Day 8 – MC
I had a wonderful day today as well. 2 days in a row is a
treat. Took Ellil and my niece to their dance class and got to bond with one
sister-in-law in the morning. After lunch, my brother and nephew came over so I
got to bond with him (long overdue) while Ellil and Sathyam played together.
And in the evening my parents came over and mum is staying the night so made it
easier for me to go through the bedtime routine with each child one at a time.
1 on 1 time is essential with kids. I’m sure we all know this
but not only do you have to be cognizant of it, you’ve got to make the extra
effort to do it regularly. That’s been a lesson I’m learning now that we have
our second. Pre Rohit, there were 4 different ways our immediate family of 3
could hang out. Mom and Dad. Mom and daughter. Dad and daughter. Mom, Dad and
daughter. Now, with Ro in the equation, that combination jumps to 9. The four
from above plus: mom and son. Dad and son. Daughter and son. Mom and two kids. Dad
and two kids. And let’s not forget the fact that we all have to spend some time
alone without any of the other members. And each of us also spends quality time
with cousins and grandparents and uncles and aunts. You can see how the combinations
can get increasingly overwhelming with each additional child.
There’s got to be a law of diminishing returns after kid number
X, because the possible combinations would be too large and there just wouldn’t
be enough time to run through all the different dynamics and spend quality time
in each of these scenarios. I’m sure it’s
different for different couples. Some are maxed out at one kid, others are able to juggle more, but there’s got to be a specific magic number after which
80% of the parent population would just subconsciously logout or go into sleep
mode. Any thoughts?
I think it's important for each couple to figure out what their magic number is. Suffice it to say, our number is 2.
I can't say that there is a specific number. As you mentioned it's different for every family, but with both parents working in todays society, I think families are having less kids, or no kids at all. Our number was 2. We always said maybe 3, but we just never got there. I guess time went by and the kids got older and I think we realized that with 2 and a dog it was like having 3 kids (even though the dog behaves better than the kids).
ReplyDeleteIt's a difficult decision to make, because a lot of people see it based on when their kids are little and how demanding they are etc. If they have easy babies, they tend to feel that they can handle having more. If they have very difficult babies, they say that they can't go through that again. But we can't know what they are going to be like when they grow up into toddlers, youths and then teenagers. Those are the years that scare me the most. But they are here in our lives now, so we will deal with whatever they throw our way. We have no choice. Hopefully the decisions that we make now, and how we are parenting them now will help shape them into great teenagers. Only time will tell