-Go back to work 6-8 weeks after having the baby. The baby that you spent 9-10 months growing…
Posted by Sarah Buckley Friedberg on Thursday, April 18, 2019
The Massachusetts mom of three posted the list of society’s “to-do’s” for mothers after a long day and an “epic” tantrum from her 3-year-old.
After being shared more than 75,000 times, we have to agree, she totally nailed it.
“Maintain a clean, Pinterest worthy house,” she continues. “Take the Christmas lights down. Recycle. Be Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the birthday planner, the poop doula (seriously when will this end), the finder of lost things, the moderator of fights. Be fun. Be firm. Read books. Have dance parties.”
The list continues: Lose the baby weight, make sure to have friends — social time is SO important, get the kids to all of their doctors appointments, enroll them in every activity possible, be sure to keep up with their clothes they’re sure to grow out of the second you buy them, and don’t forget to date your spouse.
With each additional task she lists, Sarah’s sarcasm grows greater and greater, leading to more than 19,000 comments that read, “so true,” and “amen!”
Last but not least, Sarah says, “Enjoy your kids…make sure to love every minute of life because before you know it all of this will be in the past.”
She ends with this zinger, encouraging others in the journey: “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to lean OUT. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.”
Sarah assured that she does, in fact, have a “wonderful” husband — a pediatrician — who “does at least half of the work around here.”
But help or no help, the pressures of society still remain: Self-care, pre-baby bodies, and having it all together, when in reality, you just can’t.
And for Sarah, it’s the “mental load” that falls on her plate more than anything else.
And that’s something every mother can relate to better than just about anything.
