What do moms really need? You mean besides a vacation? Maybe on the beach with a fruity drink with an umbrella.
We all know that probably isn’t happening. The average full-time job in the United States is between 10-19 vacation days. I am willing to wager a guess that most moms out would be thrilled with just a few vacation days right now. What about a mental health day? I know I could use at least one of those a month.
Other than a vacation, moms just need a break.
Whether it’s for a couple hours for date night with your spouse, or just to run some errands alone, we need some time away from the neediness of our children. We need to feel like our old selves for just a minute. Time to take a breath and just wander the aisles of target. Although I treasure all the time as a family, I need my down time. And that’s okay.
As moms, we need people in our lives to acknowledge the blessing of being a mom, but also the stress that comes with the 24-7-365 job. We need someone to talk to when the days are long and bedtime can’t come soon enough. Whether that is your spouse or a good girl-friend to unwind and discuss the day with, it is needed for sure.
We need someone to tell us we aren’t totally screwing this up. To tell us that our children will, in fact, be fully functioning members of society even if they can’t read Harry Potter before kindergarten. We need to know that missing that token first day of school picture isn’t going to make our child think we don’t love them. Or cause them to need years of therapy.
Being a mom is the most amazing and yet trying job out there. There are very few jobs where you can run the gamut of emotions in just minutes. One minute your kissing their sweet heads while they cuddle with you on the couch and the next minute, they have taken a sharpie to your new leather couch. That is just exhausting mentally.
The bottom line, we need support, on both the good and bad days, a break and a hug. And maybe some wine.
