Moms Don't Get Vacations

Moms don’t get vacations, not once their children are born. They have other priorities in life. Those days of relaxing and doing nothing are a thing of the past. Nights out and parties are rare, too. Being a mom involves a lot of responsibilities.

Little by little, you set aside days out and put vacations to the back of your mind. Getting up at midday might once have been the most divine thing, or staying in watching movies without any obligation to get up and make dinner. But that was before you were pregnant.

Although most women grow up wanting to form a family of their own, becoming a mother means leaving many things behind. From now on, you won’t be able to do everything you want, because you will be busy caring for your little one.

Even so, looking after your child, caring for them, protecting them and playing with them gives a new meaning to enjoying life.

A mother’s responsibilities are endless, but the vast majority of them are things she does happily, out of love. Mom doesn’t get vacations because, for her, it is impossible not to do the thing that is most important to her: taking care of her family.

Once the kids are going to school, you will be able to relax a little. But in fact, you might find that you are already used to the things that you do for your children. You might even get bored without them. Being busy all day is what keeps you going.

At those rare times when there’s nothing to do, you look for some little chore to keep busy. It might even seem like you are just killing time until you need to pick the kids up from school. A mother might say that she can’t ever really rest unless her little ones are in her sight.

Vacations are different for mom

When you are a mom, vacations as you once knew them are a thing of the past. You can’t always switch off, and will often be tense and tired from pacing back and forth, trying to get the baby to sleep.

When you think about it, mom is often the one missing from the family photos: she was the one behind the camera, or she was off making lunch. Your routine on days off might look something like this:

• During the weekends, when the children are not in school, you will still be busy at home.
• You or your partner still has to get up early to make breakfast.
• Days out will be exhausting, however much you enjoy spending time with your family.
• You will have to plan vacations in advance around school semesters.

And when you finally get some time to go away, you’ll hear: “Why can’t you relax, we’re on vacation?” But even on vacation, there is still so much to be taken care of. Your days become longer, without school to get the kids out of the house.

Take a day off and go to the beach, for example. We moms are on high alert whenever the children go near the water. We worry about about drowning, or at the very least, sunburn. Sometimes it’s best just to stay with them all the time while they play, to avoid accidents and stop them from eating mouthfuls of sand.

Perhaps the only time when we can really relax is when our relatives visit, and keep an eye on the children while we relax or chat for a while. However, not all of us have access to this kind of support.

Will mom ever get time off?

Of course, vacations will return once your children are old enough to be independent. However, there will always be something that your children need your help with, one way or another.

You will always call and check up on them, to make sure they are safe, that they are eating well, that they have done their homework. A mother’s work is never over, and when everyone else is on vacation, she is hard at work.

Being a mother is a 24/7 job with no time off, but it is a rewarding one. You will get your payment in smiles and sloppy kisses, in fun and games that more than make up for your lost free time. After all, being a mother is the hardest and the most important job in the world.