absolutely. 1st and 4th grade.

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Yes, and there is still some structure, even with video schooling. I can't wait until Summer starts, and there is not even that to help with the time ! I have no idea how I am going to work, some days at the office and some days home, and still balance having the kids.

Thanks Eric and Dbeitel. Look, I have very little of my own work (I’m a Pilates teacher with a home studio and we aren’t home and all my clients are also overwhelmed et cetera, it’s a slow return if any to teaching)- my extremely busy hubs lives on Zoom like 12 hours a day- I even have my in-laws with us- but our kids are straight up mutinous. In order to avoid meltdowns of epic duration and mental decompensation the likes of which I haven’t ever seen, we’ve had to back so far off. I’m a rule-follower and this might be harder on me. I don’t know. Just needed a little confirmation (aside from op-Ed’s) that we weren’t alone in this haze of school and tumult.

My wife is an elementary librarian and we've discussed multiple times how hard this whole situation is for parents of younger kids. Even with distance learning in place, it's only the most compliant child that would sit unsupervised for long periods of time. And public schools haven't been providing anywhere near all day online classes. It's super tough if both parents have jobs where they're in meetings all day or really need to concentrate. How do you do that with bored kids roaming the house? Talking to some of my friends with younger children, you are not alone in your feelings by far.

We are fortunate we have a senior in high school and senior in college. It's good the senior in college is home, because otherwise the younger one would be taking the situation even worse.

yes, lots of ups and downs with some meltdows.
going outside with the kids daily for a walk/bike seems to help.
also had to relax the restrictions on electronics or they would totally lose it.

We have a 2yo with a lot of energy. And a second on the way so my wife is pretty tired (22 weeks). So, I try to take care of the little man, and do my job (I direct a biomedical research lab) and train...8 weeks and counting since daycare closed. I've lost it a while back I think.

We have two pre-schoolers at home. (3 and 4). We're drinking way more than usual.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

We have a 9yo and 12yo. They haven't been 'losing it', but thats probably because we've done a horrible job of parenting through this and allowed them pretty much as much screen time as they want, and they've been staying up way too late, sometimes to the middle of the night without wife and I even realizing it, watching screens.

Currently trying to figure out the easiest way to turn off the internet router at night....(has battery backup when unplugged....)....

unplug the router from the modem.

I found the 4 y/o up at 11:30 the other night watching cartoons on his tablet. He's also snuck down to the basement a couple of times after he's supposed to be in bed to watch me ride on Zwift (he likes the volcano in watopia).

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Mine are 17, 19, and 21 . . . yes, I have completely lost it! The girls home from college are going nuts (I can't blame them) and that is driving me nuts.

---

David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Hate to say it but it's been relatively easy for us. Our kids are 25 (in the work force), 20 (college student) and 17 (high school junior). All three are now back in the house since March.

The 25 year old hasn't stopped working. The hardest thing early on was to get her to stop visiting friends after work. After a few days though she accepted the reality of it and has done great.

We moved the college student home after Spring Break when the school went online completely. Technically he could have stayed on campus and he pushed back a little bit. A few weeks after we went through that discussion campus effectively closed as the school essentially said unless you have absolutely no safe place to go, we don't want you around. We did tell him that we agree that this all sucks and other than clean up after yourself, we don't have any expectations for you other than continue your school work. If you want to stay in your room all day and Zoom with your friends and play video games, go for it.

Our 17 year old was home schooled through junior high and is very used to working on his own without much supervision. He sleeps in till around 9 or so, grabs his laptop and does his school work and is done around lunchtime. After that he hits the Xbox and plays games with his friends. He did go about 6 weeks without seeing his girlfriend (her parents are both in a high risk category) but she's been allowed to come over for the last 3 weeks or so.

I've got 5, 3 and 1, all boys. Looking into virtual summer camps to give them something to do. Wife is at home full-time now (teacher) and I'm back and forth helping when I can. I lost it 2 months ago, at this point I'm not sure what to call it...

KIND OF?!

Yep! I think my alcohol bill has almost completely offset savings from not eating out*. We have a 2.5 and 4.5 year old. Super lucky to have a nanny coming over every day to help, but my office is on first floor within earshot of kitchen and great room, which means I get the treat of listening to my 2.5 year old screaming at our nanny off and on ALL DAY. Try not to interject much as I don't want to step on toes, but my little guys behavior raises my blood pressure. Occasionally I storm out and put him in time out. Our nanny is awesome but NOT a disciplinarian. We need to get this little bundle of joy/monster into some sort of more structured environment soon.

*Particularly embarrassing was when my inlaws came to stay and my 2.5yr old son proudly brings me a beer at 9:30am on a Saturday. "I got you a dinosaur beer (Pseudo Sue) Poppa" **

**To be clear, while I've lost it, I am not yet to the stage of drinking at 9:30am!

I recommend the gardener method of leadership... give each plant what it needs no matter how different.

Here are my house rules:

1. Do Your Job
2. Make Stuff Happen
3. The Answer is “No”
4. The Answer is “Yes”
5. Do The Right Things
6. Do Things Right
7. Ask “Why” Questions
8. Shoes Off In House
9. Food In Kitchen Only
10. Helmets and Sunscreen

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Oldest is 14, then 12, 10, 8 and a caboose of 6 year identical twin boys. 5 boys and a girl in total . . . love the extra family time, but I suck at teaching kindergarten. Training is keeping me sane . . . my wife has turned to gardening. I gauge her level of "losing it" by how many variety of tomato plants she is trying to grow. We're up to 13

Losing it? I wish, lost it along time ago, seriously I have no idea what is happening now.
We have 2 boys ages 4 and 6 with more energy then a garage full of Ferrari's.
They are bouncing off the walls or bouncing on each other, to top it off we are in NYC, so it's not like I can go to my home office and close the door as my home office is a the dining room table, which is also the 1st grade classroom... You get the drift.
No backyard to let them go out and run around.
So literally coopd up in a box with 2 little wild barbarians.
I don't think I know what day of the week it is or even what month it is.....

Both my kids 16 &18 have lost it. 18 year old 3-4 times. Wife lost it a couple weeks ago. I've been working full time and enjoy being by myself so for me nothing has changed much.

That would suck. We at least have a big backyard with things for them to do. Play set, mud kitchen, hockey net, etc. The 4 year old just got the training wheels off his bike and the 3 year old is a madwoman on the tricycle.

Rainy days absolutely suck. They’re terrors if they can’t get outside to run around for a couple of hours

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

“Hey Dad?”
“Watch this”
“Wipe me”
100+ times a day. Not an exaggeration at all.

3yo and 5yo at home. I lost it along time ago! I’m a firefighter, the whole lockdown thing was fine at first because I’d get to go to the firehouse every 3rd day for 24hrs, but now I’m on a 17 day furlough.

We have the kids doings lots of arts/crafts, bought a boat load of legos, doing bike rides, soccer, everyday, Obstacle courses, made a mud pit in the back yard (huge hit... and mess), hikes, violin lessons on Zoom, etc. But still MULTIPLE hours a day trying to keep them entertained.

My wife stayed home with the kids to start with, she started sewing masks so at least she has that to keep her busy a bit. But she’s here all day too! I’m Zwifting/running an hour or 2 each morning, only thing keeping me relatively sane.

This thread is great therapy, hate to say it but glad you guys are losing your minds too LOL!

---

-
"It's nice to be great, but far greater to be nice"

Precisely why I posted. I’ve read plenty of articles but hearing other people’s tricky times is therapeutic for sure.

I have 4 kids. We homeschooled all 4 for a number of years, but now it's only 2 of 4. We're used to home based learning. It's mostly business as usual.

Well look, I lost it a long time ago. Nobody sane does triathlons, let alone ironmans. Anyhow, my poor wife has to do all the homeschooling. She's a stay at home mom and previously an elementary school teacher, so she is well placed to manage it. But it's a huge change for her, and I feel bad! She went from having six hours/day 4 days per week to herself to pretty much no time alone for the last 2.5mo.

---

Dimond Bikes Superfan

Yup!!!

My boys are 6 & 3. Constant fighting, bickering, and general sub-par behaviour. Too much screen time and lack of actual enforceable routine.

It doesn’t help that my wife and I have to work full time from home so we can’t be as present as we’d ideally like to be.

It’s unrelenting and there’s very little to any downtime.