Really? Baby = Productive?

I don't think I like this article 'Why having a Baby is the Best Thing that can happen to your Productivity'?

I think its the breezy positivity of the article. Maybe it's the 'I-can-do-it-so-can you' tone that the write takes on. Quite condescending me thinks. Or maybe it's because its written by a dad.

I don't care if a father is a stay-at-home or a hands on dad. Fathers experience of parenting is not the same a  mother. Father's don't go through nine-months of pregnancy, which includes nausea, insomnia, all sorts of aches and pains. So in total, mom's are 9 months more tired to begin with.

While I agree with his first point, who does this person think he is?

" No matter if you are tired, no matter if you frustrated, no matter if you are confused, there is one thing that can change all of this: understanding – getting the big picture.

I can hear you saying, “Okay, so I can make myself productive, erase my sleep debt and feel happy just by understanding the situation? No, I don’t think so!”

Here is the thing: when you go through these mixed feelings, do you really understand the whole picture of parenthood?

Sure, it’s not nice when you aren’t getting stuff done and things aren’t going as planned, but hey – that’s what being a parent (and especially with a newborn baby) is all about!"

Sure, I'll try his 6 steps:
1. Attitude and appreciation
2. Working times
3. Focusing on what matters
4. Plan your day
5. Hire some help.
6. Spot the time pockets.

Look, I appreciate my children all well and good. But in Singapore, you work long hours. Your boss work long hours, your staff works long hours. I have a ton of meetings to deal with everyday, and a gazillion stakeholders to attend to. I'm no fancy stay at home dad, who gets to smell the roses. It's good enough if I spend about 2 hours with my kids before they go to bed. 

Long gone are the days where I used to work from 9 to 8pm straight and then go home and do work related reading. Its good news if I can think straight by 5pm these days.

How do I cope? One day at a time. I remind myself that there's meaning to the work I do. That its necessary to work so that I can put food on the table, I can pay for ridiculous childcare fees when my kids are a bit bigger. That it's not too bad now, before I have to come home from a long day of work and find that my evening is going to be about checking the pile of homework that teachers will give them when they start school, and the drilling I have to do for my kids who will do the math I learnt in Sec 2 when they're in pri 3!

I will do what I can. And I will remind myself that the career that I've given up, the promotions that will never come because my CEP has fallen from that dismal place it began with, is all worth it when my children grow up, graduate from school (i'm not picky, any school will do) and make me proud.

And i remind myself daily, that regardless of how difficult or expensive raising children is, that i've done my part in covering my husband and my 'headcount'. We've done our part for our nation and we don't have to feel that it's our fault if gov decides to allow 'import' of 2 more foreigners to cover our retirement costs! 

Yar, no positivity here. Not tonight at least!

CRAZY!

Life has been CRAZY! I dunno why I have just sooo many things going on!

Work- We've had a couple of resignations...NOT MY FAULT! It's the work's fault really. We're kinda going through a painful period of change, and with a truckload full of stakeholders, its really just difficult sometimes to gain any clarity.

PLUS...my brain may not be capable of producing the high quality output required. It's sputtering, perhaps because I'm just not teaching it enough. I'd rather read tabloid news about how Blake Lively was in a red polka dot bikini over 4th of July weekend with Ryan Reynolds than plough through work related reading. Bah! 

So my fault I suppose. And I suppose its not too terrible that I prefer to come home and read Eric Carl's 'The Very Busy Spider' again and again for Irfan, than log in and clear my emails, except I do have a team of people who work for me, who need my guidance, and really I'm the fool who knows nothing. 

Sigh...I'm trying hard everyday to feel that I do them some service of helping them gain clarity on their assignments rather than confuse them further. 

DAMN! I def need to do something about this. So, blogging every evening, just doesn't seem as a productive use of my time...some times.

Non-Work- I'm on a diet. Well, it really started with an Iphone app that tracks my caloric intake. Tsk, for me to lose weight, my target calorie intake is 1200. Which I think is miniscule. Anyways...it did help me gain better conciousness of what i was eating. And on days that I was going to go over my 1200 caloric goal, I actually went for a brisk walk or jog (when I could) to keep within my target.

Good news is that- I've lost about 2 kilos so far, and we're about a month into calorie counting! Bad news is that I think I'm a bit crankier than usual. It's the sugar withdrawal I tell ya!

Oh, and a good friend and me signed up with a fitness trainer for 1 on 2 training once a week. Its brilliant! With the calorie counting and him watching out for our diet, and giving me exercise 'homework' for the week, i'm starting to feel that I'm off on a terrific start!

This week, I've fulfilled my exercise homework- which is supposed to be just 20 mins of interval training, twice a week. I did about 40-50 mins each time this week. yaaay! 

Wish me Luck! Me hopes this continues!..... =)

No more high calorie outings with colleagues for awhile!