Children. Wow, I’m tired.

[vash]

My friends rented an Airbnb nearby in the coast. We never see them since they moved south-bay and we moved north-bay. With traffic, they feel like the other side of the planet.

We weren’t going to miss the opportunity to see them, especially the kids. The son is my god-son. They’ve grown! 9 &11. I brought surf casting rods, and immediately started them on casting lessons. I earned their dad, and broken window, ; on him.

(We had wide open spaces).

The parents plopped down on fuzzy couches and let it all go. I took the reins for hours. Running between kids, fixing knots, tangles, reffing siblings spats. Taking hooks out of my shirt was fun. I had those kids laughing hard. We picked up where we left years ago. They stuck to me like glue. In a few hours, both kids were sending it out into the ocean. Summertime, low tide is a sucky time to catch a fish, they didn’t care.

When it came time to get food, the parents jumped in their car and abandoned us under the guise of “to-go” food. Sure. I joked with the kids,” if we want to see your parents rush back, text them and ask where the fire extinguisher is”.

Wife and I got home, and it was shower and off to bed. We don’t have kids. I know the energy demands of parenthood must be progressive. For us we saw 0-60 in zero seconds flat. It was surprisingly exhausting. Kudos to you parents. I’m in awe.

I left a surf rod and gave them homework. Haha. Maybe dad will buy the kids a boat.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by vash

My friends rented an Airbnb nearby in the coast. We never see them since they moved south-bay and we moved north-bay. With traffic, they feel like the other side of the planet.

We weren’t going to miss the opportunity to see them, especially the kids. The son is my god-son. They’ve grown! 9 &11. I brought surf casting rods, and immediately started them on casting lessons. I earned their dad, and broken window, ; on him.

(We had wide open spaces).

The parents plopped down on fuzzy couches and let it all go. I took the reins for hours. Running between kids, fixing knots, tangles, reffing siblings spats. Taking hooks out of my shirt was fun. I had those kids laughing hard. We picked up where we left years ago. They stuck to me like glue. In a few hours, both kids were sending it out into the ocean. Summertime, low tide is a sucky time to catch a fish, they didn’t care.

When it came time to get food, the parents jumped in their car and abandoned us under the guise of “to-go” food. Sure. I joked with the kids,” if we want to see your parents rush back, text them and ask where the fire extinguisher is”.

Wife and I got home, and it was shower and off to bed. We don’t have kids. I know the energy demands of parenthood must be progressive. For us we saw 0-60 in zero seconds flat. It was surprisingly exhausting. Kudos to you parents. I’m in awe.

I left a surf rod and gave them homework. Haha. Maybe dad will buy the kids a boat.

IOW you had a practice run as a Grandpa!

[onewhippedpuppy]

Kids that you can give back are the best kind!

[oldE]

Good on you for teaching them something.
Try it in your 70's! As I have said before, our granddaughter has been with us since she was 9 months old. Last summer, she learned to row.
My wife is teaching her to ride and the most recent lessons have involved taking care of her new puppy.
Every day is busy. Children don't keep you young, but they do keep you moving.

[jhynesrockmtn]

These are two of our 6 grandkids. They recently came to stay for 4 or 5 days and we happened to be dog sitting for one of our other kids at the same time. The two Doodles are hers. They are 5 and 7 and great brothers to each other and just sweet and fun kiddos. They keep me hoppin when they are here. Non stop activity. I am exhausted, but it is a good exhausted.

Their Mom (my daughter in law) is an Army wife and Army nurse bad ass. They have an 8 month old younger sister and Mom is solo parenting at the moment while my son is instructing at a school at Ft. Knox. She has done this a lot while he has been deployed and handles it so well.

[911 Rod]

Good for you!
I had my 2 and 4 year old grandsons over on the weekend.
They can both run faster than me!

[fastfredracing]

55 year old man here single dad'n an 8 year old boy . I wouldnt trade it for the world, but wow...
Im tired .
People always say, " wow, I don't know how you are doing it" Its like, what choice do I have ?
Little man goes everywhere I go , spends his days at the shop or out somewhere in a tow truck dragging cars all over the place
Its a tough gig, but being a dad has been the best part of my life .

[monoflo]

Kids - Grandkids--- I've been blessed.

They are little and bang its gone. Enjoy it -- being a Dad and a G-Pa has been the best part of my wonderful life --- well maybe not the best - that would be the woman who caused this to happen.

[look 171]

I am getting near 60 Cliff, similar to you in age. My youngest is in his last year of high school come next semester. I keep myself fit. He and I started riding our road bikes several years but volleyball took my training partner away for a couple years. He's been running, jumping like a monkey, lifting weights during the entire summer with his team. When time allows and if he's not too tired and busy with friends, we still go out and get 20 -30 miles of riding in. Im in great riding shape so I stick it to him at about the 20 mile out and he's drained but damn, nothing beats youth. On our way back home, its a one mile long hill with sections of it at 12-14%. He knows where to jump me and I have to play catch up with my experience but that only go so far. They have a lot of energy and recover time are measured in seconds not minutes. We just need to keep ourselves moving and stay somewhat fit. My resting heart rate is in the low -mid 50s

Enjoy them. When they want to hang out and do stuff with you, this tells me you are a fun and cool dude. Most kids don't want to have anything to do with an adult. Just make sure you give the baby sitting bill to their parents

[A930Rocket]

Sounds like fun. I remember those days.

When my parents were watching grandkids, they would say, we love to see the little angels come, and we love to see the little devils go!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

IOW you had a practice run as a Grandpa!

That's exactly what I thought. We have three of them, 9, 6, and nearly 3. The missus has them out at our place 2-5 days per week during the summer. By the time they leave, we are exhausted. But they are adorable, sweet, and a ton of fun.

[Crowbob]

[varmint]

My wife is a wonderful person who likes having small kids around. I am an ******* with a short fuse.

Family down the road has four foster kids. Ages 6-10. My wife volunteered to babysit once or twice a week. Goddamn exhausting. After about three hours the dogs are hiding. Make it stop.

[Bill Douglas]

Good healthy fun. Giving the kids memories, maybe for a lifetime.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by varmint

My wife is a wonderful person who likes having small kids around. I am an ******* with a short fuse.

Family down the road has four foster kids. Ages 6-10. My wife volunteered to babysit once or twice a week. Goddamn exhausting. After about three hours the dogs are hiding. Make it stop.

It's got to be 100x harder when they aren't "yours". And it's not exactly easy when they are yours. My wife started watching the oldest 5 days per week when he was 3 months old. I was there for most of that because I was working from home. Then the second came and we were watching a toddler and a baby. For about 4-5 years, we had 1 and then 2 for 5 days/week, usually for 10 but sometimes for 15-16 hours a day (daughter worked in the medical profession and we lived 2 miles from where she worked. We moved and things changed so that we'd have them at our house several times per summer for 3-5 days per week.

One kid is pretty easy. Two kids is more work, and feels like three kids. Three boys feels like a cross between a wild life preserve and a failing nuclear reactor. As the amount of children increase, it feels like the work increases exponentially.

I understand, my wife is a cross between a saint and wonder woman dealing with 3 boys 3-9. I'm hanging on by my finger nails. I do pretty good most of the time, but the facade cracks sometimes.