Weekends mean something different now that I’m a parent.

 

Photo via brandontoddwright.blogspot.com

In high school, weekends meant time to relax, sleep in, maybe work a few hours at a part-time job, and spend that part-time job money on frivolous pursuits like going to movies and bowling alleys. In college, weekends meant pretty much the same thing — with the addition of very late nights out with friends and even later hours at the library on Sunday nights trying to finish my homework before classes the next morning.

Now that I’m a married mom of three, almost four, weekends mean waking up roughly the same time as the rest of the week (early), working a few hours every day (like the rest of the week), cleaning constantly and the addition of meticulously-planned grocery and household goods shopping trips (alone — often with my iPod). Sometimes I rent a movie from Redbox. Usually my husband is off work unless he is scheduled to cover some pressing sporting event (state wresting last weekend; NBA All-Star basketball this weeked). On the nights that he’s not here until late, I stretch out in our big bed diagonally and read a book. Or watch a guilty pleasure show that he would never enjoy like “Snapped” (which pretty much terrifies him).  Don’t get me wrong. I still love the weekends. Perhaps even more now than ever. But if you would have asked five-years-ago me if the weekend I just described sounded like fun, I would have scowled.

So how do you view your weekends? Are Saturdays and Sundays roughly the same as the rest of the week to you, or do you look forward to them? Parents who work traditional M-F schedules — do your days off really feel like days off?

Leave a comment and take our weekly poll (right-hand column). I’m interested to hear more.

Let’s connect on social media too:

Mumbling Mommy on Facebook

Mumbling Mommy on Twitter

Mumbling Mommy on Pinterest

Category: Moms

Tags: free time