. So I often end up making a variation of the dinner. There just never seems to be enough of me to go around. I long for the day when we all eat the same meal and the girls can do their homework independently.
Ours is right around dinner until bed. Lord help me! I’m always alone with The Boy during this time and some nights, after he is done destroying the house and I have wrestled him into bed, I just sit in the middle of his chaos and wonder why I do this!
YES.
Mornings, OMG. I actually have to wake all three kids to get ready for school…so, you already know it’s going to be fun…it’s the making sure everyone has lunches and snowpants and boots and hats and gloves and homework and projects etc. UGH. and G is always gone, by, 7:30 at the latest so it’s really just me. BUT, to his credit…he makes their lunches every single day.
Hey Jen – how long is he napping for? Maybe 40 minutes max? After about 45, they drop into REM sleep, and waking afterwards leads to SUPER cranky, I found. Given his age, it might be enough too… and he may even settle for the night faster. #WIN!!
My son is still taking a late afternoon nap and the witching hour for us is right after he wakes up. It’s so frustrating because he wakes up seemingly more tired and grouchy and out of sorts. I’ll be glad when he reaches a point where a second nap isn’t a necessity.
Lady, I know. I loathed the witching hour SO HARD when they were both smaller, but the evenings are (marginally) more tolerable now. I am a yeller… fortunately (?) my first-grader starts at 7:50 AM (I know, and yes, you should feel very sorry for me…) so the upside is there’s not a lot of time for shenanigans in the morning. Up at 6:50ish, zero TV (that was tough at first), and I only want to hear “good morning, mummy” lots of chewing sounds, teeth brushing, and backpack zippers zipping lunch boxes inside them.
I cut my hair this short so I can’t pull it out, I swear…