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<\/p>\nI hearby declare that every mother be entitled to a “Mommy Break” at least once a year.<\/p>\n
The well-being of her family depends on it.<\/p>\n
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As a mother, whether you are staying at home or working, you are on the job 24\/7. How is that?<\/p>\n
As a working mom, you have your duties at work, only to come home and be faced with your duties at home. When you’re at work, a part of your mind is thinking about what you need to get done at home. When you’re at home, a part of your mind is still on work.<\/p>\n
And let’s not even talk about the guilt that exists in both areas over what you STILL haven’t had time to do yet.<\/p>\n
As a stay-at-home mom, you live with your job. You can’t take a break from thinking about what you need to do because you LIVE with what you need to do. Socializing requires a concentrated effort. You don’t have built-in chatting opportunities with colleagues at work. You’re working a job that you rarely get recognition or appreciation for. And there’s no compensation\/reward program that keeps you motivated or gives you a sense of accomplishment.<\/p>\n
The thing is, we love our families and that’s what keeps us going, fighting the good fight, day after day.<\/p>\n
But this mental and emotional pressure can get exhausting over time, and that’s why you need to take what I call a “Mommy Break”.<\/p>\n
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I think God was trying to tell me something when my MacBook Pro died at the end of December. After seven and a half years of faithful (and unending) work, my display just died. After trying everything I could to revive it, I admitted defeat and sent it away to be repaired.<\/p>\n
I didn’t realize at the time that I, too, would need to be sent away to be repaired.<\/p>\n
As a homeschooling mom, I’m with my kids 24\/7. I absolutely LOVE teaching my kids, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But without school, I don’t have the option of sending my progeny out of the house for a few hours so I can get housework done. This means I have to juggle my household tasks (and rare hobbies, like this blog) while keeping half of my brain focused on what my kids are up to.<\/p>\n
Why do I need to keep my brain on my kids? Well, these posts: Pumpkin Spice Custard Trifle<\/a> and Soft Ginger Cookies with Brown Butter<\/a> should clue you in on just some of the shenanigans my kids can get up to. So, in order to give my brain (and my two little trouble makers) a little bit of rest, I enforce a manadatory naptime in the afternoon. This buys me about an hour or so of being able to use my WHOLE brain. It’s a great system, and it was working fine for me, until it wasn’t anymore.<\/p>\n My older son, Beau, has started praying (Alhamdulillah) and feels that he has outgrown nap time. This, on its own, is not so much of a problem.<\/p>\n The problem is when Kit, my four-year-old, decides to stop napping.<\/p>\n Now, while Beau doesn’t really need to nap, Kit HAS to nap otherwise he turns into a child version of the Incredible Hulk. And he’s about as reasonable too.<\/p>\n “Smash and destroy! ARRRRRRRGGGH!”<\/p>\n Yeah, it’s not fun.<\/p>\n A few weeks of this had passed and I was starting to short circuit. No lie, my right eye was literally starting to twitch.<\/p>\n I was cranky, in a bad mood, tired and completely unproductive. But I soldiered on because hey, that’s what being a mom is all about, right?<\/p>\n And then one day I came home from the hospital with Beau (he has an illness that requires regular treatment) and was about to give him his medicine when my husband casually asked which one I was giving him. When I told him, he looked at me confused.<\/p>\n “Aren’t you NOT supposed to give him that this week?”<\/p>\n Oh my GOD. He was right. I can’t believe I was about to make such a dangerous mistake.<\/p>\n WARNING: System Critical Failure. Reboot immediately.<\/p>\n That incident was enough to finally convince me that I needed a Mommy Break. In the past, every time we made plans to go somewhere, one of the kids would get sick, or we’d get last minute guests, or the weather was dangerous or, you know, the stars hadn’t aligned properly and Mars was in retrograde and obviously we can’t go now, because well, THAT would mean disaster.<\/p>\nThe “right time” for a Mommy Break is now<\/h1>\n
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