Okay, this post is aimed at everyone...the world, there is not a specific person that I'm directing this to, yes, there were specific people today that made my eye twitch, but it's not your fault...you didn't realize how close to the edge I was teetering! So, if I hurt your feelings, please, swallow your pride and, as I like to say "suck it up, buttercup."
Nap time. It's a crucial event during my work day. People think that i have an easy job. It is far from easy. I have the great joy of being able to stay home all day. My commute is the distance from my bed to my front door. I play with toys all day long, tell stories, and don't have to deal with office politics. If I want, I can spend the day in my jammies - I consider this one of the greatest benefits of my job. However, with good comes bad. I have children at their best, but also at their worst. It seems to me that children seem to go in cycles and somehow - they all manage to have
really bad days at the same time. It must have something to do with the lunar phases, or perhaps some magnetic shift in the earth's atmosphere, or maybe it's a clouded aura -- all I know is that the last few days have been tense at best. Spats that have turned into quarrels, quarrels that have turned into fights. Toys are tossed like missiles. Voices are loud enough to wake the dead. That's been my week. But I've dealt with it.
How? How did I deal with what would put any other person directly into an insane asylum, happy to never see another child again? Two words. NAP TIME.
Yes -- nap time. It is my
only break during the day. Try that people. On average, I work 11 hours, sometimes more - and I get ONE MEASLY BREAK. That's it. Nap time is my time to re-align my zen...it is
my time. Granted, much of that time is spent sweeping, doing dishes (gag), folding laundry or other general cleanup that comes with having six kids run amok in one's house - but it is also my time for a cup of calming tea, perhaps a book (ha - not too likely lately) or a little computer time. It is also my time for planning out my curriculum, making notes on children, setting reminders of things that I need to buy, and thinking up crafts or planning playdates. If I had to guess, I'd say I spend roughly 1/2 hour - 45 minutes in the general clean up/sanitization time. Toss in another 15 mins or so for shovelling some food into my own mouth (I do NOT have the time to eat with the kids during lunch!), add on another 15 minutes or so for planning - this leaves me with less than one hour, perhaps less if someone wakes early.
Lately, I've been using this blessed hour as a study period. I crack open my book, do my readings, answer some questions, do some research, write an essay or work on a project. It is a very precious few minutes that I have.
For the last few days, this hour has been interrupted by one thing or another. 99.9% of the time, it's the phone. I have 4 phones in the house - and I don't think that I should have to turn off every ringer of every phone to get a few hours of silence. Nope, I expect that people (especially those who know that I have a home daycare) to
know that they shouldn't call me from 12-2. You should just
know it. However, since Monday, not only am I getting phone calls, I'm getting phone calls regularly during that time. Not always the same person - but when I say "it's nap time" that's my clue to you that it's a bad time to talk.
See -- I have this problem -- I don't want to hurt people's feelings. Yeah, I know that may be hard for you all to believe -- the ever-sarcastic-Hethr doesn't like to hurt feelings -- but it's true. I don't want to say to you "please don't call me know. And please don't call me in the morning either - oh, and please don't call me at night either, cause I have so many things to do and talking to you just wastes the precious little time that I have to do it"
So instead, I internalize. I get mad, and I internalize and my hair goes gray. Are you happy now?? I'm stressed and graying - and behind on my homework.
Today, during nap time, I had FOUR different people call me -- Even after I went and changed my status on Facebook saying "please don't call between 12 - 2". Yeah, I know -- you all are so invested in me and my life that you need to revolve your lives around my facebook updates -- but seriously folks -- I need this time...and so do my kids.
Because of these 4 phone calls, instead of getting a lovely 1 1/2 - 2 hours of sleep - the kids only got about 20 minutes. Do you know what life is like with a couple of over-tired toddlers? I can't describe it without needing to put a parental guidance rating on this blog. Suffice it to say -- it's bloody scary! Yup, it's been enough to make the eye twitch, that's for sure!
So, the moral of the post is - if you have a dayhome/daycare lady - please leave them alone during nap time. Ask them what time the "official" nap time is in their home and then, leave them the hell alone during that time. Don't phone them, not unless you're laying in a hospital bed waiting for a blood transfusion. DO NOT CALL THEM. If you
really need to get in touch with them, email them, send them a message on their phone, facebook or twitter them, but for the love of God and all that is holy - don't call!
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