Over the years, I have read all sorts of parenting and time management articles about how parents can run errands, get in their daily exercise, take a nap, pump breast milk, etc.—all during that brief 60-minute break during the work day. From a single parent’s perspective, I’m wondering just how much we can squeeze in during a lunch hour?
I confess, I have tried it all—I’ve done my grocery shopping on the lunch hour, driven home to bake cookies for a kid party, headed across town to volunteer at the school, tried to get in a spirited walk or some exercise. I’ve even tried the getting an extra wink or two during lunch hour. There was a time when I had returned to school to finish my undergraduate degree (and my kids were all in elementary & middle school) that most of my lunch hours were taken up with classes. So, I imagine in the world of time management and the use of lunch hours, I’m a pro—or at least I have graduated to the intermediate level.
Now that my work world is a bit more flexible (and I definitely like it that way) I don’t have the set or established lunch hour but I still sympathize with all those single parents I know who are cramming in a day’s worth of errands and activities into sixty minutes. The one thing I know for sure is that for a single parent, there is not usually a lot of relaxed and social eating that goes down on the typical lunch hour! Still, we grab our time where we can find it and take those windows for accomplishing necessities wherever we can get them—and the lunch hour will remain a major “gift” for the average single parent with a to-do list longer than the telephone book!
Also: Single Parents and Chores and Errands–On the Weekend or During the Week?
Single Parent Tip–Leave Yourself Messages
Single Parent Trick–Get Up Earlier Than Everyone Else