With and without children
Feb. 13th, 2012 07:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emma_in_dreamI had to run up to the local shops yesterday, to buy some milk. Before I had kids this would have taken perhaps five minutes and would have involved throwing my handbag in the car and going. I might even have walked as it is a round trip of two and a half kilometres.
With kids, it took nearly forty minutes. First I took them to the car and strapped them in. Ruby wanted her water bottle so I gave it to her while I went back to the house and got my handbag. I shut the door and returned to the car to find that she was unhappy because her bottle was empty so I went back in and filled it up. Shut the door again, which was an error because Pearl realised she was also thirsty and I had to take her bottle back in and refill it.
Then we managed to actually leave the driveway. At the shops I decided not to get the pram out but to use a trolley. This turned out to be an error as the first two trolleys in the line were wedged together too firmly for me to undo them with one hand while holding Ruby and my handbag and keeping an eye on Pearl. The next one had a broken strap, the two after than were wedged together, then there was one with the child seat wired shut and another two wedged together before I reached one that was actually useable.
In the meantime I had blocked the entry to the store with the herd of rejected trolleys. A man came up, looked at me like I was a crazy lady and started putting them away again. So then in we went and as we entered the dairy aisle Pearl saw the cheese bits. She wanted some and we were actually out so I picked up some and the milk.
But by this stage, alas, Pearl needed to do a widdle. (This is what happens when she is hydrated!) This little shopping centre doesn’t have a toilet so we had to leave the shop and go out into the car park so she could relieve herself in full view of a street which, while not a highway, is actually called Main Street.
Then back into the shop in order to retrieve our abandoned shopping and pay for it, and back to the car. I got the kids in the car without incident but unfortunately while returning the trolley managed to park it badly by the entry to the centre so it rolled down and rammed the glass door. Luckily, no harm was done.
Total effort – so infinitely more than it should have been.
Before I had kids I would have wondered what people did at home all day and now I know that every single task takes 2-100 times longer with kids.
With kids, it took nearly forty minutes. First I took them to the car and strapped them in. Ruby wanted her water bottle so I gave it to her while I went back to the house and got my handbag. I shut the door and returned to the car to find that she was unhappy because her bottle was empty so I went back in and filled it up. Shut the door again, which was an error because Pearl realised she was also thirsty and I had to take her bottle back in and refill it.
Then we managed to actually leave the driveway. At the shops I decided not to get the pram out but to use a trolley. This turned out to be an error as the first two trolleys in the line were wedged together too firmly for me to undo them with one hand while holding Ruby and my handbag and keeping an eye on Pearl. The next one had a broken strap, the two after than were wedged together, then there was one with the child seat wired shut and another two wedged together before I reached one that was actually useable.
In the meantime I had blocked the entry to the store with the herd of rejected trolleys. A man came up, looked at me like I was a crazy lady and started putting them away again. So then in we went and as we entered the dairy aisle Pearl saw the cheese bits. She wanted some and we were actually out so I picked up some and the milk.
But by this stage, alas, Pearl needed to do a widdle. (This is what happens when she is hydrated!) This little shopping centre doesn’t have a toilet so we had to leave the shop and go out into the car park so she could relieve herself in full view of a street which, while not a highway, is actually called Main Street.
Then back into the shop in order to retrieve our abandoned shopping and pay for it, and back to the car. I got the kids in the car without incident but unfortunately while returning the trolley managed to park it badly by the entry to the centre so it rolled down and rammed the glass door. Luckily, no harm was done.
Total effort – so infinitely more than it should have been.
Before I had kids I would have wondered what people did at home all day and now I know that every single task takes 2-100 times longer with kids.
