I don't understand...

...how parents do it. This past Saturday I babysat my nephew, Marcus, for about 6 hours. Luckily for the first hour or so, my husband was there to help entertain him while I cooked dinner. Marcus is 4 years old and a bit of a handful. He tires quickly of activities and has to move on to something totally different within 5 minutes. We have a lot of toys at our house, but of course he really doesn't want to play with those. He'd rather get into things that are breakable or not for kids like the computer and video games. And you have to keep a constant eye on him or he is into the candy (it was Easter so candy was abundant), going upstairs for something or just off doing something mischievous. So, in order to keep him busy here is what we did:

• We colored
• We ate dinner
• We played board games
• We read comic books
• We went to the park
• We walked around the neighborhood
• We played catch
• We played make-believe outside for about an hour
• And finally, because I was so exhausted, I gave in and let him play video games

Marcus is obsessed with playing mario cart and for a 4 year old, he's pretty dang good. I know there are better things for a 4 year old to do than to play video games, but it keeps him busy and content for a good while and all I have to do is sit on the couch and watch him. I couldn't really get anything else done besides just watching him play or playing with him. And this is where I can't, for the life of me, understand how parents do it 24/7. Even with 2 people it was difficult to get anything else done while he was there. How do they clean, cook, work on things, or even take a shower and get ready?! It is seriously beyond me. He doesn't take naps anymore nor does he go to bed early - he is always going, going, going. And of course, he's really difficult to ignore, so that's not an option. I just don't get how parents do it. I'm in awe that Marcus' parents haven't fallen over and died from exhaustion, because after just 6 hours I was ready to collapse.