This is Why January is Hard on Stay at Home Moms
January 1st Get’s All the Love
It quite literally and thanks to the New Year’s Resolution Trend that’s been hanging around, figuratively, signifies a new year. This, for many people can mean a fresh start. They are eager to leave what was lost behind and have higher hopes for the year ahead. Many people, however, based on statistics, are not Stay at Home Moms. The start of the new year hits differently for us, and sometimes it hurts! This is why January can be so hard!
The Holiday Hangover is still hanging around
Winter break in our area started on December 16th. Which, based on my calculations meant my kids would be in my home WITH NOTHING TO DO for almost three weeks. During this time, which is typically crunch time for Santa, this mom also had to find a way to entertain the children and allow them to expend their energy indoors, because the average temperature this December in Charlotte was freezing with a chance of hail. Although the break might have been nice for the kids, they were more than ready, whether they knew it or not, to go back to school in January. Moms in their thirties aren’t always as resilient. It may have only been three weeks of hardcore round the clock parenting, but it could take me till March to recover.
Pressure to set goals
While the rest of the world is focusing on making New Year’s Resolutions happen, Stay at Home Moms are focusing on making today happen. As a mom, I am not always my number one priority, which makes personal goal setting challenging. Those tiny humans I created come first, most of the time. Throw in different schedules, sicknesses and just the inconsistencies in general of life while raising kids and setting myself to a high and hard standard sometimes just means setting myself up for failure. I’m all about looking at the big picture, but as a Stay at Home Mom, I am also all about taking things one day, or even one snack at a time.
Christmas Clean-Up Crew
After all of the dust settles from the Holidays, what I am left with is pine needles. And candy canes, and Christmas décor, and empty boxes, and twelve new Lego sets each with 4,000 pieces that need a home in my home. I saw a mom on Instagram who posted Mid December documenting a toy purge she did with her kids to make room for the new toys Santa was going to bring. One word for that, goals. However unrealistic they may be.
The isolation is real
If normal Stay at Home Mom Isolation is hurts, January Stay at Home Mom isolation hurts like something that my normal combo of Day Quil, Ibuprofen, Holistic medicine balls, Elderberry combo cannot even begin to help with. It’s real. Because we’re not regularly hitting up pools and parks, and we are a Fall-Spring sport family, I don’t get the small daily dose of socialization with other adult humans to remind me I’m not a butt wiping chicken nugget making robot. If this sounds depressing, know that you’re right, it is.
Speaking of depression
Seasonal depression in Stay at Home Moms is real. Okay, SAD (seasonal affective disorder) is actually real. Which, not to downplay its seriousness, I feel that I am one more freezing rain filled week away from. January is dark and cold. I’m bloated from Halloween through Christmas Candy, and my body is seriously lacking in Vitamin D. Until I can figure out a way to fly south with the Snowbirds sans children, I suppose taking the ring light in to the steamed-out bathroom will be the closest to thing to the light, heat, and humidity of South Florida that I am going to get.
Not unlike the seasons of the year, the season of life of a mom that involves playing Santa, coordinating activities, toy purging, and chicken nugget making doesn’t last forever. There will be a time when January doesn’t mean mom burnout and stomach bugs. When that year comes, I’m sure to miss the magical and fun filled parts of parenting, but not enough to not make a New Year’s Resolution to hop on a plane January 1st and fly south with the Snowbirds for the winter.