My husband (36) and I (31) have two small kids \u2014 both under five.
\nI stay home with them full-time.
\nHe works long hours at his job and loves to remind me that he pays the bills.<\/p>\n
I cook.
\nI clean.
\nI bathe the kids, run the errands, pay the utilities, schedule appointments, stay up with fevers, and somehow still have dinner ready when he walks through the door.
\nEvery.
\nSingle.
\nDay.<\/p>\n
He comes home, drops his shoes in the hallway, scrolls on his phone, and acts like I\u2019ve been lounging all day.
\nHe\u2019s never packed a school lunch.
\nNever once taken the kids to daycare.
\nHis idea of parenting is throwing them in front of the TV when I beg for a break.
\nThe final straw came last Thursday.
\nI was trying to clean up a spilled smoothie while our toddler screamed in the background and the baby was teething and clingy.
\nMy husband walked in, took one look at the mess, and sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get how you can\u2019t manage this.
\nYou\u2019re home all day.\u201d
\nI stopped.
\nJust\u2026 stopped.
\nLater that night, after the kids were asleep, I calmly packed a bag.
\nHe looked confused.
\n\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d<\/p>\n
I walked over, handed him the baby monitor, and said: \u201cFigure it out.
\nYou\u2019re about to manage it all by yourself.\u201d
\nI walked out with nothing but my keys.
\nAnd this morning?<\/p>\n
He texted me at 6:12 AM asking where the diapers were.
\nI haven\u2019t answered yet.
\nInstead, I checked into a nearby hotel with the last of the birthday money my mom gave me in July.
\nIt wasn\u2019t fancy, but it was quiet.
\nNo little feet running across the floor.
\nNo crying, no sticky fingers on my shirt.
\nJust me, in a clean bed with no one to take care of.<\/p>\n
At first, I felt guilty.
\nBut then I slept.
\nI slept.
\nFor the first time in what felt like years, I woke up without an alarm, without someone needing something, without someone asking me where their socks were.
\nBy 10 a.m., he had texted again.
\n\u201cHe won\u2019t eat the oatmeal.
\nHe\u2019s throwing it.\u201d
\nI took a long sip of my coffee and turned off my phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My husband (36) and I (31) have two small kids \u2014 both under five. I stay home with them full-time. He works long hours at his job… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"yoast_head":"\n