Monday, April 13, 2009

The witching hour...

If you are a mom you know exactly what "the witching hour" is.

If you aren't a mom or a dad for the matter, it is the hour in which all H*LL breaks loose in your house... you are trying to get dinner started, the kids are hungry, tired, your husband isn't home yet and they want your undivided attention in the form of carrying them around.

So really this hour typically falls from 5-6 in our house. I've done many things to try to make this hour be better. I've tried planning meals that I can cook during nap or at least prepare and then I just need to pop in oven. I've tried pulling out new toys and even letting my girls watch tv (which by the way Emma hates TV... I mean at this age I could at least engage Grace in a few minutes of Baby Einstein, but Emma has NO interest!... minus the 2 times last week that she watched maybe 2 minutes of Elmo's World).

Back to my story... so I try everything. Grace is pretty easy to get busy... I pull out the crayons and a coloring book and she is happy... at least for 15 minutes. But Emma is my issue. She still eats crayons, but of course wants to do whatever her sister is doing! Any suggestions?? Tonight I pulled out some pots and pans and some plastic measuring cups and that worked for oh 4 minutes... got any other ideas to make my witching hour not so bad. By the way... I made spaghetti tonight so its not really one of those things I can't make way early. Maybe I just need to work on Adam getting home by 5 everyday. He does go to work before 6:30 most days!!

8 comments:

Amanda said...

I feel you pain...minus 1 kid of course. :) Between 5 and 6 is our "witching hour" as well. It takes everything I have not to lose it waiting on Zach to get home! E won't watch tv and she wants to be held. What to do???

Leigh said...

yes yes yes, the witching hour here is actually 430-6pm. Gavin has to eat fast to be in bed by 6pm and then I have to feed the big kids dinner. And on top of that I try for all of us to sit down together. This doesn't happen that much though. My kids love movies and Noggin, so I guess I lucked out there. Noggin has the best and funniest shows. Other than that, even Noah(4yo) still LOVES baby Einstein. So weird. And most of the time I have to hold Gavin while I'm making dinner. So I put on the sling or hip hammock. Good Luck...I think these are just the hard years we have to get thru somehow.

The Lada Family said...

I hear ya... and I have no advice. With Avery, I usually just give her some crackers and she's happy. Molly just won't leave me alone though. Sometime I just want to scream STOP TALKING! I did tell her the other day that if she asked me "why" one more time I was going to put her in time out - pretty horrible huh? :-)

Michelle said...

What if you let them play outside for a bit? Just leave the backdoor open so you can see them and give them some bubbles? Of course it has to be nice out to do this but I let Grace go out back and draw with chalk or blow bubbles and I fix something to eat or nurse Lucas, and am able to see her too. It buys me a few minutes at least until she wants me to come outside and blow bubbles with her!

Tiffany said...

Not much advice for you here. If Reagan starts acting fussy, I just put her in the high chair & give her something to munch on (while I go to my "happy place" & ignore her whining). Who knows what it will be like when there's another one to add to the mix.

GioMitchTrev said...

Oh Man! Don't look at my blog today. I had one of those perfect days...so you may not want to read it today when you are stressed. Hmmmm but advice. Really my kids love to be outside. Even baby Claire. She will sit in her exersaucer outside, while Trev plays in the sandbox and I make dinner. I have all of the windows open and my dog outside to alert me to anything. So far on nice days it works out PERFECT!! On rainy days I will usually get a huge beach towel and a tub of warm soapy water and one with just water and ask Trev to wash baby Claire's toys. That usually keeps him busy for about an hour. And helps me too since I don't have to do it :) Good luck girl...I know witching hour can be TOUGH!!! My hubby is never home before about 7:30 or 8pm so I can totally understand your stress!

Hyperactive Lu said...

gosh...this topic gives me the willies because its an every day headache. hubbies DON'T understand!!! yours goes to work every day at 6:30? and isn't home early?! gosh! what helped me was to push dinner back a little bit since hubbie wasn't coming home until 6 or 6:30. the boys were use to dinner around 5 or 6 and it was insane. i pushed dinner back to accommodate hubbie's schedule a little better and its worked well. usually i start dinner, we head outside to play and wait for dad. once dad gets home, he watches the boys while i finished preparations and then we eat. like i said, its pushed our evening schedule back some, but it has helped.

oh and peanut isn't interested in TV EITHER. he'll dance to veggie tales songs for a second or two, but then is right back by my side.

M said...

try letting them doodle with Whip Cream - a little messy, but not harmful if eaten