I did a lot of development outside work, but then I had a kid. Something I realized a couple weeks ago (my son is almost two, so surprising I hadn't realized th

I did a lot of development outside work, but then I had a kid. Something I realized a couple weeks ago (my son is almost two, so surprising I hadn't realized this before, but I think that shows my brain power) is that as a parent you learn to split your attention among numerous things. I rarely watched TV, preferring to either do development or play video games (RPGs, action games with stories, as compared to FPS games). However, when you have a child you realize that, unless they're in bed for the night, you can't plan how much time you'll have to yourself. That's with one child and two parents. When development, to me, is at least 30 minutes to remember where you left off and start being productive (unless you're monkeying around), and you don't know if you're going to have a child climbing on top of you in five minutes, even though he's totally into what he's doing now, you (or at least I) decide whether you want to try getting into the groove, likely to fail and then get frustrated, or find something you can do to be semi-productive. After nine hours at work, plus helping get someone ready to go in the morning, plus getting him situated when he gets home, you're also mentally exhausted. If you're doing your job right, your child is also on a schedule, which means that you're still getting up early in the morning, so staying up a few more hours is going to mean either being exhausted the next day (compounding issues) or wasting your weekend since you've been running yourself on empty all week. I used to think the same thing as you. Then I had kids, and an expanded group of family and friends. And while you can say 'these three nights are times I need to focus on my needs,' realistically life doesn't always work that way. I wish it did, though. :| Real life example: while typing this my son was in the other room. When I started to proofread my son had made his way into the kitchen and needed my hands. Now as I type this he's fine again. ~10 minutes of time, with a minute and a half break at about the 7 minute mark. Doesn't make it easy to keep my attention focused.