I Sleep Like a Duck
So how many of you have done this? Your kids wake up two hours too early. You get up, change the diapers, drag yourself and the kids downstairs and fix them breakfast. Then you start conspiring about how best to catch a few more minutes of zzzzzzz’s. That’s where Noggin On-Demand comes in. I’ve had to use this trick so many times that I’ve started to pick the shows based on how long they are. I know that some “Wonder Pets” episodes will only give me 15 minutes of peace, but that “Ni Hao, Kai-lan” can provide a full 27 minutes. So as a consequence my oldest is developing her fundamental Chinese language skills quite nicely. By that time the coffee is done brewing, and I can semi-ethusiastically begin the day.
The really weird thing is that even when I’m napping on the couch I’m aware of what’s going on in the living room. I remember listening to a story on NPR last year about how ducks can sleep one brain hemisphere at a time. Imagine 5 ducks in a row on a log taking a nap. The bookend ducks will sleep such that the outward eye remains awake. After an hour or so, they wake up, turn 180 degrees around on the log, and go back to sleep with the second eye now in “awake mode.” So, maybe I’m part duck.
I’m interested to hear what strategies y’all use to deal with sleep deprivation when you’re in Mommy or Daddy mode.
Denis
So true. I work a lot of nights and there are just some days when I cannot open my eyes as early as my kids would like. I’m not a big fan of the electronic baby sitter, but Noggin and PBS are OK in our house. Have your kids ever watched Super Why?
Joe,
Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, my wife and I are pretty selective about what she can and cannot watch. Super Why is a good show. I like Noggin and PBS largely because there are no commercials. I know it’s a losing battle, but I don’t like the idea of people marketing directly towards my kids. Even Nick Jr. hits them with a steady stream of commercials. For the Nick Jr. shows that she does like, I like either the On-Demand feature because it weeds them out, or the DVR so I can fast forward through them.
: )
Denis
We love Noggin at our house.
Unfortunately, one of my sleep deprivation “strategies” involves nodding off while sitting at my desk at work and staring at the computer. It works fine until someone comes by my desk, like my boss