Introverts...juggling it all.

[fairfarmhand]

my dh and I are both introverts. By the end of the day, both of us are wiped out from being around people...he from work, me from being around the kids.

 

So our evenings and weekends, we like to spend some time alone-ish (meaning doing things in the same room but solitary activities) this means that I think my kids are not getting the "fun" family time that I wish I could provide for them.

 

And weekends...my dd is an extrovert. She likes for lots of people to come over and hang out, but my dh and I are not up for that. So how do we handle that?

 

In theory, I want my house to be a "fun" place where the family is doing cool stuff, and enjoying themselves, but in actuality I am not sure how to make it happen.

 

Anyone else relate? Any suggestions?

[melissel]

Well, I can relate, but I have no suggestions! :grouphug: I always wanted that too, to be the fun house. In reality, my house is too messy to have people over and I'm too overwhelmed by my own kids and responsibilities to take on any others. I envy those who can manage it. DH is an extrovert and would love to have people over more, but he's not really here to do any of the legwork, and I can't do it all myself. For now, any extra fun we have has to be outside the house :rolleyes:

[MamaAkins]

I can completely understand. For me, I'm "peopled out" after spending every waking moment with my four kids, plus the 2 I babysit. Dh works 3 jobs, and on the rare occasion that he's home, he likes to be able to just relax. We do "suck it up" and do lots of extracurricular activities with the kids (going to their soccer games, museums, festivals, etc), but all of my kids are extroverts who thrive on being out and about and busy. My oldest, who will be 14 next week, really wants to be able to have more friends over and have sleepovers. Unfortunately, we have all 3 girls sharing one bedroom, so our set-up is just not conducive to having sleepovers! Our solution has been this...her best friend has one brother and they have a big house. Her mom enjoys hosting the girls, and they have money for "extras" (such as going out to eat, etc). So, the girls frequently spend nights over there. I do "my part" by transporting the girls to and from church functions, etc.

[bethben]

I get overwhelmed being around people all day too. We have a co-op all day on Wednesdays and I am TOTALLY wiped out from it. I don't let kids come over to our home on Wednesday afternoons. Otherwise, my ds has made our home the "fun" home. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did. I've learned to tune out all the activity surrounding me. It's almost to a point that I've made myself this little cocoon and nothing can hit me there. I also schedule "mommy spa" where I make the family dinner and go hide myself in my room for the night with my dinner and Netflix. I wind up doing that 1-2 x a month just to keep my sanity. My DH also wants to entertain more and have all these people over with kids running through the house and lots of excitement and activity. I just can't do it. I do have people over every blue moon, but dh knows that if we do it too much (more than once a month), his darling wife will be crabby and will try running out of the house at random moments:tongue_smilie:. I love him and only do these things because I love him, but it feels like pulling teeth.

 

Beth

[SKL]

I hate having people over. I do take the kids out, e.g., to the park, museum, library, rec center. We usually go somewhere every evening. If they want to be social at such times, more power to them!

 

I kind of promised to let my kids have their friends over sometime when they are 5 (this coming year). Now I'm trying to figure out how I can back out of that. With the new school year transitions, half of the kids they used to know aren't in the picture any more. We'll see.

[Tapasnaturalles]

I follow this thread... I'm totally the same. And I'm just too shy to really talk to other people. It's kind of sad sometimes. :001_unsure: