Arsenic Hour - Fact or Fiction? Give me your horror stories!

[Charlyfrog]

Lucy, hehe. With you sweets! Lol!

Yep, usually between the 6 - 7pm mark, after tea when its clean up from dinner, a bit of play and then pack up toys. DD#2 is rather clingy and will pounce if I stand/squat in one spot for a mili second and DD#1 goes delirious as she doesn't nap during the day (and if she does she doesn't fall asleep til really late!). So touch and go as to whether teeth brushing becomes a breeze or a battle I agree with being as prepared as you can I guess with whatever needs to be done around those times - so minimise your work load coz it really stresses my head out if I want to achieve a lot in this time and then the girls cop it with mummy's frustration as I achieve nothing

I can't say that for us the phase has passed as such, just the time, length and magnitude of feral zone has altered, mostly gotten better *phew*

So all I can suggest is freeing yourself up to do what is necessary during this time of day to help your little one through it without putting any added pressure on yourself to have to achieve anything else. It will get better, I promise!!

[Lucy]

Thanks hon. Dh just doesn't "get it".

When he is home it is no problem, as he gives them all the attention they crave at that time of night.

So I think you are right.....I need to make myself available.......

DD#1 goes delirious as she doesn't nap during the day

I hear you on THAT one.....Olivia is the same.....she gets herself so worked up out of tiredness.....

[Bathsheba]

I guess it's always been a challenging time (5 - 7pm) for me ever since I had my DD 13 years ago.... but it wasn't so bad with just one young child... but now! With a irritable teen, a grumpy/antagonistic 4yo and an extra demanding toddler I HOPE that things are peaking or soon going to peak!!! If I knew that next year things were going to be a little better i could cope... but I suspect it could be worse because then i'll have a more stressed out teen (more home work pressures), an extra tired 5yo who has been at school all day... and a 3yo who probably would have totally dropped his day time nap! Lord give me strength!!!! or at least pour me another "Mother's Helper".... the glass of wine I allow myself after 6pm while cooking dinner to calm my frazzled nerves!

[Snacks]

When Natty was very little, it was well defined - from 7pm until 9 or 9:30. She would just cry and cry. All we could do was give her cuddles and wait it out.
Now there are so many variables, LOL! It depends on how much sleep she's had. There's no real set time for us these days, except that there's always a 'time' of the day when she's cross and nothing I do is right.