The Semi-Detached Parent: Me Time
Categories: Single parenting, The Semi-Detached Parent
No matter how much I love my son (and I do, so all-consumingly that the thought of it makes me both laugh at the ridiculousness of the depths of my passion and cry with the overwhelming intensity of it all), I do sometimes want to get away from him.
To escape from being Mummy for a few days. To have time that is truly to myself, where I am free to go to the toilet without a small person bursting in to show me his Ben 10 magazine; free to sit and read a book without having the constant buzz of "Mu-mmy" in my ear.
So every now and then, I go off for a few days on my own. Doing so gives me an amazing feeling of freedom and clarity. It's not the same as the freedom I felt before becoming a mother – the protective urges and the sense of parental responsibility never leave me, but to have time alone, to walk for miles on a deserted beach, or sit on a bench people watching, to just spend a couple of days being me and not 'mummy' is amazingly restorative.
Of course I feel a pang of longing for my little boy when I phone him each evening, and the second I am back through my front door and tripping over action figures and skidding on trading cards it's as though I've never been away.
But whilst I am away, I can claim back a little bit of me that motherhood strips away.
Read more of The Semi Detached Parent columns here.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Logic Monster 8-10-2010 @ 7:48PM
I would jump at the chance of having time to myself, but like many single parents, I don't have the luxury of someone being there to look after my children in order for me to do so. My partner died nearly five years ago and my family live too far away - I can't afford to move closer.
Anyone who does have the chance for some 'me time' should consider themselves very lucky.
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Welhrd 8-11-2010 @ 4:48AM
Me time???
Have you considered putting you brat up for adoption?
Being a parent is a full time job and there is no 'Me Time'.
Get used to it, your in for the long haul!
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TJSpacemonkey 8-11-2010 @ 5:16AM
I would like even an hour to myself! I have been known to go for a 10 minute walk round the block just for some head space. It's not just single parents who don't get and time to themselves! I look after my 2 kids by myself 5 days a week then work the other two. My husband works 5 days a week and then looks after the kids the other two. We get no help from family and never get a break. So to read some daft article about a few days of me time being an essential makes me laugh. Some people haven't got a bloody clue!!!
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Michelle 8-11-2010 @ 2:01PM
Ok, we all know how hard it is to bring up children, I have two small children and my husband works away for weeks at a time and I have no family near enough to help with childcare BUT I feel that if mummy is happy then everyone is happy...so you have to work on getting ME time. I am not affluent by any means but I make sure I have a health club membership which is always a priority when budgeting, I do deals with friends to have my children and I make sure I get in my yoga and classes when I can - even getting out the house with the kids for a swim at the healthclub is good as it "gets you out the house". A weekend on my own would be wonderful and I don't begrudge anyone who gets the chance to do it. You just have
to prioritise Me time and work hard to make it happen.
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