It was one of those unorganized days when I slept in (because I was exhausted from doing what a stay-at-home parent does at home) and woke up just in time to throw in some eggs in a pan and quickly heat milk for the kids. Somehow we managed to appear all washed, fed, and cleaned for the online classes. The time was 9 am. Thereafter it all went downhill.
The younger one decided to make a river in the corridor following which painted his toes and a foot blue along with his playroom wall. After admiring his beautiful wall art, he went off to get cheese out of the fridge and after having some spoonfuls of the delectable cheese he decided blue was the color of the day. Fellow parents of the world, I am certain you can imagine how I felt while throwing the remaining blue cheese.
I request you all to patiently read on and ever so gently, push aside the thought asking me where I was when all this was happening. ( Pick from mopping, sweeping, cooking, feeding in a loop, clearing doubts of the one sitting for class, being the errand boy cum IT expert, trying to keep abreast of developments in my job). Come to think of it, there are many more things I do throughout the day. But nothing is as exhausting as pulling two fighting kids apart. And especially so, with those fights that erupt the moment I go to cook or to use the washroom. They have the best behavior when I am free or sitting with and engaging them.
As my even more exhausted husband drags himself back from work, I would, generally on days like these, just plop on a bed and go into a zombie mode. As a youngster, I often watched this scenario on TV, but since my parents themselves were nothing like this, I imagined parenting would be a breeze. Yeah, some breeze it turned out to be. Hence I give myself the credit for having been an exemplary, well-behaved child and that the husband has passed on his dominant disruptive genes to my kids.
Cut to the days I wake up all fresh and early after a good night’s sleep and cook a meal and have some time for myself in the morning. Those days go really well. I find more time to involve the kids in everything and I am moving and getting things done faster. So this is what happens to our body when we have a good night’s sleep. It’s a luxury for most, mind you.
- The brain is well-rested and hence you’re ahead of the kids in the game.
- The body is thankful for getting rest so muscles work better the next day.
- The eyes are well-rested and clearer after a nice 7-hour long sleep.
- The kids are better behaved strangely, oh wait, it’s because you are communicating and giving instructions properly, again, because of point no.1.
- Your mind can think and chart out your day properly and do things in order when it has been well-rested. So, no slacking during the daytime, and hence you end up having more time to rest that night as well.
- I could go on, but you get the drift here, right? It’s sleep time, and since you will not pay for my toddler-made blue cheese it’s a good night.