Mom’s Super Honest Post About Being a Stay-at-Home Parent Goes Viral
It also sheds a light on what parenting can be like during the pandemic.
It’s a hard time out there for stay-at-home parents. In normal, pre-coronavirus (and maybe one-day post-coronavirus?!) it can be difficult taking care of a child all day, often without communicating with another adult for hours on end and losing one’s sense of privacy and individuality, as there’s a never-ending cycle of diapers that need changing, laundry to wash, and a crying kid to attend to. But the work is especially hard now, as daily lives have become riddled with uncertainty and isolation. One stay-at-home mom’s now-viral Facebook post is important reading, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic since parents are facing even more stressors and demands on their time.
The poster, a Facebook user named Bridgette Anne, begins her January 30 post by outlining some of people’s assumptions about stay-at-home parenting, especially stay-at-home moms (SAHM), “Everyone thinks being a stay at home mom full time is easy.” But the truth, she says, is that “it’s fucking lonely and overwhelming.”
Anne goes on to talk about some of the things that people who aren’t stay-at-home parents aren’t always fully aware of, like “You forget what it means or feels like to be an individual; because your entire existence now revolves around that child,” and when a child might require constant attention, she says, “Most of us [parents] don’t even have the luxury to cry and be frustrated in peace and when we do break down people question it.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has more and more people working from home, and the post serves as a great reminder that more folks should consider domestic work real work. Now is a great time to “check in on your SAHM friends,” as Anne writes.
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