I am married with two children; boys ages 2.5 and 7. Both my husband and I work full time. My oldest is currently finishing up first grade. He has been diagnosed with ADHD, but also shows a lot of signs of being on the spectrum for autism. Homework along with day to day activities that require focus can be a difficult task for him. He is on medication and I’ve bought timers and tried different methods to help him with only slight improvement, but it is what it is. My youngest goes to daycare. He is beyond sweet and adorable, but can be the biggest stinker ever. I’ll spare details, but trust me when I say he’s not easy to parent. 😂 Therefore, when my children are home and awake there isn’t much downtime for me. I am constantly having to do something related to children.I’m learning as I go with this parenting thing, but I tend to be stubborn and butt heads with my kids rather than letting things go. I was raised to respect and mind my parents at all times, so my parenting style has followed suit. I also feel that they shouldn’t give up easily and push them to try harder. I could simply do things for them or ignore things they do, but I choose to be somewhat strict in hope that it will pay off in the long run. I’m not 100% sure if this is the best parenting style for a child that’s possibly on the spectrum, but he is fully capable of most things when he wants to apply himself, so I can’t see the benefit of letting him pick and choose when he wants to do his best. Am I crazy for thinking by making it harder on myself now will help reap benefits for my children later?With that being said, I am also the same anal retentive way about my house being in order. No matter how exhausted I am, no matter how much I want to relax or sleep, I make sure to get my nightly chores complete. My husband and I do this after my kids go to bed. I realize I can be unreasonable about it, but in the moment I can’t let it go. I worry about the extra work tomorrow if I don’t do my part today. This is for things like the dishes, laundry, tidying up, etc. My helpful husband is actually the complete opposite of me, but helps out only to keep the peace.Because we live this way and go-go-go all day long, we just want to chill for a little while once everything is finally finished up. I personally need this for my own sanity...and I’m a night person anyway. Most nights we lay down for sleep at midnight. My husband falls asleep instantly, but because I have a hard time shutting off my brain, it’s usually 1:00am for me...sometimes later. We have to wake up at 6:30am during the week. Because this is our everyday schedule, the lack of sleep catches up quickly. I’m a mostly happy person, but I can feel so depressed and moody when I’m tired; which means I take it out on my family. It also affects my work, social life, and overall well being. The daily monotony makes me want to check out & I hate feeling this way.How do you all do it and maintain your sanity? How does the average family work, do homework, cook, do laundry, clean house, etc. and get sufficient rest/sleep? I realize I could just occasionally ignore chores, but the stress of knowing all of that needs to be done or we will not have clean sippy cups, or lunches packed for the next day, or uniforms done for sports, etc. stresses me out just as bad as sleep deprivation. I really need to know your secrets... Any suggestions would be appreciated! via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2UWWMTp
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