Every year I always say I’m not going to make any New Year’s Resolutions, then, as the New Year draws closer, I find there are some things I’d like to change.
The New Year seems like the perfect time to start afresh and this year I’ve made quite a few resolutions that I hope I’ll keep past the 23rd of January.
It’s my husband that prompted me to make some as he revealed he wasn’t too happy with the way things were. He wanted me to make a few changes that would hopefully have a positive impact on our lives as partners and as parents.
The second is a little more personal. As working parents we end each day exhausted. With three children, we start with school runs, nursery runs, then work, more work, dinner, baths, homework and bedtime routines. By the time all the children are in bed we’re shattered and ready for bed ourselves.
Now I thought my husband adored DIY. He gets excited when there’s a new power tool on the market and he is a professional painter and decorator in Devon, it seems I was wrong. This constant busy lifestyle where there’s always something to do has been getting him down and he’d love to have a weekend where we could sit and watch a movie without feeling guilty that we should be doing something around the house.
At first I told him that’s what it’s like as a parent, the guilt is constant and there’s always something to do but as he explained I understood what he meant.
Apart from twice a year, if that, when we manage to find a babysitter for all three children at once, we never spend much quality time together. Either we’re too exhausted or I’m working late or we’re both tied up doing something around the house. So together we’ve made a resolution to try and make sure we do have more quality time. Taking an hour out when all the children are at school or nursery, leaving the batch cooking one weekend, going to our friends for lunch instead occasionally so we don’t worry about cooking and washing up and basically enjoying what we’ve got.
