Mom Says She Stops Parenting After 7:30, And Gets Called ‘Selfish’
Being a mom is undeniably a full-time job. While all other jobs get to end at 5 p.m. or get a day off, is it truly unfair to need the same kind of downtime as a mom? After all, they're just human beings who can also burn out. Moms need to recharge to be able to continue to do their jobs well. For this mom of four, that means that parenting stops after 7:30 every night.
Meet Instagram Influencer And Parenting Blogger, Constance Hall
She is not a regular mom, she is a cool mom. Although she started out as just a mommy blogger, the mother of five published her own book. It's a heartfelt rant about shaming that aligns with her controversial yet empowering advice for mothers.
She has earned a spot as cast on Dancing With The Stars and has her own clothing line for her fans who she calls her Queens.
To Be The Mom Who Can Do It All, You Need To Cut A Few Corners
Constance wouldn't have been able to gain her 427 thousand followers on Instagram and 1.2 million on Facebook if she hadn't had some time for herself to work on it.
To do so, she said she checks out around 7.30 p.m. after a long day of parenting to focus on her own needs and career.
She Says She Is Her Kids' Slave And Needs A Break
"I'm not your mum; I'm not here. I’m not your slave, I’m just a statue of a woman who an hour ago wiped your bum and is now drinking wine chatting on the phone to her sister," Constance explains.
The mom takes the rest of the day to do press, advertise for her clothing line, or simply relax.
Any Non-Emergency After 7:30 Is Up To The Kids
Constance says that anything that is not an emergency after she clocks out is up to her kids to do.
For example, if they have clean clothes in their laundry bucket, it is up to them to fold it.
She Likes To Also Give Her Kids Freedom Of Choice, Even For Bathtime
Constance applies the same philosophy to her kids. If she can choose to stop being a mom at 7:30, then her kids can choose whether they want to shower every day.
If they don't feel like it that day or it's getting them down, she lets them skip that part of their routine and face the consequences at school if they smell.
She Even Has A Trick To Avoid Dishes
Cutting corners is a whole lifestyle that makes every day easier for Constance. When it comes to dinnertime, she opts for the cheaper and more practical picnic-style dinner.
She encourages her kids to feast with their hands to avoid dishes, as she says many other cultures do.
It's Not The First Time She Has Made Headlines With Her Advice For Moms
In 2016, Constance made the rounds with an emotional Facebook post about living with post-natal depression
She cried to struggling mothers and wives saying, "To the woman with piles of dishes and washing who walks straight out the door for a coffee at her friend's, I salute you. Being a good mum or wife or human does NOT mean spending eternity cleaning your house."
Some Parents Praise Her Methods
Constance's methods echoed with many parents, especially ones who need to make a living for their kids. One parent says that they put all four of their kids to bed at 6 p.m. in winter, 7 p.m. in summer, from birth.
"They knew no different. I found I could cope with anything all day, knowing I had time out after 6 p.m. It worked for 10–12 yrs. I was a widow."
While Others Found Her Selfish
Naturally, some parents disagreed, as they felt that a mother's job is not like any other 9–5 career. Someone even commented, "She sounds like she cares more about herself than her kids!!"
Some went as far as alerting social services to her being an unfit mother.
She Is Unbothered
Constance doesn't pay much attention to the negative comments, nor does she bother to address them.
Instead, her recent posts show that she continues to thrive in her career, namely her clothing line, while featuring her kids in many of her posts to get the best of both worlds.
Mom's Bathroom Pushup Punishment Goes Viral On Facebook
The way that people think about punishing their children changes all the time. The more we learn about child psychology and the more we grow as individual parents, the more we learn about how to be a supportive parent.
Even with this being the case, people are always going to have very different ideas about what is OK and what isn't.
This Mom Posted Something On Facebook That Was Pretty Controversial
She wrote that she saw a mom punishing her kids in a store by making them do pushups in the bathroom.
Molly Wooden, who made the post, fully supports the discipline she saw this mom give her kids and congratulates her on a job well done.
She Also Posted A Picture Of The Incident
The picture is of her kid on the floor doing pushups as she watches. It's an interesting sight to see.
Now, when Molly Wooden posted the picture, she didn't expect that it was going to rack up more than 14,000 comments and 72,000 shares. It also sparked a lot of conversation.
People Were Supportive Of Her
There are people in the comments who were showing their support with this mom saying that it will help her kids grow up into good men.
There were even people in the comments saying that anyone who had a problem with it doesn't have kids, and if they did, they would see it differently.
Someone Made A Comparison With Chores
One person pointed out that the bathroom pushups weren't that much different than a kid having to do extra chores.
Lots of people also talked about how it works for sports teams, and a lot of parents have adopted those methods.
Of Course, Not Everyone Thought It Was Wise
As much as there were people supporting this woman, there were also people who thought that it crossed a line.
If kids don't like shopping, then why take them with you if you know they're going to be bad? Some people even said that it was this kind of behavior that alienated them from their own parents. In the end, people remained pretty divided.
