Amalah had an eye-opening post today about the "Suicide Hours" that seem to strike in the late afternoon and early evening when you are at home with small kids. I had never heard this term, or the terms gangrene hours, arsenic hours, or witching hours in reference to toddler parenting. But, as soon as I read the title of her post I knew exactly what she was talking about.
It started for me last winter when Becca was mobile and into everything and it was winter and John was gone a lot and blah blah blah DOOM. Those hours from when she woke up from her nap until bedtime were just... rough. We started taking daily afternoon walks before it got too cold, with Becca in the backpack. Then, my knees gave out, it snowed, it got dark at 3 p.m. and the temperature plummeted to 20 below zero, and those ended.
Yesterday John took the car with the carseat in it (with my permission) to work because I figured surely I could stay home all day, right? After Becca's nap I almost lost my damn mind. I felt trapped and irritated. Becca was tired of all her toys, had already watched Barney, already gone for two (TWO!) walks, played on her slide, eaten her snacks, finished her juice and was now just pissy. She purposely starts doing naughty things like running into the street, climbing up on the counter, standing on the table, playing in the toilet or banging on the computer keyboard at this time of day.
I often find myself staring at the clock at 4 p.m. wondering if it is too early to eat dinner. Sure, some days I have enough energy to summon up a fun activity like Play Doh or coloring, or a field-trip to the dry cleaners. But, most days I am just done.
After reading through all Amalah's comments I realized how universal this phenomenon really is. Today I left Becca with John just about all day while I had a fun visit doctor visit for girls-only (oh the fun those entail). I called home around 4:30 p.m. He said a couple words to me and then I heard, "NO! BECCA! NO!" Scuffle, scuffle, whine. Then, he said to me, "She has been just great all day and suddenly she is being really bad."
The Insanity Hours! They are real. They are not a made-up thing from lazy and desperate housewives. But, what causes it? Can we not find a cure?
One Year Later
6 days ago
10 comments:
OMG - I HATE those hours. They are the worst. The other afternoon I was wanting to cook dinner but Bo had other plans so I finally dumped an entire package of uncooked pene noodles into a pot on the floor, handed him a big serving spoon, a coffe mug and another big pot. He was entertained forever. Pasta was flung every which way, in the pot, out of the pot, on the floor, under the stove, back in the pot, under my feet, ouch, in the air, and back in the pot. Anyhoo- my point is - that the afternoons suck, but sometimes you just have to think outside the box (literally).
Same thing here. I think it is worse somehow when I think that Allen might be coming home, because then I look forward to the break even more. I feel like I am about to lose it, between Ashlyn and Ranger many days. I am beginning to freak out about dealing with a second child on top of that.
Laura--THAT is an awesome idea! I am totally trying it tonight.
Angie--I am sure the first few months with two will be hard, but I have this distant dream that one day having two kids might just make it easier (ha ha ha ha HAAAAA) because maybe they will play with each other? Maybe? I hope?
We feel your pain. We try to have late afternoon playgroups to keep the kiddos entertained. If everyone leaves around 4'ish, the rest of the day SUCKS. If we hold out until the dads get home from work, it is MUCH better! Or, I save our gym time until 4 so she is at the gym daycare while I work out. She can be there for up to 2 hours which is like HEAVEN to me! And the best part is= She loves it too!
Just yesterday I said to Paul, "It's really too bad you come home from work when the kids are impossible and I have HAD IT. We're okay all day, but it must look to you as if everyone's crabby and whiny and exhausted all day long."
I've had moderate success with things like saving a favorite video for ONLY that time of day. But when I say "moderate," I mean it doesn't usually work but once in a while has.
Swistle--I think my husband thinks that I spend my entire day whining, when really I don't. We are just dandy most of the time. It is hard to explain it!
TRUE TRUE TRUE. Way to go leaving Becca home with John at that hour so that a man could experience the hell we know as post-nap-stress-disorder. Let him share his experiences with the world!
And I swear, someday, my 2 girls will play together. It might be in like 10 years, but then, THEN I'll be golden.
We have witching hours BAD in our house. I hate the hours between 4 and 6pm the most. I don't know what it is, but it definitely seems to be universal. When Calum was younger, I used to go on a walk everyday after work. That helped. Once the weather cools, I'm hoping to reinstitute that ritual.
In general, I think that having two kids is NOT twice as hard. But the witching hours ARE twice as loud. It's enough to make me want to collapse on the floor, holding my head, rocking back and forth, calling for the men in white coats to please come take me away.
Those insanity hours are universal! Wierd. My kids need naps, but they will be in grumpy moods after their naps. and sometimes stay that way for a few hours. Why is that?
Drink wine. i have no advice since I have no experience.
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