Multi-tasking

As parents, I think we all know the term multi-tasking.  I would even guess that we think we do it pretty well, well at least us mothers.  And I am not picking on fathers, but let's face it, men and women process things very differently.  Men are better at one task oriented projects, whereas, us women can talk on the phone, make supper, take care of the kids, and probably throw in a load of laundry.  Or by today's technological standards, I can FB, work on my laptop for work, blog, text, and even have on one of my tv shows in the background.  They say that this is how our children are being brought up and of course "research" shows that its not a good way for them to experience life.  That kids are ADD and have no patience.  And that their imagination and creativity seems to be lacking due to all the extra "noise" around them.  And you know, I'm not sure if I agree with that, and honestly I don't care what research is being done, all I know is we will find out in 20 years how productive to society they are and how they contribute.  I know my children cannot sit through commercials thanks to a nice invention called TIVO.  They didn't even know what commercials were for the longest time! lol  Which was nice for us since they didn't see every toy imaginable and ask for it.  And I will admit that impatience to a simple thing like commercials has definitely carried over into other aspects of daily life.  I often hear "When's dinner?  what is taking it so long?"  I say, "Its cooking in the oven"  Then of course, they want to know why I didn't just use the microwave!  lol  And I notice Jack found it hard in a reward system if there wasn't immediate gratification.  For example, we pay him a quarter for every paper he brings home from school that has a star on it.  We started this simply because he wasn't bringing home that many stars. And when asked why (because I was fully aware he knew the material) he said because its boring to do these worksheets.  I already know how to do them, why do I have to keep practicing?  Well what wonders rewarding him with a quarter have done.  He brings home the majority of his papers with stars now.  Then there was the whole, how many quarters do I have?  I want to go spend my money now.  We made him wait.  We made him pick out a toy he REALLY wanted, and made him wait to save for it. It didn't take too long, and the look of gratification he had on his face when it came in the mail was priceless.  So, he's learning to be patient.  However, he is still definitely a child who wants to go and get his stuff done, and move on to the next task.  Which I like to refer to as the TIVO generation or TIVO syndrome.
Now, Lucy, Lucy is a different breed.  She has had no choice since getting cancer to have to be patient and wait at times.  Sometimes hours upon hours.  BUT...she still cannot STAND commercials!  And she too, is a multi-tasker.  She wants to watch tv, take care of baby white, color or draw, and listen to the Beatles all at once.  Jack like most boys does one task at time.  Interesting how they are growing up and multitasking is a natural phenomenon, yet the innate nature still kicks in.
So now let's talk about multi-tasking for Zach and I.  Its VERY stressful.  Even with both of us home to take care of Lucy, we get frustrated.  I think its because we both work from home.  So at times, we are both really into our work, and then Lucy needs something, and one of us has to stop what we are doing to take care of her.  And then it takes us 15 minutes to get back on track on what we were doing.  It's not like being a stay home mom where if the dryer buzzes, you can still finish cleaning up the spilled milk before grabbing the laundry out of the dryer.  Yet, we are doing that too. We are both full time stay at home parents who happen to work full time.  For the most part, its  lovely situation that we are very grateful for being afforded, but I am finding that my multitasking skills are actually going down hill.  They aren't being sharpened as I thought they would be.  I find that I actually get more frustrated with it now than I did in the beginning, and I'm also finding that less gets done in this house as far as cleaning than when we both went to the office, but there was also not anybody here all day to mess it up.  I figured all this out this week (yes only into Tuesday and I had a revelation).  It's spring break, so both kids are home.  I've been trying to work, clean the house, keep the kids occupied, and provide a fun week off for Jack.  I'm also trying to find the happy medium so I have some "alone" time even if for only a few minutes, and you know what its stressful, and I'm not sleeping.
Last night both kids went and stayed all night with family.  And I was so excited to get up this morning, drink my coffee (hot) and work on my work laptop without ANY interruption.  And THAT is when I realized that while its nice to multitask, and its in my nature, I love doing only one thing at a time as well.  I am more productive (not meaning that I do a better job at something, but more efficient rather).  I was able to finish work stuff that would normally take me 1-3 hours in 30 minutes.  AND I didn't have to fast forward any commercials while doing it ;)  And as I tell you all of this, I'm drinking my hot cup of coffee, checking FB, texting to see how the kids are doing, and watching my work email.......hmmmm....