A Realistic Look at Tag-Team Parenting
A Week in the Life of a Tag-Team Family
Weekly Schedule of a Tag-Team Family
My husband travels during the week and is home on the weekends. I work 12 hour shifts every Saturday and Sunday.
During the week we get up at 6:15am eat breakfast and the kids are on the bus by 6:55. I do the laundry, cleaning, some freelance writing, volunteer work at the school, and all the shopping. When the kids get home at 2:45 they grab a snack and start homework.
The evenings consist of extracurricular activities. I limit them to two and right now they are taekwondo and Cub Scouts. We normally have meetings, practice, or appointments at least three nights per week. The kids go to bed around 7:30 since they get up so early.
On the weekends my husband takes them to Cub Scout functions, taekwondo tournaments, and sometimes they visit family. He's also in charge of transporting them to and from birthday parties. He takes them to church every Sunday and that's their day together to do whatever else they want.
Family Time Together
Friday nights are our big night to spend time as a family. We also get every other Saturday together because I work nights on alternate weekends. It may only be once a week but I definitely appreciate it more than I ever did.
What Doesn't Get Done
A lot around the house doesn't get done. There are many things around the house that need two people to do. Right now our pool needs to be covered and winterized. It's almost two weeks overdue so that is our big plan for Friday evening.
Date nights also rarely happen. Since we really only have Friday nights together we'd rather spend them as a family instead of getting a babysitter and going out alone. We've been separated on our past three wedding anniversaries, including yesterday, which was our 14th anniversary.
The Psychological Effect of Tag-Team Parenting
The parents: We both miss a lot but we also get to be at a lot of functions. I'm able to help out at the school during the week and my husband is able to go to special events on the weekends. Our minds may get stressed sometimes but it has always been temporary meltdowns. Juggling schedules becomes a sport in itself.
The kids: I had to ask them how they felt because kids are flexible and can go along with almost any schedule. They are always excited when dad gets to take them somewhere but they also have standard questions every week. They ask what night dad is going to be home and every Friday they ask if I'm nights or days. Overall, they are fine with always having one of us there for them.
Many families decide to work opposite shifts to keep the family going while not having to worry about daycare or babysitters. Tag-team parenting is a good but a temporary solution. It is working for us right now but I know that neither one of us wants to be doing this 20 years from now.
Other resources for tag-team parents:
Organization is the Key to Tag-Team Parenting
Save Money with Tag-Team Parenting
Published by Kim Keason - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
Full time mom, part time nurse, and part time freelance writer. View profile
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18 Comments
Post a CommentLove this, my family does the same thing. We only have one and shes only four months, but Im glad shes always with one of us, instead of in daycare or with a babysitter.
Thank you for sharing.
Excellent article. When my daughter was very young, my husband and I were doing different shifts. Now, we both have same shifts, which means we have more time together because she is already 16.
cool article, thanks for sharing
My daughter has this problem too. It isn't easy!
Sounds like you two really have it figured out!
I still don't envy your schedule.
It seems challenging and rewarding!
I've been doing this for 9 years. I remember your series on it. I work on the weekends from 9-5 and he works during the week. Fridays are often our times together as a family but he has had to work the past few. The kids are used to our schedule and only ask rarely (usually around birthdays) for one of us to take off work or rearrange our schedules.
You've done great work on this series (I remember all the articles from 2 years ago, too!). Now that I'm home all the time, I don't know how I ever worked!