Reno Moms Blog Building a Community of Moms in the Biggest Little City
On the other side…
Ladies, I made it. I survived. Not only did I survive, but I didn’t even realize that I had actually made it until I was a few months past “making it.” What is “it”, you might be wondering?
Nap time.
Ugh. For real. After 10 years (TEN!!!), I can now run straight through the day without worry or care about missing an imperative 1:00 nap time that would determine the ease (or lack thereof) for the rest of my day.
For 10 years, I skipped 1:00 pm activities. Parties on a Saturday at 12:30? Nope (are you even a toddler parent if you do this?). Late lunches on a Sunday? Heck no….I’d like an enjoyable evening without toddler meltdowns, thank you very much.
For 10 years, I rushed home at 12:30, feeding snacks galore to the toddler in the backseat I was determined would NOT fall asleep and ruin my plans for the rest of the day with an ill-timed five-minute car nap.
For 10 years, I missed out on afternoon activities due to an over sleeping toddler I didn’t dare wake up.
For 10 years, we had nap time. And now it’s done.
You guys, I swear I just looked around one day and realized, “Holy crap, it’s 1:30, and my kids are playing and I’m cleaning…when did this happen?”
When moms of older kids say “this too shall pass,” they don’t mean it to be snobby or know-it-alls. They mean that before you know it, and even though you don’t realize it as it happens, it will be gone. That season will be over and done, and you will casually move on without a second thought. It will seem like a tiny little piece of your life as a mom.
I’m not sure what will change next for me as a mom of a 10-, 8-, 6-, and 4-year-old, but my guess is it will come and go far too quickly. My young children will soon become teenagers who go on to become adults who leave me to go live their lives.
Nap times will pass. And while you may think now about how much you love and cherish nap times (as you should), I promise you, not needing nap times at all is a million times better.
So goodbye, nap time for small children. And hello, nap time for ME (hey, they’re big now…it’s my turn for naps).
I think I’ll like this season.
