Although I've been married for six months, I feel like I am still a single parent--except the added inconvenience of keeping two lively boys from disturbing my third-shift officer husband's sleep. I'm beginning to believe that he is the world's lightest sleeper and the boys were exchanged at birth with children from the Chaos family. Of course, they aren't the only ones who add to the volume.

One early afternoon, I decided the house needed to be cleaned. Thankfully the boys were at school and I had a couple hours to organize before they got home creating a tornado once again. So, I dusted, swept, mopped, and cleaned the guest bathroom. Sneaking into our bedroom to the master bathroom, the first thing I did was knock over a picture on the counter. Then, I hit the closet door with the mop handle, knocking it into the wall. Holding my breath, I peeked around the corner to make sure my husband was still a motionless lump in the bed. He was. That is, until two of our cats, playing commando exploded from their hiding places, colliding right above the bed. They landed on my husband, clutching each other with four feet, and then used his body to propel into the air and out the door. All right before I tripped over the dresser, knocking over a decorative bowl of rocks.

I take refuge in the fact I am not alone. I don't know if it's a communal-type comfort or more of a ha-ha, I'm-not-the-only-one-type vindication. Either way, two out of the three shifts officers are offered wreak havoc on family life. Trying to keep normal daytime activities from disturbing your spouse in the middle of their night adds stress to the difficult occupation of an officer's spouse. Thankfully, there are ways to combat the inconvenience.

Normal Days

Not that there really are such things, but these are the days where your officer works only their scheduled hours. And isn't held over. And doesn't have court. Or training. Many second shift officers come home around midnight. If your children are still young and you don't work a nine-to-five type job, try to adjust your family's hours to match your officer's. Most officers like to come home to lights on and be able to kiss their children goodnight. Then, spend quiet time with their spouse and maybe even have intimacy. For third shift officers, allow them to spend a few minutes with the children in the morning and take them to school. After all, if you are anything like me, I am more than happy to let my fully clothed husband deal with the traffic around the school. Once they get home and ready to sleep, there are a few things you can do. After all, sleep deprivation adds another threat from slow reaction time to vehicle accidents.