Clock Watching

So much of my life is now spent clock watching. At work I am trying to get everything done to ensure I get out the door on time, anything to maximise the time I get with the kids before bed.

Trips to the supermarket are timed to ensure the terrible ( but achingly adorable) two year old doesn't have a meltdown and my midweek day off is a tightly run schedule of 2 school drop off, 3 collects and a gymnastic run!! 

But clock watching isn't all bad. I was recently chatting online to the lovely Office Mum about the way house work just sucks you in and steals your time, the 'five minute job' morphs into the 3 hour mass clean up and when the children ask me to come draw with them/jump on the trampoline/go for a walk or just snuggle on the couch I ( to my shame) often answer that ill be there in a few minutes once I've this job done. Suddenly two hours has passes and I'm still not finished. This annoys both them and me and inevitable guilt follows. I'd love to be the kind if person that can ignore the mess, can happily sail out the door and leave the breakfast dishes on the table but I'm afraid I'm not. I am aware that people throw out the expression that ' a happy home is a messy home' but I don't buy it. A happy home starts with happy parents and I'm not a happy camper if the house is a tip. I also realise that there is a never ending 'to do' list when you have children around, tidying is alot like shovelling snow in a snowstorm!! Trying to get a balance is a work in progress but two things I've discovered really help.Firstly I set my clock early and try get up before the children ( not easy when you have a little man who's favourite time if the day is 6 am!!),it's amazing what you can achieve in 40, uninterrupted, minutes in the morning,and the second thing is when the children ask me to do something when I'm busy we set the timer on the cooker and when it goes off I go and do whatever we've agreed to.  This makes me focus on finishing whichever task really needs doing and not starting 10 new ones that I've just noticed and also reassures the children that I will be free to have some fun with them.

Clock watching can be a total pain but in this instance it's a countdown to fun.