Sunday, July 5, 2009

Small Children and Writing

Over the next two weeks I will have my son with me full time. On one hand this is absolutely wonderful -- we get to work on potty training (something I question his father's devotion to), we get to do fun things together (this weekend we went to the aviary and went out for ice cream with my friend Crystal), and Ben tends to be an all-around good time. You know, except for that potty training thing that we're still having trouble with. It's always something. Before it was sleeping through the night. Now it's the potty. In fact, I am currently sitting with Ben as he sits on the potty.

Now to the down side -- I fear I will get no writing done for the next two weeks. As I've lamented in previous posts it's not like I have a terribly high writing output to begin with, and I fear that none will get done at all these next two weeks. Perhaps I should be working on poetry rather than a blog post?

I'll probably stay late after work, go to a nearby coffee shop and write until the daycare is about to close, and perhaps I'll get a little bit in after he goes to bed. I'll manage. The weekend is usually when I write (this is when his father spends time with him), but his father will be at a convention next weekend and needs me to watch him, and this weekend I got to have him for the 4th of July (and he wasn't at all scared of the fireworks, though he did repeatedly tell my husband and I that we needed to be careful not to get burned by them), so it is to be busy busy mommy time!

Do any of you with kids have any tips on balancing having a child and getting writing done? He's 4 so he's not really all that able to entertain himself most of the time. I haven't had to develop these skills because of my arrangements with Ben's father, so any advice would be appreciated.

2 comments:

heidi daisybones said...

I am going to actively stalk this post- I need help with this too. With physical art, I can usually get Molly involved in a parallel art project. With my computer art and writing, I have an awful time. The only thing that ever partially works is to plant her on the couch with a DVD. Then with the guilt...

sarah said...

I have nothing helpful to say except get up early and write? Or write massively on lunch break? Before I changed my life by quitting my job, I wrote feverishly during my 15 minute break and my half hour lunch. And on days off. But you have none with Ben. :( I always feel like you write so much more than me already so I don't know how to help. Good luck.