Just When I Thought Mommy Time Outs Were A Joke, One Saved Me.





There was a time in my life when I looked forward to the weekend. Ah yes, two nights and two days to do whatever I wanted. Sleep as long as I wanted. Eat when I wanted. Indeed, weekends were fantastic!

Then, I had a child.

It was almost instant. My weekends fell into the toilet.

The Weekend after children become this 48-hour nonstop barrage of Mommy!, Mommy!, Mommy!,  birthday parties, sporting events, and everything in between. Not to mention the getting to stay up late part, completely wiping out any chance for a relaxing weekend.

Don't get me wrong, I love my son and the extra time the weekend affords us, HOWEVER, non-stop is too much.

Recently, I've found myself dreading the weekends. My restful, schedule-less weekends were all but gone. Replaced by a non-stop schedule. Talk about, SUCKS!

After four years of my weekends progressively becoming more about my son and his needs and events and less about me enjoying the free time, I've come to realize, IT'S ALL MY FAULT!

Sure, jam packed busy kid weekends are almost inevitable for most parents, but that doesn't mean there's no time for me!

This past weekend, I was not feeling so awesome but still tried to push through the usual insanity. What a stupidass idea that was.

Not only was I exhausted, I was annoyed with myself for feeling like I have to be on 100% during the weekends, even when I feel crap. Why? Will my kid shrivel up and fade away? No, of course not!

Over trying to be super weekend-mom, I sought refuge in my bed. My son was very close behind. I wanted to scream! Instead, I told him Mommy was having a time out, and that I had to be left alone, just like when he was in time out.



The weirdest thing happened. He backed off. He asked how many minutes I had and told him 20, and set my phone timer just like I do with his timeouts.

Holy shit, he walked out. Left my bedroom. Gone. Somehow, I felt like I witnessed a miracle.

I laid quietly for twenty minutes. Alone.

So Weird.

I was enjoying the solitude so much, I completely forgot about the timer, so when it went off, I jumped. I wasn't the only one. Ollie came bouncing in excited to let me know I could get out of time out.

Truth be told, he was playing with FTD, so I may have been left alone much longer if not for the alarm, however, I couldn't help but think I stumbled onto a huge breakthrough, Mommy time outs actually work!

Long story short, I had three time outs over the weekend, and all went the same. I put myself in timeout, my son left me alone as time out protocol states. Most of all, I had a time block to do my own thing.

I'm already looking forward to next weekend and what I want to use my timeouts for.  Most likely a chance to lay in bed and read a book or watch a show on HGTV uninterrupted. If you need a time out to enjoy yourself and breathe, I cannot recommend enough putting yourself in time out. It totally works!









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April is an award-winning writer and blogger. Her work has been published in over ten countries and four languages. From books to newspapers, to print/online magazines and everything in between, you can find her work. For more on April, Visit AprilMcCormick.com