Do you ever get the feeling you’re not wanted? Like, REALLY not wanted? Or if you are wanted, it’s because you’re the only option? If you answered ‘yes’ to either of those, then welcome to the club.

I mentioned in my ‘Shiftwork Sucks‘ post that my wife does a lot of nightshifts. When she’s working one of those, it’s just Little M and I, and that’s fine. We get on like a house on fire. We play, we cuddle up in front of the TV, we read books, we tell stories. It’s almost like we’re father and daughter. HOWEVER, when Little J isn’t working or happens to be working a dayshift, that all changes. I suddenly go from being the go-to-guy to the go-away-guy. Little M just isn’t interested in me. I tell myself that it’s because she misses her mum and she’s making the most of their time together because she’s beginning to realise that some nights mummy isn’t around, and that’s probably all it is, but it sure makes you feel like crap.

Recently, bedtime has become a bit of a battle. When I say battle, I mean it’s as LOUD AS WAR. The main casualties seem to be her throat and my ears from all the screaming. Not when it’s just the two of us, but when Little J is home. Little J has to be the one to put her to bed, to read her a story, to sing her a song. If I even attempt to put her to bed the crying starts and the full on screaming starts to ramp up. I’ve never heard anything like it. Glass is shattering. Dogs are covering their ears. The only way to stop this crazy turned-up-to-11 temper tantrum? Call on Little J to rescue me.

If Little M even suspects that mummy is home, she’s in and out of bed like a cuckoo from it’s clock. I mentioned this on Facebook the other day and it appears that I’m not alone. Some of my friends have commented that their kids will favour one parent over the other and experience major screaming matches.

Does this happen to you? How do you deal with it? Have you managed to overcome it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Yep, shiftwork isn’t great. In my single days, I worked shifts and it was fine. Finishing your final nightshift on a Monday morning just as everyone else was just beginning their working week was the best feeling ever, but if you’re a parent, it can be difficult. Thankfully, I now work 9-5, M-F. My wife, Little J doesn’t have that luxury though. You see, she’s a nurse.

The past couple of weeks have been great from Little M’s point of view. Little J has had a couple of weeks off, and I would come home shortly after 5 and we’d have some family time before bedtime. This week however, Little J has been back at work. Straight onto 4 straight nightshifts. Our routine on nightshift days goes a little like this:

Little M and I wake up, get washed & dressed, and we’re out the door at 8am to take Little M to whichever set of grandparents are looking after her today. I go to work. Little J arrives home between 8:10am and 8:30am and goes straight to bed.

I pick up Molly after work and take her home. Arrive around 6:00pm and Little J and I eat together (Little M has already eaten at Gran & Papa’s house).

Little J leaves for work at 7:00pm. Little M and I have some daddy-daughter time before bedtime. Bed time is somewhere between 7:30pm and 8:30pm depending on how much fun we’re having!

So, you’ll see by the account above that the three of us will only manage an hour a day when Little J’s working nightshift. I don’t grudge it at all. It’s a job she loves and finds very fulfilling, and she’s not nightshift all the time. This week has been particularly difficult though, because she was straight onto 4 nightshifts after 2 weeks annual leave, and Little M has been a little upset each time Little J leaves for work.

I think it might be harder on Little J though – no-one likes to upset their children.

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This weekend was supposed to be packed full of fun. Activities such as visiting a Lego exhibition and a trip to the transport museum, but unfortunately, Little M has a dose of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). Not to be confused with Foot & Mouth Disease which can only be found in livestock, HFMD is a rather unpleasant viral infection most commonly found in under-10s.

Thankfully, Little M is only showing signs of a rash with a couple of blisters and one mouth ulcer so far, but we’re only into day 2 (HMFD can run for 7 days or more). It’s rare for adults to catch HFMD, but for kids it’s extremely infectious, so we’re avoiding taking her anywhere where kids are likely to be. Unfortunately this means all the fun places I’d planned to go will need to wait until another day.

What activities do you do with your kids when they’re feeling under the weather? Let me know in the comments below.

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I guess you could call me the stereotypical dad. I do a bit of DIY, I do the techy things around the house (and other places), and when things break, I have a go at fixing them. I usually succeed too. Little M and Little J don’t break too many things beyond repair, thankfully!

Tonight I got home after a very busy day at work to find Little J and Little M in Little M’s bedroom, tidying. They’d been to Ikea and picked up a bunch of boxes to store her plethora of toys (they’ve been cluttering the floor for far too long!), and they were starting to sort them out and put them in the boxes for storage under the bed. At this point, I should probably tell you that Little M is a bit of a perfectionist.

She was trying to put the lid on one of the boxes and wasn’t quite managing it, but credit where credit’s due, she kept going until she got it. Then she turned to Little J and said “Fixed it. Just like Daddy”. That’s when I realised. She notices EVERYTHING. She knows that I’m the one who fixes things. Just one of the things which makes me smile.

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While Little J was out of town, I thought I might try something which is usually reserved for Mummies and Grandmas – baking. Little M loves to bake. Both her grans bake with her on a regular basis, so does Little J. I’ve never baked with her at all. This could go one of two ways. Perfect, like Delia Smith, or something akin to a scene from Gremlins, where the kitchen is totally wrecked and someone has called the fire brigade. Thankfully, for the most part, it went swimmingly.

I tried out the recipe the night before, just to see that it worked and so that I wasn’t flapping around if it all went wrong when I did it for real. It was nice and easy. Oh, and when Little J got home, she was treated to a nice piece of Malteser Tray Bake and a cup of tea. I got many brownie points.

Now, before we get into the recipe, Little M is 2 and 4 months, so she didn’t get to do anything near the cooker, but she did get to mix it all up at the end. Use your judgement and if your little one isn’t big enough to be dealing with very hot food, you can do the first part yourself.

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 200g milk chocolate
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 225g digestive biscuits (finely crushed)
• 225g maltesers

Method

1. Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup together. Make sure the butter is completely melted.
2. Add the crushed biscuit and maltesers.
3. Mix everything together quickly.
4. Pour into a lined Swiss Roll tin or small roasting tin.
5. Spread the mixture to fill the whole surface of the tin.
6. Stick in the fridge until set.
7. Cut into bite sized pieces.

If all goes well, it should look a little like this:

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Today, my wife and I took our daughter out to somewhere she really LOVES. Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. If you live in Glasgow, this is an excellent place to visit with your little ones! Little M loves coming here because it’s really big and has loads of places to run around!

She particularly enjoys the dinosaur exhibit. It’s rigged up to a couple of motion sensors, so when you get close, it roars and his head moves around. Not quite Jurassic Park, but when you’re 2, it’s close enough. There are loads of things at Kelvingrove for little kids and big kids alike. There’s even stuff for grownups too. Today, for example, like every Sunday at Kelvingrove, there’s an organ recital. There are chairs set up in the main atrium, but if you’re like Little M, you don’t want to give a solid commitment to any one seat, so we went upstairs and watched from there. The sound fills the entire building, and she was totally entranced. For a little while, at least.

We left the recital and moved around the museum a bit more. I remember going as a kid, and in the 80s, ‘interactive’ wasn’t really a word they used in Glasgow’s museums. It’s a lot better these days with touchscreens and projected videos. You can also crawl under some exhibits, but as it always was, you can never touch an exhibit. I’m not surprised, because with up to 1,000,000 visitors to Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum every year, they would start to look a bit tatty.

Getting there is very easy. There’s a bus stop right outside. Kelvinhall & Partick Subway stations & Partick train station are also only around 10 minutes walk away. If you want to park, be prepared to do a few laps of the car park before you find a space. It can be incredibly busy, but parking is cheap at only £1 for 4 hours.

All of Glasgow’s museums are free to visit, but given that I no longer live within the Glasgow City Boundary and don’t contribute to their council tax, I always stick a couple of quid in one of the donation boxes. If you’re coming from outside Glasgow, I suggest you do too.

It’s a great day out and there’s something there for the whole family.

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