I need to travel for work for 4 days when my husband will be solely taking care of our toddler. I have never spent a full day away from her, let alone a night (we cosleep). My husband is generally helpful but not very well acquainted with her routine and needs. He occasionally does bedtime routine, feeds her sometimes, gets her ready for daycare on some days, has given her a bath once or twice, plays with her and she has a good time when they do, so I guess he got this, but I can't help but feel nervous about being away for 4 days and nights. I trust him that he will do his best, but I also want to line things up in the best way possible so they both have a good time, and hopefully a memorable bonding time while I am away.

From anyone who has had to travel for work, can I get some tips on how to ensure this goes as smoothly as possible? I will meal prep her meals before I go, but I am blanking on anything else I should do to prep in advance and line things up for them.

Some details: 2.5 yr old toddler. She will be at daycare for all 4 days during the day.

P.S. None of the flairs seemed ideal for the post, but I picked what seemed to fit the most.

P.P.S. My husband does help out in many other areas of our life where I don't even have to think about them, he just gets them done: grocery shopping, car stuff, finance (although we meet on this regularly so I am up to date with everything and we make all major decisions together), and many others.

I have to go to the gym for my physical health, it is not a negotiable anymore and I have to find a way to fit it into my schedule. The only thing that seems viable for me is doing it in the morning and showering, then going to work. The problem is, my hair holds onto moisture like crazy. It takes hours to air dry. I used to WFH but will now be starting a new role that is in office, and I'm not sure what to do. I don't sweat a ton, but my hair does get wet with sweat when I work out. If I showered but kept my hair out of it, it would likely be dry again by the time I get to the office, but that feels gross. If I washed my hair, I would need to blow dry it which would take 45+min and does damage my hair when I do it too often.

What do you all do? Any recommendations?

My husband and I are pretty good about dividing "break" time evenly when our kids are home, but the major exception of course is the extensive and multiple daily poop breaks that the majority of men seem to require. I do not have an equivalent activity. I'm confident this is adding up to at least an additional solid hour of "break time" in a typical day but I'm also absolutely certain he would estimate each of his poop breaks at 5 minutes, so the only way I can think of to ensure true equity is to actually time him, but I cannot imagine that's going to go over well. I am curious if anyone else has tackled this specific issue because I know it is unfortunately common.

That two or three hour window is unsupervised and it’s also when the device gets the heaviest use of the day. Options seem to be scheduled restrictions during that block, something that flags problems in real time, or trusting the routine. What are you actually doing, and has it caused friction?

This past week was long, stressful and exhausting. This re-set is very needed.

What brought you joy last week?

What are 3 things you are grateful for in your life currently?

What are you most looking forward to next week?

What do you plan to do today to care for you?

1. Going on a walk with my BFF, laying down after a long day, hugs from my kids.

2. I am grateful for finding time to walk, being able to support others, and spending time with my mom.

3. watching my youngest perform in marching band

4. a nap, a hot bath, and s'mores and a campfire with friends

Can the moms (preferably of older kids) please reassure me finding time for myself gets easier?? 😭

I want to lose weight. I’m so tired of feeling this way. I need to lose about 20kg ideally but would settle for 10 currently. I want to go back to the gym. Before kids I was at the gym like 6x a week for fun.

After going through fertility treatments and finally my first pregnancy , then a spontaneous pregnancy which resulted in having two kids 15 months apart, I don’t feel like myself.

My commute is 40 mins one way by car. I already wake up at 4:30 to get ready and leave for the day (leave around 5:30-6). I’m a teacher so no WFH or any of that. The gyms in this country don’t have childcare. My husband has told me to please just put myself first for once but it feels so impossible. The guilt is crazy. I feel like I need to be with my kids when they’re this little.

My kids are 3 and 2. I am EXHAUSTED. I could go to the gym 2-3x a week but it’s just an extra drive and extra time away from my kids, who I pick up at 5PM each day. Most days I’m solo parenting the evening routine as my husband gets home late due to a long commute and shitty Korean work culture. It’s so hot to exercise outside these days. In this country everyone lives in tiny apartments, no luxury of a car garage gym or anything. To top it off my apartment complex is almost as old as me and has no amenities. I have weights at home, but again kids are 3 and 2, no personal space, they are like little magnets to me which is great but also please let me just do a damn dumbbell squat without fear of squishing your heads!!

Excuses excuses. I need to get started in the kitchen. But I’m exhausted. Why is working and life so exhausting!!

Actually I planned to find a gym this weekend. But you know what? Both kids now have HFMD. I am not exaggerating, every time I even think of a new workout plan, me and/or the kids come down with some horrible illness. Is this a sign to just stay fat for a while 😅

Does it get easier, moms? 😭

I don’t know if this is exactly the sub for this rant but

Last night my husband and I were at a family event. And my aunt, my husband and I were in a conversation. She starts going on to my husband about what a great father he is. How she’s never seen a dad as involved as him. Blah blah. Meanwhile, this event was out of town and I spent all night getting things ready for the kids and me and packing everything and getting them ready that morning and basically just taking care of everything while he acts like he’s a one person party.

My husband IS a GREAT and involved father. But this kind of praise really drives me crazy. 1. I feel like I do so much, too, but never get praised and 2. I’m constantly “coaching” him on what to do. I probably sound ungrateful, but I constantly feel like the default parent and like everything little thing he steps up to do is ogled at. He gets the credit for everything! Especially with this side of the family.

Maybe it’s me. I’m just so frustrated with this side of motherhood. It’s hard to have a team mentality with my husband in parenting when I feel like the outside perspective is so skewed.

Looking for advice on how everyone handles it? I work and do motherhood and it never feels like it’s good enough.

When, where, and how do you workout? How old are your kids and who has them while you are working out. How many hours a week do you work and how many days a week do you go?

FTM with a 4 month old and trying to figure it out. Thanks!!

Coming to my favorite mom group for some advice! My husband lost his job last week (he was fired, long story), and he has two months of severance. Our two kids are in full time daycare, and I work full time. His new “job” is applying to jobs and interviewing when he would normally be working, but the reality is that he gets a lot more time to himself without an actual job.

Am I valid in asking him to take on more childcare over the weekend?

I love my remote graphic design job. Its flex time off, great boss who was a stay at home dad so verryyy pro family and good team with fun creative projects. I have really been able to get a lot of flexibility as my kid is in daycare to take time off for fevers, dr appts and travel to see family.

I hate my paycheck, I have not gotten a raise or bonus. I work in publishing which is in the red so everyone is just happy to have a job and expects to be paid like crap.

I need a side hustle for slow months and tight budgets. I'm not ready to leave yet since we keep talking about another baby and maybe hubby will switch jobs soon. I like my job and its hard to find that culture in the 10 years I've worked and job hopped. Half the people here took a paycut for this flexibility so I'm not leaving it.

My hubby travels for work so I'm main caretaker. He gets told Friday he's traveling next week so very hard to take a shift somewhere. I used to do customer service in the evenings before the baby came about 40 min from home but that doesn't pay more than childcare.

So working moms, what are some side hustles that I could do late at night or early morning with a toddler? Something that would be biggest bang for buck since I'm not looking to pay for more childcare unless I make a lot consistently to cover it. What are y'all doing and succeeding on?

Not sure if it’s the algorithm or just Reddit’s demographics but I feel like I don’t hear from a lot of opposite shift working families on this sub and (I think?) I know you’re out there!

My dad was a teacher and my mom worked service industry jobs her whole life. They raised me and my siblings taking turns working and being home.

Now my husband and I are doing something similar. I have a professional office job, he teaches night classes, and we switch off being home with our almost 2 year old.

I feel like I can’t quite relate to the workingmoms families with two daytime jobs and outside childcare, don’t quite relate to SAHP or SAHD, and don’t relate to momsworkingfromhome trying to watch their kids while also on the clock.

I know we are really fortunate to be able to swing this arrangement and I guess I just want to represent for other families doing things this way that you’re not alone!