For the record, Nick's cope was that he was in the middle of the country and could not find anyone.
Do I believe that? I am more sceptical now than ever before. Unfortunately all the information comes from Nick so that is suspect...
Right, no competently skilled women with experience handling kids and interested in a job exist in Scandinavian Farm Town, USA, where county median income for women is $22k and there are 100 women over 18 for every 94.9 men.
He worked retail jobs post uni and 2 entry-level banking jobs. By Jo's own admission he hated it and acted out at least a few times. (Cf. His Ayn Rand story, the Apron story, the Fat Shame story, and the Narcolepsy Diagnosis story)
I should have clarified - no ft job since law school. More power to anyone who doesn't need one, just don't bitch you have no time - for SIXTEEN YEARS - with 2 adults and 1 half-time occupation that isn't crucial for keeping a roof over your head to do what many manage as a matter of course.
The music lessons are similar, and there are often long breaks of 45-90 minutes between classes them over a 3-5 hour total span.
Each child doing music is doing 3-4 lessons in a single day? I can understand multiple dance classes of different styles in a single day - not atypical - and doing a music lesson per instrument (if more than one) and/or an ensemble or two also doesn't seem odd, especially if schooling is not an all-day affair. But 3-4 lessons on the same instrument in a day would seem a little counterproductive.
That schedule is INSANE. My parent never let my activities run so long or large in number.
For a kid if they love it, and only twice a week, it just doesn't seem that big a deal. I mean, little (6 -10 yo) kids doing level 3 gymnastics competitively (levels go 2 to 10, so early on if they're good) do 10-14 hours/week at the gym, which is 3 or 4 3-4 hour training sessions. Plus meets, which may also mean travel.
Competitive hockey in your teens means a few practices/week, often starting at 6 am, 3-4 competitive games per week, and a lot of travel weekends (as in all over a state or multiple states) for tournaments. Nearly everyday in the summer and/or intensive camps. It's just about all year, every year. And it's parents getting them there, volunteering, coordinating, fundraising, donating, and shelling out ungodly sums of money (I mean thousands just to start, every single year) for the basic costs of playing competitively.
Less intensely, most any middle or high school competitive activity runs 4x/week for an hour or two during the season and has weekend obligations, more and longer if you're good. Marching band in the fall is often that much, and I hear them near me starting up at 8 am for hours about everyday during the last couple weeks of summer. I did a million activities in middle and high school, and I loved it. I don't think 6-10 hours/week of extracurriculars is extraordinary for kids.
Not everyone can or should operate that way, but some kids love it, and it's up to parents either to say no/too much, or to hustle to make it work. If you say yes, or push them to do things, then you'd better stop bitching and make it work. Otherwise it's bad for you, and bad for kids.
And they could have lived anywhere, and they could have gone to excellent schools that would have centralized many activities. They didn't, and that's fine, but it's still a choice and requires parents to manage it.
Nick and Kayla make the schedules, and they could clamp down, so this is self-inflicted.
They could clamp down, or they could both be sober and drive. Or they could coordinate a chaotic but well-running home. I don't get the sense either of them is super-organized, but the fundamental problem, if it all seems too much to handle, is their distraction and their priorities being focused elsewhere.
It will be interesting to see what happens if April gets pregnant and wants to have the baby.
I thought she was not able to have kids?
Coffee shop art.
