‘I have a secret. Every Friday, I ditch my kids in a safe space and spend the day doing things that fill my cup.’: Woman urges ‘stop shaming moms for needing a break’

mom with little girl next to mom surrounded by plants

Get more stories like this in your inbox! Sign up for Smile, our free daily good news email read by over 825K people!

“I have a secret.

Every Friday for the past year and a half, I send my kids to daycare.

I ditch them (in a safe place), and spend the day doing nothing but things that fill my cup.

Being a mom is exhausting. By the end of every day, I’m overworked and overtouched and overwhelmed. I love my kids more than anything, so in order to give them a mom who isn’t yelling loud enough for the neighborhood to hear, I ditch them. Like totally bail. Like, please only call me if someone is dying.

And at the end of those days…I’m happy because I got to be a person for the day. With my makeup done. Buying plants and eating pancakes that I didn’t have to make or share.

This story originally appeared on Love What Matters.

And my kids are happy. Happy they got out of the house and played with their friends. Made art projects and sang songs that I’m sometimes just too tired for.

Today was my Friday.

My coffee was the perfect temperature.

I got a free pancake at Snooze for my wait.

I bought a new plant from my favorite plant store in Boulder.

Nobody told me to change the pandora channel from James Taylor to Drake.

And now, I’m going to go home and hang out with my kids because I miss them and like them again.

Let’s stop shaming moms for needing a break.

And if you’re a mom, do anything you can to have some ‘you days.’

Because YOU matter, homegirl.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Gypsy Markovich. You can follow her journey on Facebook.

Courtesy of Gypsy Markovich

Get more stories like this in your inbox! Sign up for Smile, our free daily good news email read by over 825K people!

Want to be happier in just 5 minutes a day? Sign up for Morning Smile and join over 455,000+ people who start each day with good news.