How To Avoid After-Vacation Burnout When You’re Back With Your Kids

My first child-free vacation took place after nearly 10 years of stay-at-home parenting.

It really was an ideal vacation—followed by a shock when I was back with my kids in the same space.

That shocking, even depressing ending to the break I had been starving for, was a large-scale version of my difficult transitions from quiet mid-mornings to afternoons filled with noise and disharmony.

“But you should be grateful for the hours you had to yourself”, my husband would say. And wasn’t he right? Somehow I could weave my interests in and out of baby Eliana’s schedule for 3 years at home with her until she went to Pre-K. So emerging bitter from my relaxing mornings alone really didn’t make any logical sense.

Alas, no one needs a few more hours to herself so much as the mother who just had a whole morning to herself. …Or a parent who had just come back from a fabulous child-free vacation away from home.

There was a lesson I needed to learn about the purpose of my time-off from the kids, and I got it eventually. It boils down to this:

Your vacation doesn’t affect your parenting mindset. In other words, it doesn’t make you into a better mother than you were before. Rejuvenating? Yes, in some ways. But it’s only a pause button, and when you attribute anything beyond that to your vacation, it might end up depleting your energy.

But luckily, when you take a time-off for the right reason, you can avoid the negative after-effects—ranging from slight annoyance to burnout—of taking a child-free break.

When you’ve finished watching, take a moment to reflect on the vacation you’ve just come back from or the one around the corner, ask yourself this question:

What’s going to be there when you’re back with your children?

 I’d love to hear what you have to say. Feel free to email me if you prefer. I read every single email.

Warm blessings for a summer of growth both for you and for your family,

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P.S. By now you’ve probably downloaded the fabulous, inspiringly designed 19 Secrets pdf packed with good energy from real mothers like you and me.  If you haven’t- you can get it here. And this is the link for sharing with friends who could use some true-and-tried mothering ideas for handling the long vacation hours. 🙂

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Copyright © 2014. Noga Hullman. Images of Noga by Laura Milmeister. Site design by Barak Hullman.

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