Jeremy has been interviewed by NBC's The Today Show, The Washington Post, CNN's Digital Life, and Newsday's Parents and Children among others. Check out his Press Room for more info or contact him directly at
Sundays have always been a tough day for me. I am a guy who has always struggled with living in the moment versus worrying about the future and Sunday epitomizes that for me. Sunday means that Monday is tomorrow, which means my weekend is over – whether that weekend was a break from high school, college, grad school or work, it never mattered. In fact, it was always worse with work – especially when I was in a terrible job like I was for the first two years of my children’s lives. Now, since I feel like I get paid for my hobby, instead of feeling the anxiety build within me all day long I feel a sense of sadness, what I call Sunday Sadness. This sadness, or maybe more appropriate, this mourning, is less because I have to go to work and more because I so love the time with my wife and twin three-year olds and I hate to see it end.
Weekends can be very tough. Parenting is a skill, one I use much more on the weekends than during the week and when Monday rolls around I am often exhausted, because I am not as used to using my parenting muscles like that on weekdays. We also often try to do too much in the short time we have together and there is always too much to do anyway. But it is my favorite time of the week, the favorite time of my life.
Weekends are when I get to spend real time with my children, when I try to make up for not being there in the past week because I was at work. It is when they wake up and I am still home to be there when they do. It is when I make them my now famous Chocolate Chocolate Chip Pancakes. It is when we get to be Los Tres Amigos, the three friends, because my wife is either asleep or maybe out with her mother and sister taking some time for herself since she is home with them all week. It is the only time when they ask me if I am going to work that I get to say “NO! I am staying home with my children!”
This past weekend was no exception. Jordyn, my daughter, has asked me several times in the past few weeks to make a fire. That is something we just don’t have time for during the week. When I walk through the door after work, it is already time for dinner. Then we have to nebulize them, get them into pajamas, brush their teeth after which I put them to bed and there really isn’t enough time for all of that every night. She asked me again this past Saturday morning and she asked so nicely, so sweetly, that I knew I had to figure out a time to do it. That Saturday night we had a Pizza Hut picnic on the floor in front of a roaring fire my children helped me build (they crumpled up the newspapers to get it started). We got to enjoy the warmth together, count all of the colors and have a relaxing (relative use of the word – it was still dinner and they are still twins) evening.
This weekend I found myself falling in love with my son, Elijah, so many times. He has been having a very rough time going to sleep at night – primarily because he misses me and gets so upset, screaming and banging on the door, when I walk out their room after tucking him in. But this past weekend he was just precious during the day. The way he would want to hold my hand to show me something, the way he exhibited his intelligence which he often is too shy to do, the way he enjoyed listening and singing music, with his heart and soul, just like I do. He was absolutely delicious and I found myself wanting to savor every moment with him.
Monday morning means the end for all of that for the week. I can remember sitting at the dinner table Sunday night, looking at my little boy across the table and my little girl sitting next to me, feeling my heart swell with love and my eyes with tears because it was coming to an end. Yes, I know next weekend will come, but something about this weekend felt so special, so wonderful that it made me wonder whether it will ever be like this again. Of course, the answer is no. But that doesn’t mean it won’t feel just as special.
The problem is I don’t get much, if any, special time with my children during the week because we are so rushed once I get home. Mostly it is frustration and powerlessness I feel during the week as a parent, without the special feeling. Remembering how things are on the weekends is what keeps me going, that rejuvenates me as a parent. It is how I feel on the weekends that makes me dream of three day weekends.
Here’s looking forward to Labor Day!
Jeremy G. Schneider, MFT, sees clients and conducts workshops in New York and Long Island. He has been interviewed by NBC’s The Today Show, CNN, The Washington Post, and Newsday. Since the birth of his boy/girl twins in December 2002, he has written more than 30 articles on his experiences as a father many of which have been published in numerous parenting magazines and web sites. He also publishes a monthly column called A Father’s Voice and produces the corresponding A Father’s Voice Podcast. In between articles, he writes about his daily experiences as a father in Two Okapis, his Digital Daddy Diary (blog). For more information, visit www.jgs.net or to contact him directly, email him at
Press Room 
