Help! How do single parents do it?

[Ronaldo]

Make no mistake, I love my kids more than anything.

My wife just changed careers and is starting to work evenings and weekends in the health care industry (don't get me started on THAT one).

Normally, we'd swith off nights with the kids or have a "family night", so rarely if ever, would one of us watch our kids for more than a 3 night stretch.

For the long weekend however, my wife worked the whole thing, so I had to entertain our 4 year old (just turned yesterday) daughter and 5 year old son.

Thursday was uneventful, but the kids were well behaved.

Friday, we went to Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and rented a couple of DVD's to watch over the weekend. Fun night, no complaints.

Saturday, we went to the park, got slurpees and watched the DVD's we rented. Pretty much no complaints again. They were pretty well behaved.

Sunday, all hell broke loose. I was tired, and the weather was shitty, so I wanted to chill out and relax. Directing the kids to amuse themselves and play with one another did little for them or my patience. Pretty much the whole day was spent sending them to their rooms. Shitty day for me, but worse, I'm sure a shitty day for them.

Yesterday, was a little better. It was my daughter's birthday, so we got some quality time out of that and I got down and played with them more than I had on Sunday. But, basically my patience was still gone and I was exhausted. I literally couldn't wait for my wife to get home, so I could get the hell outta there.

All of this was being done, mind you, after either a full day of work on Thursday and Friday or 3 hours of work at home BEFORE they got up and out of bed.

Seeing as my wife LOVES her new career, this is apparently going to be the new routine. So, I'm curious as to how single parents handle this constant pressure to giving your children your undivided attention without blowing a gasket. And how do you find the energy? Any suggestions?