Overworked Mother With Burn Out Pours Her Heart Out To Husband In Frank, Pleading Letter

Feb 08, 2022 by apost team

Being a mom is a full time job, and a lot of times mothers will also work and raise their kids at the same time. As incredible as it is, these moms still need help too. One mother was at her wits end when she wasn’t getting any sleep, breastfeeding and going back to work at the same time. She needed more help, so she decided to reach out to her husband in an open letter to share with him how she was feeling. The letter was posted by Celeste Yvonne to her personal blog in January 2020.

In her letter, Celeste makes it clear that she empathizes with her husband and understands that both of their parents followed traditional gender roles in their households. But she also makes a point to say that she sees their current household running the same way and it is not working for her. Celeste asks for more help, and brings up a certain incident when she asked her husband to watch their baby so she could go to sleep early and he gave up after 20 minutes and brought the baby back to Celeste. 

With very little sleep and way too much on her plate, Celeste asked her husband to step up a little and take on more responsibility at home. While acknowledging that she should continue to cook their meals, she asks that her husband at least take care of their toddler in the mornings so she can make lunches and feed the baby. 

Celeste also asked for some more appreciation of the hard work she does for her family, and doesn’t want her husband to take it all for granted. Keep reading to learn more about this story and to see what else the mom put in her letter.

It was clear in the tone of her letter that Celeste didn’t want to shame her husband, and she acknowledged that it wasn’t his fault for assuming that she does all of the housework and childcare because that is what their own mothers did. Celeste wrote:

“I know we both watched our parents fulfill the typical mother-father roles growing up. Both our mothers were the primary caretakers and our fathers were relatively hands off. They were excellent dads, but they weren’t expected to spend a significant amount of time changing diapers, feeding, caring, and tending to the kids. Our mothers were the superwomen who maintained the family dynamics. Cooking, cleaning, and raising the children. Any help from dad was welcome, but unexpected.”

The mother added, “I see us falling into these family dynamics more and more each day. My responsibility to feed the family, keep the house clean, and take care of the kids is assumed, even as I return to work. I blame myself for most of it too. I have set the precedent that I can do it. And in truth I want to. No offense, but I’m not sure I want to know what a week’s worth of dinner would look like with you in charge.”

It also seems that Celeste feels a little guilty for not being able to do it all. However, she is only human and can’t expect to be perfect. She said, “Part of me feels like a failure for even asking. I mean, you do help. You are an amazing father, and you do a great job with the kids. And besides, this should come easy to me, right? Motherly instincts, no? But I’m human, and I’m running on five hours of sleep and tired as hell. I need you.”

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What do you think of Celeste’s letter? Can you relate to anything that she wrote about? Let us know and feel free to pass this along to other young parents in your life.