Husband's "Free Time"

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We all know our husbands need some free time when they come home from work. I am trying to figure out the “norm,” the time needed for most husbands.

So, how much “free time” does your husband take each day/evening? (Including T.V. time, video games, Internet surfing, recreational activities and sports…anytime spent by himself or with his friends.)

My husband is in the 1-2 hour group. 🙂
 
Well we BOTH work full time, so there’s not “free time” when either of us gets home.

I usually get off work earlier, pick up the boys and go home to clean and cook dinner. DH gets off later and we immediately sit down for dinner. After dinner he “cuddles” with the boys and then we’re all upstairs getting ready for bed. Then we usually all sit on the couch together as a family for a little TV time…

Nope… no private free time for either of us!
 
Gosh, the kids jump all over him as soon as he gets home. He is very lucky to work at the YMCA, though, so he spends an hour working out every day after work. He gets his decompression time in just before he comes home.

And I must say, he is a much pleasanter person when he keeps this routine. When he isn’t getting the exercise he needs, he can turn into a real ogre!

If we ever had the money to fix his mountain bike, he would go out on it, too. He used to do an hour or two a week, on the weekends. He loves to go speeding on steep mountain trails and get all sweaty and banged up and muddy. :rolleyes: Guys… it’s not a good ride unless he skids off the trail or crashes into a cactus. Once, in Montana, he almost went over the edge of a gorge into the Missouri River, and all he could talk about was how cool it was. Thank God for life insurance.
 
My husband is a SAHD, so, he gets very little true free time. His days are packed - we have an hour or two in the evenings IF there are no Parish duties (we are both pretty involved, him more than me).

Our last “free” saturday was May 5, and we will not have another til June 9 🙂
 
Oh I get lot’s of “Free Time”

I get to go to work 8 hours a day! All by myself - with no kids in tow.

I get to go to Boy Scouts for 2 hours every week. Then a whole weekend/month. My son enjoys sharing this Free Time with me.

Free Time is kind of a silly concept. I think it’s better to just look at the “needs” a person has. There is a “need” to be physically active. But do you need to go to the racketball courts, or can you take your kid for a bike ride in the burly? There is a need for some quiet time with no talking. But can that be had while driving home from work, doing the dishes, or some other chore. There is a need to have friends of the same sex and peer group. But can you have a beer together while watching the kids ride bikes in the road?

Once you’ve creatively figured out how to meet all your needs while at the same time fulfilling a family obligation, the need to just be alone is very minimal. Like once a week. And you can spend it in adoration praying for the rest of your family! 👍
 
Black_Jaque said:
I get to go to work 8 hours a day! All by myself - with no kids in tow.
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This is what I think of my DH, and all of my friends who work outside the home… Especially when said friends complain about always having to spend time with their kids, I’m like, “Gee, try being around them 24/7! At least you get an 8-10 hour break every day!” 😉
 
My DH complains he doesn’t get enough time with the kids as it is so he waits until they are in bed to get his “free time”.
 
Black_Jaque said:
Oh I get lot’s of “Free Time”

I get to go to work 8 hours a day! All by myself - with no kids in tow.
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Funny…my husband got asked at work one time, when everyone was tossing dollars in the lottery pool, whether if they won he would quit. And he said no, because he has learned the hard way that he goes nuts and is bad for the kids if he stays with them all day, every day! So we could be millionaires and my DH would still be working his $40,000 a year job, just for the “break” and his sanity!

I guess it’s all in how you look at it. Myself, I very rarely get free time, and when I do, maybe three times a year, I usually run off to the bookstore, buy a big mocha Frappuccino, and read books for a few hours.
 
My post was tongue-in-cheek.

Frankly, I don’t consider it a hardship to have to spend time with my kids. Maybe your kids are a different story. But my wife is the lucky one, not me.
 
Right now I guess hubby’s only “free” time is at work. He is military so, depending on what is going on, he can get in a good workout, chat with the boys, and go to the bathroom whenever the need strikes (you SAHMs know what I’m talking about;)). But once he is home, we need** him.

As Lily gets older, he will get more free time to just veg out again…but I warned him that this is what having a baby would be like;).

Malia
 
Hubby’s free time used to be before I got home from work where he would usually play video games. Now, with the baby, he normally takes him out of my arms the moment he gets home…BUT he will take a nap with him or play video games while Matthew sleeps in his arms :).
 
Black_Jaque said:
My post was tongue-in-cheek.

Frankly, I don’t consider it a hardship to have to spend time with my kids. Maybe your kids are a different story. But my wife is the lucky one, not me.
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:ehh: My DH doesn’t consider it a hardship to spend time with his kids. He’s just not as good at putting up with their nuttiness as I am. And please, watch the sideways swipes at other people’s kids…tends to raise hackles.
 
Wow, you all have the sweetest replies! :heaven:

My poll should have had a separate option for those ultra-devoted dads. “Free” time?!?! (kids screaming and carrying on in background) I don’t know about time, but I have a “FREE” hand to take this silly poll. :rolleyes: The other is holding my sleeping child, or feeding my toddler, or helping with homework, etc. 😉

I am SO impressed at the level of dedication of the husbands/fathers on this thread! 🙂 Praise God!
 
I had free time on the commuter train on the way home. Great place to sit and read the breviary.
When I got home, the children were mine. The wife was preparing dinner and cleaning up after. I took the kids in hand and had them ready for dinner, played with them a bit after and then saw that they were in bed with prayers said and so forth.
I think the biggest problem I had with the kids was those times when one of the girls had the giggles. You’ve seen the giggles. Everyone at the dinner table catches them. The only way to stop it was to send the “offender” to her room until the “fit” passed. They came back when they were okay again. Or back to the bedroom again because the sight of the family set it off again. There were nights when it was all I could do to stop from falling out of my chair. But DAD has to be calm and collected.

Matthew
 
Well, my husband only has about 4-5 hours from the time he gets home until he goes to bed, and he takes probably 30 minutes for himself most nights. Sometimes none at all. I get more than he does since I only have one child at home. I can get on the computer or read while she plays or nap.
 
My husband and I both work…I’d say probably my husband needs more free time than me. I don’t mind the kids staying up late…but he wants ‘down time,’ as he puts it.

I’d say the 1-2 hours group:)
 
I voted more than three hours but there is a reason. My hubby works afternoons. He gets home around 1 am . (Unless he’s working overtime.) I am either in bed or going to bed and our daughter is sleeping. He stays awake until about 6 am, watching movies or playing video games. It’s only because we happen to be asleep that he gets all this quiet time.

When he worked days we usually went to bed at the same time, except on weekends he’d stay up late to watch movies. (He loves horror movies and I hate them so he watches them while I’m in bed.) Usually he played video games for a while after our daughter was in bed. But the playstation is in our room so I’d usually lay in bed and read, or chat with him. Sometimes I’d play a game with him. When he worked days he’d come home, eat dinner and then he and my daughter would be outside playing whatever until the sun went down. I do miss that.
 
When do you spend time with your children or your wife?
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😛
You tell me… I sleep (try to) 8. I pull an oar for the next 8.That leaves 8 per day for “meeee”, In my selfishness I juggle:
Maintaining 3 homes…(My own, my Mother’s, and an investment property.)
Maintaining a (as my Tax Guy says) a “recreational home”.
Trying to get a home-based business off the ground.
Shuttling kids to sporting events…
Re-Modeling the home we live in (by myself)
Spending weekends in the wilderness (no gripe-Scouts)

“Free-Time”… WHAT THE AICH-E-DBL. HOCKEY STICKS is “Free Time”…???
 
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