The 6pm scramble is real

Nov 231 min read

I leave the office at 5, pick up my kids from care by 5:30, and then it's just absolute chaos until they're asleep at 8. Dinner, bath, bedtime routine, trying to get them to listen, managing the disaster of a living room.

By the time they're down I'm completely wrecked. Too tired to do anything meaningful with my wife. Too tired to work on the house stuff I keep saying I'll do. Just sitting on the couch scrolling Reddit honestly.

Does this ever get easier or is this just the next 10 years of my life?

15 comments428 views

Comments(15)

AArchie K.Regular1d ago

Have you tried meal prepping on Sundays? I spend like 3 hours meal prepping and it eliminates the "what's for dinner" panic at 5:30pm. Everything's already made, I just reheat it. Plus you can batch cook while listening to a podcast so it doesn't feel like you're losing time.

CChris P.Regular1d ago

The way I think about it now is: if bedtime happens and nobody's injured and everyone ate something, that's a win. The living room disaster can wait. The house projects can wait. You're in the thick of it right now and honestly six years from now you won't remember most of this anyway, you'll just remember being tired.

CChuck M.Regular1d ago

lol this is my life right now. my wife and i just accepted that we're basically in survival mode until bedtime

HHugh S.Regular1d ago

What if you aimed lower? Like forget the house projects for now. But could you do 10 minutes with your wife? Even just sitting together without phones? I'm not saying this to sound preachy but we realized we weren't actually connecting anymore and it was because we both expected the evening to include a bunch of stuff when really we just needed to be near each other.

JJoel F.Regular1d ago

How old are your kids? Ages make a huge difference here. My 3yo and 5yo? Complete nightmare scenario. But I'm betting in 2-3 years when they're more independent it'll be night and day different. Not saying it gets "easy" but the chaos becomes more manageable.

TTravis N.Regular1d ago

The 6pm scramble is absolutely real and honestly the hardest part of my day. I found that getting a slow cooker meal going in the morning made a huge difference - dinner is just ready when I walk in. Not a magic fix but it eliminated one major stressor.

FFred J.Regular1d ago

How many kids are we talking about here? That makes a huge difference. With one kid the 6pm scramble was manageable. With two it became psychological warfare.

GGary R.Regular1d ago

Nailed it. But real talk - that tired feeling? Don't try to push through it for house projects or whatever. Your brain is fried. Just sit and scroll. Your kids are fed, bathed, and in bed - you already won that day.

MMike F.Regular1d ago

This is the thing nobody tells you about having kids. Everyone's like "oh you'll have such great memories" but what they don't mention is the 2-hour window where you feel like you're herding cats who are also actively trying to destroy the house

MMarvin T.Regular1d ago

It does get easier but probably not the way you're hoping. Once they're a bit older (mine are 8 and 11 now) they can actually help with some stuff instead of creating more chaos. But then you've got homework battles and sports schedules which is a different kind of exhausting.

GGreg M.Regular1d ago

haha the reddit scrolling while your wife's trying to talk about her day. Been there. She finally started scrolling too just to survive the chaos. Now we're both on our phones which is sad but also somehow better than trying and failing to have an actual conversation

SSam T.New Dad1d ago

The reddit scrolling hits different when you're that exhausted. I started setting a timer for my couch time though - like I'll give myself 20 minutes to decompress but then I try to do at least one thing with my wife or knock out one small house task. helps me not feel like a complete blob

RRussell D.Regular1d ago

We switched our evening routine around completely. Kids eat at school now (late snack program), so when I pick them up it's just bath and bedtime. Saved us like 45 minutes of pure chaos. Worth paying extra for honestly.

FFrank K.Regular1d ago

Same. Except my wife works too so it's not like she's sitting there refreshed ready to hang out. We're both zombies. Our therapist said this phase is temporary (supposedly) but I don't believe her lol

-1

RRuben A.New Dad1d ago

dude same