One woman’s honest essay about parenting on her day off is striking a chord with moms and dads everywhere.

“There’s no such thing as a day off when you work full-time and you’re a mom,” writes Cristina Bolusi Zawacki for Working Mother.

“As much as I long for those hard-earned weekends they can honestly be more exhausting than a full day of work.”

Parents of young children, especially multiple young children, can relate to seemingly never-ending demands of toddlers.

“My ‘day off’ started at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning,” continues Bolusi Zawacki. “Blood-curdling screams of ‘Mama! Mama!’ hijacked my sleep, which I don’t get much of as it is because I’m 6 months pregnant with our surprise baby and have a case of heartburn I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”


After she changes and feeds her daughter, her son wakes up.

“I could hear the giggling from his room and thought, how cute, how sweet. I cracked the door to say good morning and before I even opened my mouth he started shouting, ‘I don’t like you, Mommy! I want Daddy.’ Awesome. Like a fool, I tried to explain that Daddy was at work, but Mommy was home today. Yay! Right? Wrong. You cannot reason with a toddler. Nope. Just no.”

Kids, man. They can make you feel like a million bucks— or like you’re on the outside of your own family. And they don’t care.

Bolusi Zawacki isn’t the only mama dealing with this right now.

Earlier this year Genevieve Shaw Brown, a lifestyle editor for Good Morning America and ABC News, and the author of The Happiest Mommy You Know: Why Putting Your Kids First Is the LAST Thing You Should Do went viral when she used home video to show how hard motherhood is in 2020.

And it’s not just viral essays or videos…it’s science, too.

Research published in the journal Sex Roles shows Zawacki is righshows Zawacki is right. Moms really don’t get a day off: Women are more likely than men to spend their weekends watching kids or performing housework.

Motherhood is hard. And it’s harder when we’re running on little sleep, patience, and time to ourselves.

It’s okay to ask for help and to take time for yourself, mama. Your children and partner will be better for it.

We’re thankful Bolusi Zawacki shared her honest and entirely-too-relatable experience. Parenting is hard, mama. You’re definitely not alone.