Automatic Dad Mode

The older I am getting the more my brain is starting to finally give in. I don't know if it's a common parenting thing or just something that happens when you get a older. (Not that I am really that old)

My brain is starting to function so much more on Automatic mode.

I don't think that I'm alone here.

One of the best things about blogging is the fact that you network with other parent bloggers. I am not a normal guy; I don’t have many male friends. Yet since I started my parenting aspect to this blog I have met and made many Dad friends. (As well as Mums)

One Dad like Dustin; Where I have found they are very much like me. Our Blogs are very similar and our USP as a blogger is the same so it has helped massively connecting. Dustin, like me, is a Stay at Home Dad but through reading his blog and chatting to him something popped up in my mind.

Automatic Parenting.

There are moments with work where I drive between different locations; Quite often I turn down a road and when I do I realise that the last 15 minutes seem to be a bit of a blank. Somewhere in between I have just started driving automatically.

Does anyone else do this?

There must be part of me that is fully conscious as I have never had an accident but I think that through the repetitive route I have signalled and stopped and functioned automatically.

Being a Stay at Home Dad is very much like this for me.

I am notorious for having late nights or not sleeping very well. So when 6am comes round and I am kindly awoken by the boys you will find me waking up like a Zombie and barely functioning.

Like with my driving, without any major dramas, I seem to function.

I put this down to my routine:

6.00 am – Get the kids down stairs

6.15 to 6.30 am – Sort and feed the boys

6.30am – Make my first Coffee

6.40 to 6.50am – Wash the Boys faces and get them to brush their teeth.

6.50 to 7.15am – Try and find an appropriate Outfit for them both without them looking silly.

7.15 to 7.45am – Begin the “fight” (Where you get one dressed and start the other, yet whilst doing this, the first has lost or got undressed somehow)

7.45am – Make my second Coffee.

7.50 to 8.15am – This time is used to play a great game called ‘Find the missing Shoe or Coat’

8.15 to 8.30am – Daddy time; Time for Teeth and Hair Etc.

8.30 to 8.40am – The infamous ‘Getting in our car seats’ battle.

8.40 to 9.20am – Take James to Nursery and then return home.

9.20 to 9.30am – Make my third cup of Coffee.

9.30am – Start Home School.

Then it hits…..

When did I wake up? Where’s James? Who dressed and fed the boys?

A few points to just pick up:

Yes, I do usually have maximum of 3 cups of Coffee by 9.30.

Yes, I might be able to get myself dressed but there are days where I realise that my clothes are inside out or backwards.

I may joke about it but it’s also something that happens from time to time.

I do love a routine but there are, honestly, days where it gets to about 9.30 and I think “What on earth have I actually done this Morning!”

I am told that this is normal for any Stay at Home Parents.

I often see many functioning Stay at Home Mums and am impressed how you do it all and look great; I have always just assumed that this was a me thing. Well I did, at least, until I started speaking to bloggers like Dustin.

Would love to hear from other Stay at Home Parents; Is this a normal thing to happen when you have kids?

Do you ever find yourself in the middle of something and think “Why am I doing this, What was I doing before?”

Or Is this a Dad thing?