Moms need time alone. They need time spent with other moms just being women. Dinner and drinks where we don’t have to wipe anyone’s nose or butt, fuss about sitting still or yelling at the table, or give up our phone for a little bit of peace. But is a true mom’s night out really a thing?
Let me tell you how it goes does down at my house. My girlfriends and I try to have a night out once a month. Due to 2020, it’s been a while. So we coordinate a day where we can get together(most of us anyway). So first on the agenda is asking our husbands to watch the kids or setting up a babysitter. When the night out comes, I usually feed and bathe all the kids while I’m getting ready for my “night off.” I leave the house and all the kids are in an uproar because mom is leaving. “Are you coming back?” “Who is going to put us to bed?” “Who is going to say our prayers?” “When will you be back?” “Why can’t we go?” “Why do you need a night out?”
I finally get out of the house. I’ve got my hair fixed and my make up on. I get to go out and spend adult time with friends. We tell stories(mostly about how adorable our kids are), and we laugh, ohhhh how we laugh! Three hours later, I head back to my house where the hubby has held down the fort, and by held down the fort I mean successfully gotten all of the kids to bed(because I did everything else before I left)! I get to bed wayyyyyy past my usual bedtime but I feel refreshed, revived, and have a new attitude about being a mom. That is until I have to wake up the next morning with the sun and get all the kids up, fed, dressed, and off to school while the hubs sleeps in.
This happened to me recently and it got me thinking. Is there ever *really* a night off for moms? As moms, we don’t get to clock out. We are the ones that keep things running. We have routines and we follow them and everyone is better off because of it. So even on the nights where we are supposed to be “off” we still prepare everything for a smooth transition and then we are expected to get back on the job whether we’re tired or not. I am thankful for my husband who volunteers to keep the kids while I go recharge, please don’t get me wrong. It is just something I find amusing because if he goes out with the guys-there’s no planning involved. He gets dressed, leaves, hangs, and comes back with no responsibilities hanging over his head.
