My kids went back to school last week, and I could not be any more relieved. Yes, I think August 15th is too soon to go back to school (when I was a kid we went to school August 25th-ish to June 5th-ish, my kids get out before Memorial Day and go back mid-August) and yet it wasn’t soon enough. Why? Because nothing brings on the mom guilt like summer break for a work at home mom. I pretty much feel like a failure all summer long, even with part time child care for my two youngest.
It is what it is. We don’t go on a ton of fun adventures. This year because of different events and kids’ camps and other scheduling snafus, we didn’t even actually take a vacation.
The mom guilt is REAL. And, it decreases significantly when the kids are back in school and I can do my job during the day and be on mom duty as soon as I pick them up, and not try to do both during all our waking hours.
Still, it takes me a few weeks to recover from a summer of mom guilt. And I know, I KNOW that this crazy pressure is what I put on MYSELF—there is no one doing this to me, but me. It’s so wrong, but I’ve been unable to break the mom guilt cycle.
That is probably why I cried big, fat, hot, ugly tears over this video from mom, author and speaker Rachel Hollis. Hollis is huge right now, so I’ve been hesitant to jump on the Rachel Hollis bandwagon, but after seeing this video, I’m fully on board. She GETS it, and she got me RIGHT in the feels.
Every word she says here about mom guilt and mom joy is 100% true. I could have said them ALL myself.
Go ahead, watch it. You NEED this, Mamas.
