Who is That Lady with the Baby and the Teenager?

As I look around when I go to public places, I realize there are many parents who have both teenagers and babies and I wonder why they would choose this. Now that my kids are older I think it would be quite impossible to drag a baby around to all these places teenagers need to go. Of course I probably only think this because I had all five of my kids before my oldest one even went to Kindergarten. I didn't need to go anywhere pressing. I only needed to go places I wanted to, on my own schedule.

With older kids, the schedule is jammed with places they need to go. They have responsibilities that can't just be skipped like school or sports. Add homework to that and there is no time left in a day. This leaves me questioning how parents on both teens and tots have any time to even care for the baby outside of school hours.

How do they enjoy watching sports or concerts the teens are in when they need to constantly tend to a baby?

How does the baby ever get enough sleep?

How do the parents ever get any sleep?

When does the baby get fed or changed after school ends?

What about free play?

It seems baby would just be trapped in a car seat from 3-9 nightly running from place to place.

I am so busy without a baby in tow I don't even see how it would even be a possibility.

I am sure there are benefits to this spacing of children, such as a built in babysitter and another person that can teach baby all he needs to know. Other than that, I just think it would be complete chaos.

By the time you get used to not changing diapers, losing sleep or spoon feeding someone, you need to do it all over again.

With closely spaced children this is not an issue. You always continuously have diapers, baby food, and loss of sleep for years and years with no break in between so it is just a way of life. We had children in diapers (up to 3 at a time) for 9 1/2 years straight and it was just normal to us. I was pregnant or nursing (or both!) for 8 1/2 years straight. We still have car seats and always have for 13 years. In less than a year we will be done with them. I would hate to be done and then just start these practices all over again.

Because my experience is so different, I just want to know, how do parents on teens and tots do it?

So, do you have a teen and a tot? If so what is your secret?