Call It Selfish But It's Better than Crazy Mom
I have been on an airplane 14 times in my life. 10 of those have been since I have become a
parent and it has been without my kids. Actually, I have gone on more vacations and
weekends away with just my husband over the past 2 in a half years than ever
before and it has been wonderful and absolutely needed.
Before kids we went on trips and spent time away together and
although it was fun, I wouldn’t call many of those adventures a necessity. They were more like a bonus. Currently, that is not the case. An occasional break from the long string of
endless “Mommy I need you’s” has become
necessity.
Without it, I turn into crazy Mom and nobody wants that;
myself included. When it gets to that point I am living in tunnel vision....
Just put your head
down, get in that mini van, and drive right through life....
In the process I
become stressed out, exhausted, frazzled,
and unhappy. That’s when it begins to
overflow into my parenting, my marriage,
my self value, and my relationships.
With occasional and planned out time away from my kids I can
avoid crazy mom mode.
Time away from my
kids actually makes me a better Mom.
I know it sounds backwards but it is true. When I am refreshed and in my right mind
(whatever that is) I am not only a better Mom, but wife, friend, daughter and the list goes on. I am more patient, loving, kind, focused, and
able to give to others. That’s the way
I desire to live my day to day.
But what about childcare?...and schedules?....and
finances? How do we logistically make it
work?
It’s pretty simple. We are
intentional. We strongly believe in it
so we make time away a priority and push aside the hundreds of excuses not
to.
We find free childcare (usually family or close friends).
We sit down together with our calendar and schedule out
months ahead.
We get creative on how much money we spend and don’t always travel. An occasional “staycation” is good for the
soul.
So be intentional, take that weekend away. You may feel guilty or judged but that’s
OK. It means you are living real life in
reverse and you just may find that you are better for it.
What are some of your favorite weekends away? Here are a handful of ours over the years.
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| Weekend Camping adventure with friends! |
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| A relaxing day out on the kayaks |
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| Eating out just the two of us |
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| Nashville, TN |
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| A weekend away in Westby |
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| Eating out with friends on one of our "staycations" |
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| Mini Golfing in the Dells |
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| Destin, FL |
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| Beach side vacation with friends (who also ditched their kiddos) |
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| Pretty sure I left my heart in Destin! |
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| Atlanta, GA |
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| Wabasha, MN |
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| "Staycation" Skiing |
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| We have even been known to complete a house project |
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| Staycation camp out in the living room (and Culver's custard of course) |
Hi Nicki - This is Lisa Chady. I can so identify with this post. We used to get a hotel room in Eau Claire or the Twin Cities and sleep as much as we could in 48 hours. Glad we get more sleep now. We still are very intentional about one weekly installment a year of our honeymoon. We have been judged - probably still are. Oh well, for all the reasons you listed it is very important for our marriage and mental health :-)
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