In Praise of Grown-up Time

It has come to my attention that children have become the center of our universe.

Gone are the days when a small person of tender age would do as he or she was asked, good-naturedly and obediently, and the rest of the time would sit quietly reading or practicing a simple cross-stitch. The child was able to carry on a lively and friendly conversation with a grown-up, when asked; but with equal good nature the youngster would disport himself to a quiet corner when it appeared that the grown-ups were converging. He might be trotted out to say his hellos, perhaps to recite, possibly to help serve drinks or pass cocktail peanuts. He might sit on a lap, but only if requested by a familiar grown-up. He never presumed.

One wasn't required to transport the little children hither and thither, here to T-ball practice, there to a “playdate,” may the chipper mommy who coined that particular term forever rot in a hell of eternally colicky babies.

One wasn't required to endure swarms of youngsters teeming over the hors d'oeuvres, begging for refreshment just as one was about to take that first heady sip of one's ice-cold martini. There was water, and they knew how to retrieve it.

Let us be perfectly frank. You were here first. You are sharing your house with them, your food, your time, your books. Somewhere, in fairly recent memory, we have lost sight of that fact. Somehow a pint-sized velvet revolution was waged right under our very noses, and the grown-ups quietly handed over the reins. We have made concession after concession, until it appears that well-educated, otherwise intelligent adults have abdicated their rightful place in the world, and the littlest inmates have taken over the asylum. Remember when we couldn't wait to grow up so we could be in charge?

It is time to set this madly spinning orb back on its axis. This book is for parents; for parents-to-be who have assumed that the world as they know it must necessarily change with the imminent introduction of a small child into their life; and for the newlywed couple who contemplate conception but fear that sharing hearth and home with a young tot will only lead to sleeplessness, high-pitched fits of screaming, and the dearth of adult companionship for the remainder of their days. This book is meant for all the grown-ups who have, against all reason, decided to welcome a tiny bundle of joy into their home, but who rightly feel that a complete lifestyle makeover is too high a price to pay.

It is also a chance for me, as a parent, to get an awful lot off my chest regarding what I consider to be a great many silly parents out there, doing a great many very silly things.

Simply put, you deserve a little time of your own, a little grown-up time, time to do whatever it is you like to do by yourself, or with friends. I don't mean stealing a guilty moment to scan the headlines while you gulp down half a cup of scalding coffee, accompanied by the persistent whine of a petulant four-year-old. It is not that you would be stealing this time from your precious child. It is not your child's time you are stealing; it is your time, and you get to have some of it for yourself.

There is no guilt in craving social situations that aren't wholly centered around everyone's children. There is no shame in explaining to your children that they should go and find Something to Do, that the grown-ups are having grown-up talk, that they, the little children, need to go somewhere and be little children. Whether you would like to share a portion of your time with one grown-up or a party of them, or simply enjoy a moment alone, it is time to exert a little autonomy and encourage some in your child. This book explains how. It's time to warm up the ice cubes, curl up on the sofa, and send darling Spencer into the other room to play by himself. Mummy and Daddy need a little break.