When the going gets tough, the tough take a nap.
Parenting is one of the hardest jobs you’ll ever have, and the thing is, it never really ends. If you’re not getting up in the wee hours with a newborn, you’re getting up early with a cranky toddler or staying up late to ferry a tween home from a friend’s house. A good parent is there for their kids twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And let’s face it: it’s pretty exhausting.
That’s where the naps come in.
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While at her child’s youth soccer game, author Glennon Doyle Melton witnessed an exhausted mother who decided to lie down on the sidelines and take a nap, right then and there. Laughingly, Glennon immediately dubbed the woman a hero.
Instagram
Glennon shared the picture on Instagram, stating earnestly:
“On this Thursday morning: I give you MY NEW HERO: This soccer mom at my kid’s last game.
Whilst all the other moms stood on the sidelines with great concern and worry and volume: this hero laid her body down on the ground, her head down on her purse, and her jacket over her face – and napped. Every once in a while, the sideline would wake her and she’d raise her arm and say: yay. I love her.
Her entire existence said: I’m showing up for my kid. But I’m not gonna pretend I’m not exhausted about It.”
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She’s so right, isn’t she? Who among us hasn’t needed a little “disco nap” now and then? And she still gets credit for showing up to the game! This is what we busy moms call “multi-tasking.”
Wikimedia Commons
But Glennon wasn’t finished praising this mom for her excellent time management skills. She went on to encourage all women to unabashedly rest when they need to rest. People tend to push themselves too hard these days; sometimes we all just need a little nap!
“TO WOMEN WHO FREAKING REST WHEN THEY’RE TIRED….
Let us know them. Let us raise them. Let us be them.
I would like to formally nominate this Soccer Mom Hero as the President of the Women Who Have Run Out Of Effs To Give Club. I will be Secretary in Charge of Meetings. There will be no meetings.
I salute you.
#OOFClub”
Thank you, Glennon, for reminding us that it’s okay to take a break sometimes! And thank you, sleepy soccer mom, for showing us how it’s done.
Share this story with a busy mom to spread the word: naps are where it’s at!
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