Silly Me...Time Has No Meaning

One of the reasons I was once worried about having kids, was that I wasn't sure I could entertain them all day long. I mean, it seemed cruel to have a "curriculm", but I didn't think I could stand playing games all day and I certianly didn't want my children zoning out in front of the tv all the time. Now I have kids and I remembered today why I no longer worry about entertaining them.
For starters, meals can take upwards of two hours. That includes preparing, eating, cleaning the kids, cleaning where they ate, cleaning where you told them not to go because they are dirty, and cleaning the kitchen. Easy meals such as cold cereal can be shorter, but any meal can be prolonged when the kids decide to sit there and stare at their food. Now this last part only seems to happen if I am in a hurry, so I do't usually plan for staring time, but I am no longer surprised by it either. Ironically enough, the actually eating part, which was your goal in the first palce, happens in about 5-10 minutes.
Next activity of the day is getting dressed. This is actually one of our easier activities since, lucky for me, my kids aren't that picky about what they wear. But others having given me testimony that this activity can take about an hour depending on temperments, what is clean, the position of the moon, and if ANYONE has to go to the bathroom. For whatever reason, getting dressed inspires people to pee/poop/whatever. This includes adults, and yes, if we go potty, STILL give the whole "getting dressed" activity an hour. If I could go to the bathroom alone, it would be faster. But from "the throne", I have to shoo kids out of the drawers, answer questions, give hugs after one, or both kids, run into the wall, and still focus on the job at hand. I think this is why God has made women such good multi-taskers.
So now we have been up three hours and all we have done is eat and get dressed. An hour or so of playtime and guess what, it is lunch time! And the whole cook/clean process starts all over again. Oh, and since you don't really have kids but some kind of muntant locust, you can't really do ceral again but must make something hearty and nutritouis. And two hours later, if you are lucky, you don't have to change their clothes.
For the afternoon, we do playtime/slash tv time. I have blogged before that the tv is how I get Asa to nap, so I use it. Whether you have the tv on or not though is totally optional since you only need an hour of playtime before you start asking them to pick up their toys. Give this activity 1-2 hours depending on your kids. Asa REFUSES to pick up toys. I have taken away priveleges, sent him to bed early "like a baby", paddled him twice, taken away the toys in question and NOTHING has worked. (If any one has any other ideas, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me.)
By the time you finish picking up toys and doing a few hours for dinner, ta-dum, the day is over, it is bedtime and no further acitivties are needed. Throw in an occasional trip to the library, park, mall, and the kids feel like they have had a very busy week.
I know I am tired so we must have.