Cha. 5 is a hard age. They still need almost constant supervision, can rarely be trusted for more than a few minutes on their own (because they're so durn mobile, and linear thinking doesn't generally click for another year or two) but unlike toddlers that you can pop into a playpen or high chair for a few minutes to breathe, or count on a nap coming, it's being "on" from the moment they wake until the moment they go to bed. That they're not actively trying to kill themselves 24/7 makes them a huge relief for parents (toddlers are all on accidental suicide watch, that the species survives is kind of mind boggling) on the one hand, but the other... complete and total lack of breaks throughout the day gets very eye crossing. Like collapse face first into the couch groaning the moment they go to bed, and paints a target for your head on the drywall for :banghead: during the course of the day eye-crossing exhaustion. When that last nap gets dropped at age 3 or 4 most parents cry. For a few months. And they've had years to get used to being responsible 24/7. It's about a zillion times harder when it's other people's kids.
Really. This is a hard age for everyone. It's not just you.
My very strong suggestion is to build in some breaks for yourself, throughout the day. Watching young children is like any other paid job... With horrendous hours. 12-16 hour shifts are just brutal. No two ways about it. Building in breaks -at a bare minimum- means that they're active and engaged doing something (including being plugged into a movie for some downtime! It's their attention being elsewhere, but their bums safely ensconced on the floor/couch -or someone else being responsible- that relieves the pressure of needing to be eyes-on), but even if you have your eyes on them, if they're at the playground for an hour, just the fact that you're not having to engage constantly is a major relief.
Since you're watching someone else's children, you can't really hire help in the day -without their parents permission- which is what most of us (as parents) do. Whether it's a half day camp, preschool, trading play dates wih other parents, music lessons, sports, art, etc... Most of us give our children to someone else to watch for at least an hour almost every day. Just so we don't lose our minds, can take a lunch break (@5pm? Pfft. It's my first break in 12 hours, it's my lunch!), go to the grocery store on our own, etc. So very very well done on calling in reinforcements. That's not a failure. That's being smart.
Young children are just hugely stressful, draining, & exhausting. And I LOVE kids, spent almost a decade working with them in various capacities. But it's work. It's hard, hard, hard work.
They don't just add to the stress cup. They put a straw in and blow bubbles.
