Every mother needs time for herself (this does not exclude parents), to be able to rest and be able to respond better to the day to day, to the obligations and to the growth of her children. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her children! As the patient says below, “She knows her batteries need to be charged to work even better.”
The need to take time for herself
Rest for a mom should mean rest. Pause, take time for yourself. It’s not the 2 minutes that will unlock her locked in the bathroom. It is the time she needs to be alone away from everyone and everything.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love her children, her husband, her family. On the contrary, she loves them so much that she won’t stop running to take care of them, and that’s why a break is needed.
This break is not the few moments when she is alone, such as in the supermarket or in the car. The shopping and errands she runs alone are not captured as respites. Also, the length of her personal time is totally up to her, it can be 5 minutes or even 5 hours.
A need rarely respected
The fact that a mother asks for time for herself does not make her bad or inadequate in her role. On the contrary, she knows that her batteries must be charged to function even better.
Rest for each woman takes a different form. For some it may be a coffee with her friends, for others an hour at the hairdresser. It doesn’t matter at all, it’s a human thing, and moms are people who get tired of everyday life.
As a mother, many women find it difficult to admit that they need to take a break, but it is necessary to continue fulfilling obligations and raising their children.
Many times social pressures, especially if the mother is within a field of competition, either with the mother-in-law or even her own mother. In these scenarios, the mother is a symbol of strength and of always being there for others, which suffocates her freedom, since before being a mother, a woman is a person who also requires her space, intimacy and freedom.
You must not undermine your right to feel free, even being responsible and fulfilling the role of mother, a woman must and can attend to her own inner need to be free.