Forty minutes between getting home and bedtime, and both kids want all of them

mellow_puzzle_45788 May 2026

On theatre days I'm home by 7.15 and they're in bed by 8. My son wants me to build the train track with him. My daughter wants to sit on my lap and be read to. Neither will share me, and most evenings end with one of them crying while I try to do both at once. The caregiver says they're fine all day until the door opens. Is there a way to split 40 minutes between a 3 year old and a 2 year old that doesn't feel like refereeing?

5 comments

citrus_window_83718 May 2026
What happens if it's one activity they're both part of? Track on the floor, the younger one on your lap watching and handing you pieces. Or does each of them specifically want you to themselves?
olive_bookmark_13218 May 2026
I only had one, so I can't speak to siblings. My sister used a sand timer for her two at that age, five minutes each, and the kids turned it over themselves. The fighting moved from 'me first' to 'turn it over', which she counted as progress.
amber_piano_80378 May 2026
Can bath or brushing teeth be one-on-one time for one of them? Then the other gets the reading.
indigo_drum_73169 May 2026
Long days here too. I gave up on the 40 minutes being perfect. Some evenings it's a cry and one story and that's fine. They remember the weekends more.
velvet_wave_272710 May 2026
What helped me on late days was dropping the idea of an activity and just being on the floor with them. At that age my son mostly wanted me in the room while he did his own thing. He's 15 now and still wanders into the kitchen when I'm cooking, for the same reason.