single mom dilemmas*
This is fairly typical/representative of the kinds of challenges they don't tell you about when you embark on this crazy journey called parenting....
So tomorrow night is the dress rehearsal for my community chorus concert. We are supposed to be there at 6pm and rehearse until 10pm. Now, normally on a Thursday I pick up Ruthie from afterschool around 5:30pm, and we get home about 5:45, Isaac having already gotten himself home when school ended. But in order to get to the rehearsal location by 6, I would have to leave the house by 5:45 (preferably a bit earlier, really), so that isn't going to work.
I could (a) ask our babysitter to pick up Ruthie and take her home; then I wouldn't have to go home at all; the rehearsal location is near-ish to my office so I could just stay a little late at work and go straight there. The problem with that plan is that I wouldn't get to see the kids at all, from when I drop them off at school Thursday morning until we wake up Friday morning -- almost 24 hours! Because they'll already be asleep when I get home from rehearsal. So, that plan isn't ideal because, you know, I do in fact enjoy interacting with my children at least a few times per day.
Alternatively, I could (b) ask the babysitter to pick up Ruthie, and I could leave work the tiniest bit earlier than usual (not much earlier though because we're super busy right now) and go straight home, and then I'd have about five minutes to hug the kids, change my clothes, and leave again. This plan isn't ideal either because it involves a lot of rushing around town (including driving back and forth between the same locations repeatedly, which is a pet peeve of mine) with tight timelines and stressing out. But at least I would get to see the kids.
Or, I could (c) ask the babysitter to pick the kids up and bring them both to the rehearsal place, but that seems pretty silly.
Right now I'm leaning toward option "a", possibly with an interlude for calling/Skypeing/facetiming with the kids, but nothing's decided for sure. Sigh.
Thursdays, amirite?
The sad thing is, this isn't even particularly complicated as logistical issues go, in my life. I mean, this particular dilemma only involves one activity! Don't even get me started on next Saturday!
* to be fair, a non-single mom could potentially encounter a similar dilemma, substituting a spouse/partner for the babysitter in this scenario, but somehow it doesn't quite seem the same.
So tomorrow night is the dress rehearsal for my community chorus concert. We are supposed to be there at 6pm and rehearse until 10pm. Now, normally on a Thursday I pick up Ruthie from afterschool around 5:30pm, and we get home about 5:45, Isaac having already gotten himself home when school ended. But in order to get to the rehearsal location by 6, I would have to leave the house by 5:45 (preferably a bit earlier, really), so that isn't going to work.
I could (a) ask our babysitter to pick up Ruthie and take her home; then I wouldn't have to go home at all; the rehearsal location is near-ish to my office so I could just stay a little late at work and go straight there. The problem with that plan is that I wouldn't get to see the kids at all, from when I drop them off at school Thursday morning until we wake up Friday morning -- almost 24 hours! Because they'll already be asleep when I get home from rehearsal. So, that plan isn't ideal because, you know, I do in fact enjoy interacting with my children at least a few times per day.
Alternatively, I could (b) ask the babysitter to pick up Ruthie, and I could leave work the tiniest bit earlier than usual (not much earlier though because we're super busy right now) and go straight home, and then I'd have about five minutes to hug the kids, change my clothes, and leave again. This plan isn't ideal either because it involves a lot of rushing around town (including driving back and forth between the same locations repeatedly, which is a pet peeve of mine) with tight timelines and stressing out. But at least I would get to see the kids.
Or, I could (c) ask the babysitter to pick the kids up and bring them both to the rehearsal place, but that seems pretty silly.
Right now I'm leaning toward option "a", possibly with an interlude for calling/Skypeing/facetiming with the kids, but nothing's decided for sure. Sigh.
Thursdays, amirite?
The sad thing is, this isn't even particularly complicated as logistical issues go, in my life. I mean, this particular dilemma only involves one activity! Don't even get me started on next Saturday!
* to be fair, a non-single mom could potentially encounter a similar dilemma, substituting a spouse/partner for the babysitter in this scenario, but somehow it doesn't quite seem the same.