There are levels of exhaustion where you can catalogue how tired you feel while continuing to function reasonably well throughout the day. Then, if it gets worse, you have days where you are toast – burned out, unable to move.
I bring this up because of friends who have become grandparents. It’s a common refrain in discussions with them.
Multiple friends and relatives in my age bracket (more or less) are helping to watch their grandkids, either one or two days a week. That seems to be the norm.
They love the job. They wouldn’t give it up for anything. But, they’re exhausted when each baby/child-watching day is done.
It’s understandable. As one put it, “God gave us the energy to have and raise kids when we were much younger, not after the age of 60.” So true.
With age, the ability to bend over, pick a kid up, crawl around the floor, stay alert for hours on end becomes a chore, regardless of how much you love your grandchild. You wear out.
After hearing over and over the refrain of “how tired I am when I get home,” I posed a question to them: “What are your levels of exhaustion?” Quite intriguing hearing back. Funny, and they paint a realistic picture. Here’s one scale:
1)Could do it full time
2)Could easily do it another three days
3)No problem with another day
4)One full day is good enough and I’m tired
5)About halfway through the morning, I’m thinking of Happy Hour
6)By mid-afternoon, I’m trying to devise a game they can play by themselves for the rest of the day
7)Wondering how long we can play hide-and-seek before I pass out, or they can do it by themselves for the rest of the day
8)Put on the longest acceptable movie our daughter and son-in-law permit and take my nap
9)Glad I don’t have kids at our age
10)Tell my wife I’m not feeling well and retire to the guest bedroom at 1 p.m.
If you care for grandkid(s), you can relate to the scale above. You probably have a creative few of your own that you could easily add to the list.
Your level of tiredness depends on many things. Are you watching one kid or two (or more)? What ages are the kids? As they develop, you must grow yourself in terms of figuring out ways to keep them busy and engaged. That, in and of itself, adds challenges to your grandparent kid-watching agenda.
Here’s another short rating scale I received from my inquiry:
1)Mildly tired
2)Need a longer nap
3)Mindless
4)Exhausted
5)Collapsing
Notice the “napping” need. You wear out and want to crash. “Please let me close my eyes for a few minutes, Lord.” It’s a simple and fair prayer.
The problem would be that you wouldn’t just nap for 12 minutes. You’d crash, lights out, into dreams that you’d have to swim out of to return to consciousness. And then, you’d have to hop to, and get right back into the fray.
Every person I queried LOVES watching their grandkids. They would never give it up. They want to help their kids in any way possible. Maybe we need to invent a position where we hire someone to watch the grandparents so they can get some timeouts during a stressful day. There could be a niche there for the opportunistic entrepreneur.
I bring this up because of friends who have become grandparents. It’s a common refrain in discussions with them.
Multiple friends and relatives in my age bracket (more or less) are helping to watch their grandkids, either one or two days a week. That seems to be the norm.
They love the job. They wouldn’t give it up for anything. But, they’re exhausted when each baby/child-watching day is done.
It’s understandable. As one put it, “God gave us the energy to have and raise kids when we were much younger, not after the age of 60.” So true.
With age, the ability to bend over, pick a kid up, crawl around the floor, stay alert for hours on end becomes a chore, regardless of how much you love your grandchild. You wear out.
After hearing over and over the refrain of “how tired I am when I get home,” I posed a question to them: “What are your levels of exhaustion?” Quite intriguing hearing back. Funny, and they paint a realistic picture. Here’s one scale:
1)Could do it full time
2)Could easily do it another three days
3)No problem with another day
4)One full day is good enough and I’m tired
5)About halfway through the morning, I’m thinking of Happy Hour
6)By mid-afternoon, I’m trying to devise a game they can play by themselves for the rest of the day
7)Wondering how long we can play hide-and-seek before I pass out, or they can do it by themselves for the rest of the day
8)Put on the longest acceptable movie our daughter and son-in-law permit and take my nap
9)Glad I don’t have kids at our age
10)Tell my wife I’m not feeling well and retire to the guest bedroom at 1 p.m.
If you care for grandkid(s), you can relate to the scale above. You probably have a creative few of your own that you could easily add to the list.
Your level of tiredness depends on many things. Are you watching one kid or two (or more)? What ages are the kids? As they develop, you must grow yourself in terms of figuring out ways to keep them busy and engaged. That, in and of itself, adds challenges to your grandparent kid-watching agenda.
Here’s another short rating scale I received from my inquiry:
1)Mildly tired
2)Need a longer nap
3)Mindless
4)Exhausted
5)Collapsing
Notice the “napping” need. You wear out and want to crash. “Please let me close my eyes for a few minutes, Lord.” It’s a simple and fair prayer.
The problem would be that you wouldn’t just nap for 12 minutes. You’d crash, lights out, into dreams that you’d have to swim out of to return to consciousness. And then, you’d have to hop to, and get right back into the fray.
Every person I queried LOVES watching their grandkids. They would never give it up. They want to help their kids in any way possible. Maybe we need to invent a position where we hire someone to watch the grandparents so they can get some timeouts during a stressful day. There could be a niche there for the opportunistic entrepreneur.
