If you were to ask 1000 new parents what word best describes how they feel then I would expect there to be a few hundred answers of “tired” in there. If you had directed your little survey to just parents of three or more children then I am sure there would be even more “tired” responses there.

It is something we try not to dwell on in our house but there is no getting away from the fact that we have less energy than before. A lot less. I sometimes try to stay up till late on the internet when the kids sleep early but by the time the clock strikes 10 or 11, my eyes are closing as though I was an old timer taking a snooze after a heavy lunch.

We have taken a few different supplements, tonics, and drinks but at the end of the day what we need is more time to sleep. This doesn’t look like it is going to happen soon so last night we got to thinking about how a couple of tired parents like us could still recapture the magic of the old days.

Look at Old Pictures

As a way of getting inspired, we could look at some of the pictures of our glory years. We did this last night for the first time in ages and I was genuinely shocked to see how carefree we looked. There is one picture from our backpacking trip to Peru which is so spontaneous and fun that it made me smile as soon as I saw it. It is good to remember those days in our lives as something special. However, we can’t dwell on them and feel bitter about them no longer existing. It was one exciting stage of our lives and now we are living in a different one.

Find New Approaches       

We aren’t exactly going to travel off to Peru again anytime soon, are we? Family holidays are more gentle affairs now and tend not to involve weirdly exotic food or trekking for four days at a high altitude. That doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun now. If we are talking about recapturing the fun of the old days we just need to look for some new approaches which fit in with our lives now. For a start, we could try and start going to the cinema as a couple more often. Our first date was at the movies. If I tell you the name of the film it will show you just how long we have been dating so I won’t, but it was a big flop with Kevin Costner in it. That doesn’t narrow it down much, does it? Anyway, doing things like or taking a drive when the kids are being looked after by someone else can help bring back some memories and make you feel more like a couple again instead of feeling like two parents who just happen to share the household tasks.