When you think about the most exhausting part of motherhood, the lack of sleep probably comes to mind. Or the crazy busy schedules. Or keeping up with doctor’s appointments, school functions, household chores, and your own life. But that’s not it. In a viral TikTok video, a mom is pointing out the actual most exhausting thing about motherhood, and it’s something no one talks about.
TikTok mom Analee starts her video by sharing the story of the rough morning she had with her kids.
@annaleegrace15 Being a mom is the most wonderful and humblimg thing ive ever done. Every day these little kids teach me something new about myself and im just so thankful for the opportunity ❤️😭 #momlife #momsoftiktok #babiesoftiktok #toddlersoftiktok #marriedlife #husbandwife
♬ original sound – Annalee
“I screamed at my kids this morning,” she says. “Not just a little scream. Like a big, full-on, screaming right back in their faces. It’s just been one of those days. Ever since they woke up this morning, everything has been a fight. Everything has been a struggle. They’ve been fighting with each other. They’ve been screaming at me.”
Oof. Relatable. All moms have been here.
Analee goes on to say that she was surprised once she had kids to realize what the hardest part is: “the pure exhaustion that comes from emotionally regulating 24/7.”
She continues, “The patience and the strength that it takes to watch these humans combust in front of you and stay cool so that they can regulate. To take in all of their emotions for them.”
The morning she made the video, Analee explains, she didn’t manage to regulate well. With tears in her eyes, she says, “I saw in their little eyes when all of a sudden it flicked. They were scared of me.”
Analee says she apologized to her kids and explained that just like they get upset sometimes, mommies and daddies do, too. But there’s another problem with this scenario that she brings up.
“I feel like I’m the only one who has mornings like this with my kids,” she admits. “Even though logically, I know that’s not true. All I see are people out in public, or cute little vlogs making pancakes in the morning, and I feel like this evil mom monster on a hill yelling at her tiny kid.”
Moms all know that isn’t true, right? That the shiny, happy vloggers we see online are only showing a tiny part of their lives? That everyone deals with messes and tantrums and mistakes and yelling? In case you need to hear that today, it’s true. And we’re just going to go ahead and bookmark Analee’s video for the days when we need to remember that.
