Irks me to see mums boasting about "childfree" nights out & "kid free weekends away"

[Bridgetjoneski]

I just find it very distasteful! I have one or two mum friends on insta & know them in real life. But at least every fortnight they have insta posts up about "kid free" night out with dh or "kid free weekend away". They are quite wealthy & both work full time, I just find it very unsavoury. Tag a dinner your hubby but no need to state the kids absense.
Is this a rising trend or just limited to the pair I know? The latest status tagging the latest dinner out was "not a child in sight"...

Well that’s put the tin lid on it. #teampissbabies all the way for me!

Honestly reading through your posts on this thread OP, its absolutely wild that you'd have the gall to call anyone's social media posts distasteful.

Thought OP hated how working parents ship their darlings to clubs rather than spend time with them?

Shouldn't you be meeting them at the gates, OP???

I'd try to just ignore it. It's normal to enjoy time without the responsibility of caring for your kids, but it does seem a little odd to go on and on about the childfree aspect. As a child, I'd have found it a bit hurtful if I'd seen or heard my parents talking about how wonderful it was to go somewhere specifically without me, almost as though my absence was the highlight of the experience.

But people can be weird. It reminds me of the ones who go on about 'wine o'clock' or give the impression that a fondness of bacon, coffee, or some other food/drink is their main personality trait.

I have a very sick spouse and am basically a 24 hour carer at this point as well as now effectively being a single parent managing everything on my own.

It would feel cruel to ‘celebrate’ the odd night out (I might get at some point) with #sickspousefreenight.

So it’s interesting that we are generally comfortable (apart from the OP) about acknowledging the ‘burden’ of our parenting role in a way that we wouldn’t do for another ‘burden’ in our lives.

On the other hand by the time our kids get around to caring about their parents social media activity they will probably be parents themselves and understand the sentiment behind the post.

Why not write an actual novel, given how much time you have?

Goodness OP! You are still going strong!
Have you not got some perfect house wifeing to do?

But then she couldn't be a SAHM, she'd be a writer 🙀

I have no issue with people enjoying child free time.
I'm not getting much of that at all at the moment and I do struggle when I don't get a break from the constant juggle! I'm knackered at the moment but I do need time to myself to refuel. My kids are going through bad bedtime phases so it doesn't even feel like I get my hour of an evening to just decompress.
That being said I do see some particularly negative accounts which are 99% negative with an odd positive shuvved in there and I find those quite sad.
It's good to share the real side of parenting but it's a fine balance I feel!

How is it Bragg? I tell my friends when I’m going on holiday, and did even before Facebook was invented. In what way is it a brag?

@ElitebookBang

What a load of bullshit and nonsense 🙄 to be judgmental about people saying its negative and it hurt children's feelings that parents and grandparents anyone who looks after children need a breaks sometimes or on a regular basis,

L.o.l 😂 one day the " children of the parents" saying what a relief it is to have a break from them with all their hashtags and that,

Guess what they will or might be one day be grown up with babies or small children of their own saying to the grandparents or and social media desperate to have a break,

Just a fact of life thats it,

It's not being negative its just being human and realising how important for your emotional psychological well being and Sanity to have a break from your offspring no matter as you ❤️ love them,
You appreaciate them even better when you get that break
so you are in a more capable mind ect to deal whatever parenthood throws at you,

Are the people you follow on instagram the two ‘middle class’ families you are obsessed with?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5000072-anyone-know-any-quintessentially-middle-class-families-are-their-lives-really-that-perfect

SouthLondonMum22
I do see your point and maybe it depends what people's friends post, who they follow on social media and their overall outlook.

If I go out with my friends I'm not husband-free or child-free though, I'm just having fun with friends. The focus is seeing my friends or whatever activity we're doing.

Most people I know are the same and might post about their sport, hobbies, date nights, nights out with friends etc and the focus is on the fun thing and the company, not making a huge deal that they left the house without a child.

Yes, she does. It’s clear on the other thread where I stopped engaging with her because of her attitude to working mothers. All the ‘farming out’, ‘not prioritising’ cliches and a clear implication that women who use child care don’t really love their kids and aren’t ’full time mums’. If they did they’d have married a rich bloke who travels for work a lot like she did so they could stay home with them.

Just met someone for cake with my nearly two year old. Slightly envied the lady whose baby was asleep in the car seat. I hate toddlers. 🤣

So you have a LOT of free time. You're a SAHM while your kids are in school all day. I don't know anyone who has as much free time as you to do all those leisure activities you listed. You aren't worn out after 40 hours at work like the women you're judging, who then probably come home to not the best moments of a child's day and have to do all the evening stuff. No wonder they celebrate a peaceful evening out.

Huh? That’s not my opinion at all. I was trying to clarify what the OP was asking. I think her issue is about social
media comments that she views as negative towards children.

I can’t quite understand your garbled message, but think you are accusing me of criticising people for their posts?

I couldn’t care less what people post online and have no issue with anyone saying they are enjoying childfree time. Read my post again.

I think you are misinterpreting what people are seeing is the problem here.

Is it half term somewhere this week?

Nope, OP just has extra time as the kids are doing their trombone kung fu class

I smell jealousy 👃

Work if you want, OP

Interesting thread.

To be honest, it is these kinds of posts that puts me off having kids (chronically on the fence here!)

All parents say "oh I adore my children" but then go #childfreenightWOOHOO and it just suggests the reality is they'd rather be without them.

For someone undecided about children I find it utterly confusing. It's like the celebration isn't the night out, it's being away from your children.

If that makes you so happy (being away from them, not the night out) why did you have them?

And it makes me doubt that parenthood really is so amazing if you're not-so-secretly thrilled to be away from your kids, to the extent that you # it on social media...

Your children are 10 and 12. Aren’t they? What time are you making the 12th ar old go to bed in order to get dinner at a reasonable hour?
I really hope it’s not true that you insist your children go off to bed stupidly early so you can go out without feeling bad - and what does the grandmother think about not being trusted?
Weird.

Insinuating?
You are having a child free night if they aren’t there.
I thought working mothers weren’t full time mums because they aren’t at home - and yet you aren’t ‘childfree’ when you are out without yours because you still have children at home?
Muddled/hypocritical thinking.