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Alone Time

This morning I was driving Alexader to a friend’s house when Jane called. I was supposed to pick her up from her sleepover close to 11am, but she wanted to know if I could pick her up closer to 1pm, and maybe her friend could come with her?

I said yes. Jane is a social girl.

Alexander remarked that Jane has had a sleepover every single night of the Winter Break. She has had no more than an hour a day alone, the rest of the break has been spent with friends.

Alexander noted that Jane likes to spend about 75% of her life with other people, and only about 25% alone, but he went on to say, “I’m the exact opposite. I want to be with friends about 25% of the day and then I love my days alone.”

My kids are different than each other in just about every way. Their preferences as well as their talents are diverse, and sometimes pleasing both kids is simply impossible. One child needs to learn to accommodate the other.

Mr. G and I are different as well. He hates a crowd, and I love one. We both need more time alone than most, and perhaps that’s why we enjoy our lives together.

Alexander and I have retreated to opposite ends of the house. Later we will sit together quietly. It’s nice. It’s what he likes.

2 thoughts on “Alone Time”

  1. I love this.
    Unfortunately, over the years pop culture has mangled the true concepts about introversion being shyness and extroversion being gregariousness. The best simplified explanation of the two is actually “how do you recharge?” If the answer is that you recharge alone because being around people drains your energy? Introvert. If you recharge by being around people and gaining energy from them? Extrovert.

    Sounds like you have 3 variants of introverts in your house and 1 extrovert. You just happen to be a social introvert.

    We’re similar here. Husband is a not-particularly social introvert (he could get all of his ‘other people’ time at work.) I’m a particularly social introvert (love people but have to get away if I’m going to have anything to give.) Kidlet is a social extrovert. Knowing this makes things a little easier to plan in our house. But there are the somewhat comical frustrations: like when the only child, who is an extrovert, literally chases the introverts around the house trying to get some together time while both adults are trying to hide. Took us awhile to realize that we needed to actually say “Mommy really needs some alone time. When she’s done, she can be the fun, interesting, engaged mommy you want. Meanwhile, Daddy is not as bad off, so it’s his turn. Tag!” :)

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