Waffle the Wonder Dog and the frustrations of a guitar playing Dad.

MagicPigDetective

If you have young kids you might have seen this on cbeebies. My two, 1 and 5, are addicted and I’ve sat through several iplayer marathons with them. It’s on as I type this! 

Anyway, the Dad character has an acoustic and electric. He’s trying to write songs about the dog; but each time he picks up the guitar, he gets interrupted by the damn talking dog or the kids’ shenanigans. There is also a scene where he is looking for the dog, but gets completely distracted by a nice blue guitar in a shop window. 

I share his frustration deeply; everytime I sneak off to play, something happens or someone needs attention. The last few months have been a real struggle to make time for guitar playing, by the time they have gone to bed I’m often too tired to play. Not moaning about the kids as I love every minute with them. Anyway this is just a phase and I know that I will get more time for guitar as the youngest gets older. 

In the meantime I will take solace that someone has created a character to represent us guitar dads. Never have I identified with a tv character so much! 

mudslide73

My boy is 13 and I find I have much more time to play now he thinks I'm a wanker. 

stimpsonslostson

mudslide73 said:

My boy is 13 and I find I have much more time to play now he thinks I'm a wanker. 

To be fair he's a 13 year old boy, you can be fairly confident he is! Literally. 

MagicPigDetective

mudslide73 said:

My boy is 13 and I find I have much more time to play now he thinks I'm a wanker. 

You win some you lose some I suppose.

Perhaps I should have framed this thread as “anyone else get bugger all time to play guitar cos of the kids, job, chores etc etc?” 

darthed1981

MagicPigDetective said:

“anyone else get bugger all time to play guitar cos of the kids, job, chores etc etc?” 

Either way I'd have stuck my hand up!

I have two, 6 and 3, and the wife doesn't go out much and doesn't drive, so she doesn't take them over to her parents or anything.

My job leans towards the stressful a lot, and so a lot of days once I'm home, kids in bed and had dinner, im ready for bed myself.

When I was in my 20s and had time I should have pursued guitar then, but I didn't, it wasn't where my head was at.  Such is life.

Wouldn't change it all really, but I could use a bit more time where I'm in the right space to play guitar and enjoy myself.

MagicPigDetective

So I’m not the only one @darthed1981 ;   ; I find picking up the acoustic for a quick strum more convenient than fiddling with the electric and getting distracted by amp setting etc. I’ve hardly had a chance to play the Vintage Lemon Drop I bought last week! 

I think I’m on the verge of break throughs with my playing, if I had enough time to practice and learn. I may start lessons again as it is a good incentive to make time for yourself. 

LuttiS

Dear lordy.. waffle the bastard wonder dog.. 

Cannot stand that show... It's usually on when I get home from work. 

And yeah.. guitar playing is a treat I don't often get.. 

darthed1981

MagicPigDetective said:

So I’m not the only one @darthed1981 ;   ; I find picking up the acoustic for a quick strum more convenient than fiddling with the electric and getting distracted by amp setting etc. I’ve hardly had a chance to play the Vintage Lemon Drop I bought last week! 

I think I’m on the verge of break throughs with my playing, if I had enough time to practice and learn. I may start lessons again as it is a good incentive to make time for yourself. 

I think the key thing is, that it isn't easy juggling a family, especially a young one, with the desire to progress in playing an instrument.

As others said to me in a similar thread I started once, why rush?  The kids will grow up, you will inevitably have more time and you will progress when your guitar playing expands to fill it.

When you are too tired to play and just want to shoot the sh*t with some like minded folks, you can always pop on TFB

MagicPigDetective

Thanks @darthed1981 ; your right, need  play the long game, there will be plenty of time in the future. I did actually have a free afternoon today, which I spent attempting to change pickups and pots. Quite therapeutic, even though I’m not entirely sure if I’m doing it right! 

Have you bought a Vintage yet?  

dindude

I can relate to this. I used to play for half an hour or so every evening after work, just a great way to relax after a hard day. Now I have a (almost) 2 year old boy and now it’s home, stories, bath time, bedtime routine and then we eat and it’s time for bed ourselves. And whilst I’m lucky enough to have a music room full of toys I would have once dreamed of, the house is pretty small so I can’t play whilst boys sleeping etc. Pretty much get to sneak half an hour at the weekends these days in between husband / father duties. 

I love being a dad, would t change it for anything, but the lack of play does get to me, it’s what I do to recharge my batteries, every month or so I end up having “the” conversation with my wife about how having an hour to myself on a Saturday morning makes me a far better human being / father / husband for the rest of the weekend. Seems to register for about 5 minutes before I’m demanded to be doing something else.

Ho hum, things change, and things will change again (when he’s older). I’ll check out Waffle to cheer me up in the meantime...

Teetonetal

You just have to make time. I always do my music from 9pm to midnight. Stopping to put kids back to bed as required. Im always tired but I find music relaxing and I enjoy it so during the week it gets all my down time.

darthed1981

MagicPigDetective said:

Have you bought a Vintage yet?  

One day, if I win the lottery, I'll have one of everything!

I need to find a good dealer, the strat with thee p90s still holds my attention!

MagicPigDetective

dindude said:

I can relate to this. I used to play for half an hour or so every evening after work, just a great way to relax after a hard day. Now I have a (almost) 2 year old boy and now it’s home, stories, bath time, bedtime routine and then we eat and it’s time for bed ourselves. And whilst I’m lucky enough to have a music room full of toys I would have once dreamed of, the house is pretty small so I can’t play whilst boys sleeping etc. Pretty much get to sneak half an hour at the weekends these days in between husband / father duties. 

I love being a dad, would t change it for anything, but the lack of play does get to me, it’s what I do to recharge my batteries, every month or so I end up having “the” conversation with my wife about how having an hour to myself on a Saturday morning makes me a far better human being / father / husband for the rest of the weekend. Seems to register for about 5 minutes before I’m demanded to be doing something else.

Ho hum, things change, and things will change again (when he’s older). I’ll check out Waffle to cheer me up in the meantime...

Yep sounds very similar to my situation. Things do change quickly as I know with my eldest, 5. She used to stop me from playing, but by now we have the odd jam, if you can call it that, me on the acoustic and her singing and plucking a ukelele. Whereas the youngest, nearly 2, stops me from playing as I’m not giving her full attention. 

LuttiS

My spawn (almost 2) will either start dancing if i managed to play, grab the pick, or try to strum it herself or pull the string.. Which is cute for the first minute or so, until she gets annoyed at it..   
It's funny when she does dance though, as she just immediately stops anything she is doing to start wiggling around before looking for the source of this incredible sound... THAT MUST BE STOPPED AT ANY COST!

axisus

People these days have forgotten what the cupboard under the stairs is for. Pack the kids away for an hour or two and enjoy a stress free guitar session.