Night Owls !!??
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2006:
Night Owls !!??
I am a night person. To me, it's the best time of the day. Everyone else is in bed; none of their issues to deal with....
I am, however, surprised that we have other "owls" on MV, too. I frequently post late at night, and there will be someone else up at that hour, too, posting a reply.
I am a SAHM, so I can more or less get up when I want. However, I notice some posters are those who work outside the home. How do you stay up that late, and still go to work?
I have always been a night person. If I ever go back to work outside the home, I would love a third shift job. 
I'm only a night owl when I can't sleep.....like now.........and I'm one of those who work outside the home...........
I have insomnia a lot and will post late at night. But I only work part-time.
I used to be a night owl until I had kids. I miss staying up and being all alone in the quiet house. For some reason when DH travels I stay up way past midnight and of course always regret it the next day as the monsters are up bright and early. Then I stay up late again the next night.
I'm often a night owl. I have insomnia, so I'll often come online if I can't sleep and don't feel like reading or cleaning, plus I'm sure my neighbours don't appreciate me vacuuming in the middle of the night.
I work full time and I'm up by 5:30 am. However, lately I've been going to bed earlier and waking up at 4am. *sigh*
If I don't have to get up early the next day, I'm usually up until 1 or 2. If I have to work, in the morning, I'm usually in bed by midnight.
Well i think my night owl nights are ending soon because i have to get up early and get my kids off to school now lol..but sometimes i'm able to stay awake until 1 or 2am and then get the boys up and off to school i work evenings = )
I'm a bit of a night-owl and I'm on the West Coast so that automatically makes me a later poster than most of you. DH gets home between 10:30 and midnight so I often stay up with him. I'm a SAHM so that gives me some flexibility but I don't get up until 7:30 most days so that's enough sleep for me. DH is sweet enough to give me time for a nap, if I need it. I'm always more surprised to see some of you online when I know you are east of me.
I'm a night owl, and always have been. Sometimes I'll decide not to post, because it'll be 3am here, and I'm thinking "Wow, these people are going to think I'm nuts, with a post showing a time of 4am!!"
Ditto, Crystal! I have done the same!
I am definitely a night owl, Hol. Before having Lara, I had a retail job, and my requested shift was the 12-8P.M. shift. I did that for years at this same gift shop. The other gals thought I was a bit crazy, but I love to sleep in, and love the night hours. The peace and quiet is something I look forward to all day. I used to do my weekly grocery shopping after I got off work! Talk about having the store to yourself, lol. No lines and lots of room in the isles. I am a bit strange, lol.
Now that Lara is here, I don't stay up quite as late, but it's unusual for me to be in bed before midnight. I notice Lara is taking after me, too. No matter how hard I try to get her to bed earlier and up earlier, she always ends up doing what I do. Poor kiddo is going to have it rough when school starts. Me too, for that matter.:-)
I know that there are a lot of us. You should never feel embarrassed, tho, for posting in the "wee" hours. I do it all the time.
My Mom said that I have always been a night person, which drove her crazy, because my parents had always been "early birds". I would actually be consequenced, growing up, for not going to sleep when I was put to bed at eight or nine o'clock.
I purposely used to keep my babies up with me at night so they would sleep in in the morning. I also bought room darkening shades for their room so they wouldn't wake up so early. They both grew up to be "night people", too.
My adopted DS, Shawn, is like me. We can be the one to drive someone to the hospital at 3:00AM and be wide awake. However, please don't expect much from me before 11:00AM. I "go through the motions" if I have to, but I am not really "there". That was ONE of the reasons that I chose to home school Shawn. We could do it on our own schedule, when we were both at our best. Even college...he has chosen night courses.
There are web sites dedicated to people like us. It is a good thing that we exist, since a lot of professions, such as police, firemen, EMT's, medical staff, are needed around the clock.
Conversely, I get my DEEPEST sleep in the middle of the afternoon. If I take a nap on a Sunday afternoon, I wake up feeling SO refreshed.
Don't be apologetic or ashamed. Hold your head high. We are *special*. LOL!
For me, getting to work on an afternoon or evening shift is so much more relaxed. It seemed, most of my jobs have been daytime, requiring me to be at work at 8:00 or 9:00AM. I was always rushed, always drove too fast to get to work on time, and stressed out when I got there.
I had one evening job, when my older DK's were little, doing data entry at a bank from 5:00 to 10:00PM. I loved it. All the "big shots" had gone home. It was just me and my radio. Occassionally, the cleaning person would pop in and we would take our break together. The only "down side" was not being at home at night for bedtime stories, etc. DH had to do all that, but that meant I got to be home with them all day.
Hol, you make me feel so much better! Thank you.
I liked working late for the same reason. The shop owner worked 9-3or4P.M. She was a nice boss, it was just more relaxed once she left. And business would get slow in the evening, and I would have time for projects in the shop that I wouldn't have been able to do in the daytime. My boss let me do a great deal of the merchandising, so the evenings were perfect. I'd make a pot of fresh coffee and I was off and running, lol. I have always done my best work in the afternoon or evening. In college, night classes were my favorite, and I always did better in those courses.
My mil is not too happy that Lara is not in bed at 7 and up at 6 A.M., since all hers were raised this way. I sort of chuckle to myself, because my dh is a night owl, too! Yet, because he was raised this way, he gets on me sometimes, too. But, Lara is like me. We are slow to get going in the mornings. We usually sit and snuggle for an hour in our favorite rocking chair. We watch one of her shows on Noggin, and my coffee is near by! And like you, Hol, I am kind of glad she is not up at the break of dawn! I would adjust, but as it is now we are on the same schedule. I am dreading school in a year, because I will miss that time with her. And I have a hard time visualizing her up and out of the house, ready to go by 8 A.M.
Hol, I didn't realize you home schooled Shawn. Was that a good experience for both of you? I'd love to hear how it went for you.
Thanks for letting us know we are not strange! It will make it easier to smile when mil gets on me!:-)
Lol, Hol. I was just at Target last night before closing,(of course), and I noticed the night crew coming in to stock the shelves. I'm thinking, that's the job for me! When I return to work, I may just apply.:-)
Nicki - Shawn and I BOTH loved home schooling. We adopted the boys in 2002. Shawn was in the ninth grade and Mike was in the eighth. Mike is like your MIL. "Early to bed, early to rise". LOL! He always lived in group homes, so they all have to conform to the same schedule. He gets himself up in the morning, and off to school. Up until last year (11th grade), I would make a half-hearted attempt to get up with him, but I'd be nodding back to sleep in the recliner while we waited for his bus to come.
Shawn barely made it through the ninth grade, and then in tenth, he was REALLY falling behind. His teachers said he was listless and "out of it", and couldn't stay organized. DH, Shawn and I made the decision to pull him out in the second semester and home school. Though they are a bit too conservative for me, I purchased the textbooks from Bob Jones University Press because they follow an excellent cirriculum, and are easy to use.
I would let Shawn sleep until around ten. Then, he'd get up, shower, eat breakfast and we'd get started about eleven. We spent one hour on each subject: Math and English everyday; Science and History alternating days. After each subject, we would take a fifteen minute break, make coffee, or go for a short walk. We would be done at about three - three thirty, just around the time Mike would be coming home. (Mike preferred to keep attending school. He has special needs, and goes to a private school paid for by the school district. It suits HIS needs). The law says that you must home school for three hours per day. We did about four and a half.
Shawn and I both LOVED it. He did much better working at his own pace. He got one -on -one attention from me. He could ask questions, and we did a lot of research on the computer. We also read for pleasure. We would buy two copies of a novel, both read it, then share our views. Sometimes, our science class consisted of going to the local aquarium; our history class, a trip to a museum. The same with art. We would go to a local chamber orchestra performance in the evening to study classical music.
It gave him the closeness and "mothering" that he missed out on as a child. He was removed from his birth Mom at age seven, and had nine foster placements in seven years. He is polite, humble and can converse with you on almost any subject. He isn't a "wise guy" and loathes rap music. In his senior year, he took high school enrichment classes at the local community college, to kind of "get his feet wet" with college life. He did very well. I had his finals administered by an independent tester, and he also got a GED, which is nessecary to apply for financial aid. He is going to college in two weeks.
It worked for us. He would have been "lost in the shuffle" in school. If you are thinking of doing it, I can direct you to many, many resources.
Hol, thanks for sharing! It sure sounds like HS was a good decision for Shawn. He sounds like a wonderful young man.
I may have to ask you more in the future. We are still in the serious thinking stage and doing our research. A big factor for Lara is that she is an only child. So she may really benefit from the school experience. I worry daily that she may be lonely. I know we'd have to work hard to find her friends and take her to activities on a regular basis. Still, school would give her so many good opportunities. Big decision!:-)
Thank you, again. Sorry to get off topic.
Nicki - Don't worry that Lara would be socially deprived if she did not go to school.I know other "only" children who have been homeschooled, and they are more advanced than some who do go to school. There are activities such as Brownies and Girl Scouts, the YMCA, church groups,etc.. (My grandaughter may be an only child also. They had to go through a lot to get her.)
I liked homeschooling for Shawn for the reasons mentioned before. He flourished. He needed the "cacooning" that he never had before. Also, you can teach children your values without contradiction from other youngsters. True, they will eventually have to deal with all sorts of people, but they will have the emotional tools and foundation to do that. I have also found that children raised mostly around adults are very mature and handle themselves very well in social situations.
It isn't for every child. Some children need to be with other children. My DD has always been a person who loves lots of activity around her. My son Dan, however, was like me, kind of contemplative and spiritual. He wasn't one for group sports. He liked fishing and walking in the woods. I like to spend a lot of time alone, thinking about things. I enjoy the company of others, but mostly on a one-on-one basis. I don't like crowds. I don't need a party going on around me all the time like Deb. LOL!
It is truly an individual decision that requires a lot of thought like you are doing. You will know what the right thing is when the time comes. Feel free to email me anytime if you have questions.
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