9.29.2008

Just a survey

I am seriously wondering how much time other moms spend playing or reading with their children during the course of an average day (as in before the dads come home from work). And when does this quality time take place? Please chime in here...I'm seriously curious. One hour? 3 hours? 20 minutes?

Personally, it's around 2 hours, on a regular day. I usually try to read for 20 or so minutes a day, right before naptime. And we our morning devotions time and outside play. Scattered here and there are a few minutes of random playing, in the midst of what is now my most time-consuming task: feeding everyone. Especially now that Elliot needs solids in addition to four nursing periods.

Now that I'm fighting femcha and my perfectionist personality, I'm spending more time thinking about what really matters and working towards accomplishing those things. And more FUN with the kids is def. high on the list.

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Tonight we are having Pork & Pasta with Gorgonzola Cream (again). Though this sounds like a very ambitious recipe, it's really not...it's very easy and very yummy. You should try it. Especially you lurkers who read but don't comment. :) Oh - don't use whipping cream. I never do. Substitute evaporated skim milk. You most the whipping cream or the extra calorites, I promise.

Update: when cooking my pork in the aforementioned recipe, I do not cut it into medallions and pan-sear it. That would be quite time-consuming and stressful, making this recipe femcha (for me anyway). Instead, I combine the spices to make a rub and then bake the tenderloin in the oven for the amount of time specified on the package. Very easy.

5 comments:

diber said...

Hmm. When we're not on school schedule (which is totally another ballgame), I spend the majority of my time playing with my kids. I probably clean a total of 30 mins while they're awake and maybe spend an hour total preparing food for b'fast, lunch, and snacks (add a little time for eating it). Other than that, it's pretty much all kids all the time. Ever since Ellis turned 2 and was able to do more, I've done a lot of craft and art activities. We take a lot of outings in addition to onerous errands (I hate shopping and keep it to a necessary minimum). We go to the arboretum, the park, the woods, a variety of museums often. Even since Ellis was a baby I did things like that with him. I just invest a lot of time into preparing and learning about what cool, creative, educational things I can do with my little ones. Their minds are sponges now, and I love experiencing that. So, at the end of the day, it's probably 4-6 hours of quality time with my 3yo and 4mo.

ejm said...

Thanks for commenting! Sounds like y'all have fun!

For the record: I should have been more specific...I was really talking about at-home time. We go on a lot of outings ourselves. :)

Katherine Maxey said...

I spend about 1 hour one on one time "with" each/both per day. This is in addition, though, to all the things I do "for" them, as you mentioned (feeding, fetching etc..) I don't believe it's my job as a mom to be their playmate all day long.. especially as they get older. I've heard the greatest test of a child's maturity/intelligence is how long they can occupy themselves in play with the things they have. Read more from John Rosemond (my fav parenting author) on playing with your child.

Marlo said...

Ha! Katherine Maxey just stole part of my comment, and it's glad to see she's another Rosemond fan. :) I was going to say the same thing about not being your child's playmate- although that's hard at the stage you're at now, since Elliot and Charlie can't "play" together yet.
When they were younger, we spent more time doing those things. Now, with our crazy schedules, I'm happy to report that they each get one really good bedtime story (on top of whatever Bible time/devotions we've done together.)

Sarahbeth said...

hmm. i think i need to read John Rosemond. I feel an incredible amount of guilt at the end of the day about how little I played with/crafted with/danced with my kids.