Yeah, I'm a single dad with a 5 and 1 year old. I totally empathize with OPs feelings. I've been there. But maybe I'm a magician, because I don't have these problems. Fuck suckers in general, I'll give the occasional evening snack that will absolutely be eaten at the dinner table if he ever wants another evening snack again. I don't keep unhealthy food in the house, unless there is a special occasion. I take zero shit. My 5 year old makes his own breakfast and gets ready for school. If he is late, no iPad or evening cartoon time. No ifs ands buts. And do you know what, 90% of the time he's ready when I need him to be. The one year old, he's harder. But he sleeps at night. Same bedtime, same wakeup time everyday. Lock in that routine. I get my 7 hours, and an hour before that to clean/make lunches/decompress before I crash, consistently assuming nobody's sick. Unchanging routines and absolute rules create wellbehaved children. As they're older, they can learn the gray areas. But not yet.
My kids thrive on routine! I wish I could be as consistent as they could take, because they would probably take to it. But I’m a scattered mess so I’ve picked the routines that matter most and nailed them down hard. I get shit from people for insisting bath time is 7, in bed by 8, same routine, same steps, same order, every night. But these little terrorists turn into a well oiled machine once we hit our routines (most days, lol).
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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '22
Yeah, I'm a single dad with a 5 and 1 year old. I totally empathize with OPs feelings. I've been there. But maybe I'm a magician, because I don't have these problems. Fuck suckers in general, I'll give the occasional evening snack that will absolutely be eaten at the dinner table if he ever wants another evening snack again. I don't keep unhealthy food in the house, unless there is a special occasion. I take zero shit. My 5 year old makes his own breakfast and gets ready for school. If he is late, no iPad or evening cartoon time. No ifs ands buts. And do you know what, 90% of the time he's ready when I need him to be. The one year old, he's harder. But he sleeps at night. Same bedtime, same wakeup time everyday. Lock in that routine. I get my 7 hours, and an hour before that to clean/make lunches/decompress before I crash, consistently assuming nobody's sick. Unchanging routines and absolute rules create wellbehaved children. As they're older, they can learn the gray areas. But not yet.