In years of writing about women, work, life, and time, I know that “mom guilt” is a topic that comes up again and again. I’m not entirely sure why. Time diary studies show that women tend to spend more time actively engaged with their kids (often a subject of said guilt) than they did 60 years ago.
But I know the topic comes up, and today’s episode of Best of Both Worlds explores the topic. Sarah interviews Dr. Jennifer Reid, a clinical psychologist with an expertise in the areas of guilt and shame. Her book, Guilt Free: Reclaiming Your Life from Unreasonable Expectations, is out now.
In the Q&A, a listener wonders exactly when in the parenting journey you can expect to sleep until you feel like waking up. If it’s any help, I’m mostly there with my youngest being six. Different kids and families are different, of course but the sleep-deprived early years tend not to last forever.
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Six sounds about right. I remember at that age (I was in residency) at some point my husband was out of town and I was too tired to function and went to bed at 8. My daughter kissed *me* goodnight and then put herself to bed in her room. I figure if she’s old enough to do that, she’s probably old enough to wake up and entertain herself for a little while, allowing a parent to sleep in a bit. She wasn’t great with getting her own food at that age though, so it’s probably not going to be past 8 or 9 until they reach that particular milestone.
@Omdg – for whatever reason my little guy isn’t great at getting his own food either (honestly, even snacks) but the good news is that he doesn’t seem to wake up starving so it works out. Of course, some times now I am up before him. Like today, for completely unknown reasons…