-"Hey dad, when do you do hobby stuff?"-"Well,..."

[SBRPearce]

Playing with blocks & Legos is a great opportunity: you and the kidlings don't have to be playing the exact same game...

I remember my brother (a 20-year veteran Green Beret) down on the floor with a friend's little daughters, showing them room-clearing drills through their dollhouse. Priceless.

[HerbyF]

I have a 3 year old & a 1 1/2 year old. Can't really do any thing when they are both up. Pretty much do all of my work when I get home from work. I work nights & the little ones are sound asleep when I get home & I need a little unwind time before crawling into bed. Some times if it is just me & the 3 year old boy I can work on some larger stuff. He likes to think he is helping me. Mostly he just tries to talk me out of some of the toys I have sitting around for future projects.

[Dr. Zombie]

Take the time from the time you spend watching TV or surfing the web.

For quite some time I have had the dogma that I have to spend half an hour doing hobby stuff a day. And it really works. I usually put in my half hour when I come home from work. That time was usually wasted zapping around on the telly or on the couch flicking through facebook, LAF and other forums. At first you have yourself convinced you need that time to unwind after a hard days work. But I have actually found that I unwind better doing hobby stuff than just being semi comatose on the couch.

[Davout]

Father of a six year old here. A dedicated work area is key, if I had to unpack everything and set it up every time I wanted to paint nothing would ever get done. Having said that I also built myself a little portable work station using a TV /laptop table and clip on light. I can bring it downstairs or into the bedroom and work while the wife watches a show. I can talk and paint so she never feels left out or that I'm abandoning her for the work room.

I'd also suggest scaling down your expectations. Your huge Napoleonic/dark ages/si fi project is probably not going to get done in the next decade, but that Frostgrave warband (or Sharpe Practice force) will see the table top.

My next goal is to convince the little one to play with me, I'm hoping I can convince her I'm cool for at least 5 or 6 more years.

[HerbyF]

My 3 year old is already asking if he can help daddy paint. 

[Davout]

I've always got a couple of spare figs primed and some old brushes ready for when my girl wants to paint with dad. For gaming I've got paper craft miniatures ready to go. she likes the art work and I don't care if they get squished or used as nerf targets.

[Bushbaby]

Start your own business, move all gear to work and use lunch hour for painting!

At home the missus just gets agitated when I drag out the gear instead of watching Homeland.

[Landsknecht]

My kids moved out, now my wife gets bored when I want to sit down to paint miniatures.  These days I like to paint miniatures with my friends on Miniature Modelling Mayhem over internet video conferencing, but since our kids have moved out of the house the wife needs constant attention.  When the kids grew to an age when dad wasn't cool I got a ton of hobby time.  My wife is crawling the walls when I attempt to get on the Paint and Chat sessions with the guys.

When the kids grow older, they will give you space.  You will no longer be cool.

[gpruitt]

For me, having a dedicated work area makes all the difference.  Sometimes I will do hobby stuff for 20 minutes, other times 2 hours.  Being able to just walk into the room and sit down and go is a big help.

As far as gaming with your kids when they get old enough?...Maybe.  If you're lucky they will be interested in your hobbies.  As a father of four boys (18, 16, 14, 11) I once thought I would have my own little gaming club.  The truth is that they will have their own interests - if you are smart you will get involved in what they want to do.  If they let you spend time with them, doing what they are interested in, you will be fortunate and should take advantage of that opportunity.

[vodkafan]

 When I am at work I plan stuff down to the smallest degree, what I will paint or model at next opportunity.
I have maybe an hour in the morning before work to paint in natural light, which I prefer.  Everything else is done at odd moments, basing, undercoating, green stuff alterations.

[Daniel36]

Three kids under 6, no time. But then again, I didn't really feel like painting anyways, spent my time on other endeavours... That I do after they go to bed, but it doesn't require a well lit place or tons of paint pots, just a headset, so it's no biggy.

[sonicReducer]

Father of 4-year-old twins and 15 month here. It took me quite a long time to rejig my hobby, especially as there are no clubs or groups nearby and I don't want to drive 30 - 45 minutes each way in the evening after a long day.

When the kids are up, nothing happens hobbywise. Once kids are in bed, my free time is usually spent on the hobby (mostly painting), watching Netflix with the missus or PC gaming. My wife works a lot in the evenings on my PC so that's usually when I put something on to listen to and sit down to paint.

I've moved over to 6mm and 10mm skirmish gaming - it's way smaller to store and far quicker to paint. I don't get to play much but I've moved to solo gaming. At these scales I can play something like Chain of Command at the end of the dining room table. Quick to setup and pack away as everything is multibased and the terrain is small. I'd love to game in 28mm but I just don't have the money, time or space but I'm happy with scaling down.

You will get there OP - make sure you have something to relax with. Work and kids can be stressful!

[Johnno]

I have a 5 & 2 year old.

Around 3.5-4 my eldest got interested so I started with some basic gaming which he enjoys.

Essentially have twins means you are f@#$ed for spare time for another couple years...

I'm fortunate enough to have an hour lunchtime at work and use that time accordingly...

Good luck

[MagpieJono]

I've got two boys 5 and 9. I paint in the evenings when they've gone to bed. Sit at a table in the living room so can still talk to the wife when she's watching tele. I watch virtually no tele any more and my painting output has increased massively.

[Landsknecht]

When I am painting and my 3 year old granddaughter wants my company I think of this poem.

The Children's Hour Related Poem Content Details
BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Between the dark and the daylight,
      When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
      That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
      The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
      And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
      Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
      And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
      Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
      To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
      A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
      They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
      O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
      They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
      Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
      In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
      Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
      Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
      And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
      In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
      Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
      And moulder in dust away!