Going ‘out out’ when you are a parent.

Before having children, we all at some stage liked to go out and enjoy ourselves (sometimes a little too much!).

When it comes to be being a mum as soon as you get those 2 lines on a pregnancy test, you’re going out and drinking ends. At least for 9 months anyway. The parent guilt of going out and leaving your children with a baby sitter or a relative is a real thing and personally I hate it.

Most of us have heard the Micky Flanagan joke about being out or being out out. If you haven’t I will put it at the bottom of this blog post because it is hilarious. Before having children, you could go out without a care in the world. While when you have children, it is like a military operation. It take practise and planning. Do the children have everything and is everything alright? Are they alright? Is the babysitter or relative alright with them? A million questions that go through your head after you leave your children to go out.

Jonny and I attempted to go out the other weekend and it didn’t go completely to plan. Cleo had a sore ear the week before but was alright in herself so we didn’t cancel plans to go out. So we leave her with Nanny to head up to Norwich to take Elsa shopping, only 5 minutes later to receive a message to say that Cleo had been sick everywhere and has really poorly. I mean just my luck, I go out for the day and meant to also be going out that night for the first time in a very long time to a party and Cleo gets ill. I don’t really go out out much, maybe once or twice a year. By out out, I mean to go out and drink. Cleo stayed with Nanny and slept all day so it meant that we were worried about her staying the night at Nanny’s too. Our plan to be out later was over. We left early and picked Cleo up and took her home.

I don’t want to sound selfish but as a parent, you still deserve to go out and enjoy yourself without having to worry about children all the time. Some people may take this wrong but us parents spend all day and night in some cases worrying about our children and we can forget about ourselves. This is where parent guilt comes from, the sense of guilt you get when you do anything for yourself. Going out out as parent can be a stressful time, the worry, the guilt. I’ve seen other parents talk about it and how it is stops them from doing things for themselves. So I thought I would ask fellows bloggers what they thought and worried about going out out when having children:

• My worry is that the person looking after the kids won’t get them to bed ok or on time and that I will either return to them bouncing off the walls or completely distraught that Mummy left and went out. – Emma Reed
• The hangover the next day whilst dealing with three very loud children who want constant “company”.  – Mrs Mactivity 
• Completely irrational but that something will happen to me and no one will know so the kids will be alone. – Countryheartandhome
• Honestly? Being hungover as fuck the next day – Actual AR
• I’m with Actual AR. I’ve been known to not manage the school run the following morning. Never ever ever overdo it on a school night… – The Incidental Parent
• I worry that she’ll miss me and go to bed sad because I’m not there. Or that she’ll be unwell or hurt herself. When I go ‘out out’, I can’t help but check for regular updates! – Autumn’s Mummy
• hat my mum will have a mental break down as she is the one normally looking after my two sets of twins! – Spencer’s Arc