I love you, but mommy needs a break!

To my kids:

Becoming a parent has been the best experience of my life. It has brought me so much joy and the experience has been like no other. I can’t imagine my life any other way, or without you in it. I enjoy it so much that I made the decision to quit my job and stay home with you. It’s exhausting and hard but it’s also rewarding and in my opinion, the best job I’ll ever have. Sometimes though, I need my space, some alone time. Parenting 24/7 is all encompassing and I can’t always be “ON.”

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I love taking you to the park and getting a dose of fresh air. We all know you need to let your sillies out and run around. But if you ask me to swing you one more time after we’ve already been on the swing for 20 minutes, I’m going to walk away backwards very slowly. The park has tons of stuff for you to enjoy independently or with friends. It’s my time to sit back and supervise.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

It makes me so happy that you’re creative and love the arts. It’s something that I was passionate about growing up and I’m slowly carving out time for myself to get back into it. But if you make a huge mess and draw all over the floor or paint on your body or leave the play doh strewn about and don’t put the lids back on the markers, I will not allow you to create and make art at home anymore. I will ship you off to expensive classes out of the house where you can let your creativity (and messiness) soar.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

Nothing is more satisfying than watching you eat a nutritious meal but if you change your mind three times about what you want to eat, you can just skip your meal all together because I’m not your personal chef. I don’t have time to make you three different meals while I eat your scraps or skip a meal all together. You know how grumpy I get when I don’t eat. I get hangry!

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I will play hockey, foosball, baseball, board games, card games, puzzles and dress up with you. But not ALL of those things within 5 minutes. It’s just too many changes and my aging body and brain can’t keep up. We just sat down and we’re already getting up? Find someone your own size (and age) buddy!

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I’m all for using our imaginations and playing new games and enjoying new activities together but if you list like 100 things that I NEED to get while you sit there, I’m not going to participate. If the activity requires a box, go get one. If it requires tape, go get it yourself. I will help you create but I’m not your personal butler.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I really don’t mind if you take out all of your toys and scatter them around while you play with them. But if Lego pieces get lost and you can’t find your favourite hockey character all of a sudden, don’t ask me for my help. You will get no sympathy from me after you left that mess behind. I may have thrown it out or put it away somewhere without cataloging the exact location of where it is stored. If you don’t like it, you clean up your own mess.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I love reading to you, especially over some of the other games / activities you want us to do together. But if I read the Bubble Guppies book O.N.E  M.O.R.E  T.I.M.E, I’m going to cancel our T.V subscription and throw out the books so there will be no more trace of your beloved “Bubble”.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I know you would prefer to stay awake than go to sleep but getting the proper amount of sleep is good for you. It will provide you with both physical and mental energy for the day ahead. It’s also mommy’s quiet time. So if you come out of your room one more time after I tucked you in and you came out five times since, I’m just going to lock your door and not let you out till I wake up in the morning.

I love you, but mommy needs a break.

I know I should be enjoying all this quality time we have together whether it includes reading or getting down on the floor playing or going out to the park. I know it’s only going to be a matter of time before you’re not going to want to spend any time playing with me, or being seen in public with me, choosing your friends over me. I want to cherish every moment with you and never have to say “no” to your constant request for attention and play. I’m sure I’ll look back and regret not spending just one more minute of quality time with you. But right now I’m exhausted, I have zero patience, I’m on the verge of tears and I have (mommy) rage. That’s not how I want to be as a mom and it’s definitely not how I want you to remember me. To my dear kids, I love you so much….

But sometimes, just sometimes, mommy needs a break!