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Time management for parents
MIkael Lindberg | Oct 10 2007
The excellent news that Merlin is joining the parent flock prompted me to write this post. I became a parent about a year ago and I've been battling the "loss" of about 8-16 hours of every day to parenting and the unpredictability element that babies bring to your schedule. I'm interested in hearing what other parents have done in order to keep a grip on their schedule and their lives. For me, the most extreme effect was that I decided to change jobs in order to do something I really like, despite having to take a 50% pay cut. I just can't afford to waste hours doing things that doesn't make me happy. I've also taken a few hints from Merlin and now carry a small note pad (sort of a hipster PDA) in my pocket at all times for capture purposes. I think my previous attempts at GTD has failed just because I havn't needed it enough. Now, I can't survive without it. As for handling the unpredictability element of children, my wife and I have a system where we try to never replan the current day schedule but instead handle exceptions as far into the future as possible. This keeps our schedules reasonably stable. What are your experiences? 58 Comments
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 Congratulations and Thoughts on TimeSubmitted by Mark1701 on October 11, 2007 - 10:55pm.
First and foremost, congratulations on your impending fatherhood. Without a doubt, many of your first world concerns will seem trivial when you start your new role as parent. As for time, I was in graduate school when my daughter was born, so I had the advantage of extreme flexibility and a spouse that stayed home, but here are a few things to keep in mind: (1) The first 2 weeks are the hardest. You will both be sleep deprived, exhausted and wondering what the hell you have gotten yourself into. (2) Weeks 2-12 will be an exercise in being fully functional on 4-5 hours of sleep a night (though you may get lucky with a young one that does long stretches at night. (By the way, forget the crap about not bring your daughter to bed in the middle of the night. We did it with both our daughter and son - and both adjusted to sleeping on their own without a problem). (3) At 3 months the best gift you can give yourselves is moving your daughter into her room, and sitting through the excruciating exercise of letting her cry herself to sleep. I had to let my daughter cry for 10 minutes, calm her, and then let her cry for 20 after that until she fell asleep. After that night the crying would only last a couple of minutes and she would be out for the night. (4) Once she hits the all night sleeping stage, you will be able to think about scheduling activities again. As with others I have found that I am able to get a good deal done during nap times and times when my daughter was out with mom. (5)Communication with your wife is essential, and working on a schedule that works for both of you can be a life-saver. As a night owl, I would take the 11PM to 4AM shift and then my wife would take over at 6AM. This let me sleep enough to make it through my teaching, classes and studying. (6)Learn to integrate your daughter into mundane activities. I often held my daughter sleeping in my arm while I read or took notes. I would also take her with me to run errands (which also gave mom a break). (7)Finally, enjoy every minute of your daughter. Before you know it she will be 7 and you will be wondering where the time went. » POSTED IN:
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