I’ll be tired in the morning, but as a mum I stay up late to get some time to myself

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

As a parent, sleep deprivation can happen for a number of reasons whether it's night feeds with a newborn or dealing with teething pains. The odd time, it's self inflicted. I don't know how many mornings I've kicked myself for staying up late as I drag myself out of bed. As a parent though, sometimes the only time you get to yourself is late at night. I try and get the kids to bed for around 8pm but it's not always possible especially with my two-year-old. The other night it was well after 11pm before she went to bed, escaping from her bed every two minutes until the exhaustion finally overcame her. The exhaustion was taking me over too but still I stayed up another hour so I could watch a little TV and have a hot chocolate in peace. To be honest even though I wake up tired it's still worth it just to have that little bit of 'me time' in the evening. After a long day at work and having just clocked off parenting duty you really do need just a little while, even if it's less than an hour, or catching up with Netflix or having a bath to chill. Talking to other parents I know I'm not alone in this. I don't know how many nights I've been messaging mum friends of mine who like myself should be in bed but instead are up after midnight finding out how Sabrina and her Chilling Adventures are doing. To be honest I think we should have one big parent sleepover where we all stay up till the wee hours of the morning chatting and giving each other face masks. Of course we will all complain the following morning when we've no energy to parent but we will have had fun in the moment and that's what matters.