At 24 with two sets of twins, I felt like I was drowning in diapers, dishes, and deadlines. My work-from-home job barely paid the bills, but it was our only option with childcare costs. Meanwhile, my husband came home from his construction job complaining about the messy house and frozen dinners, never noticing how I barely had time to shower between meetings and meltdowns.
“You sit at a computer all day,” he’d scoff. “How hard can it be?” Yet when he had free time, he napped or went out with friends while I juggled four toddlers alone. The breaking point came when he criticized me for letting the laundry pile up – right as I was cleaning spaghetti out of a toddler’s hair with one hand and typing an email with the other.
I left that night with just a note: “Your turn.” My two-day break wasn’t revenge – it was survival. When I returned, the house looked like a toy bomb had exploded. His solution? Packing for his mom’s house instead of apologizing. The online moms’ group had mixed reactions – some said I went too far, but most recognized what I’d known for months: being a single parent to four kids might actually be easier than parenting five.
