Dad Finds Wife Taking a Midday Nap on the Floor and All Moms Can Relate

Sleeping and parenting mix like oil and water. So whenever the opportunity arises to sneak in a quick catnap, you bet your bottom dollar moms and dads are all over it.

When Peter Bristow realized his wife had been MIA for longer than usual, his initial reaction was to think the worst. But it all made perfect sense when he found her fast asleep on their sons’ bedroom floor. “Sometimes you just need to stop,” he says.

“One moment she was changing a nappy. The next, she was nowhere to be seen,” Bristow explains. “I had wrangled the boys into their highchairs and had their food in front of them, and finally all was quiet…Too quiet.”

Bristow assumed his wife was as usual busying herself cleaning or stumbling upon yet another chore to complete. But as the clock continued to tick and his wife still hadn’t come downstairs, he started to get concerned and decided to check on her.

“All I could see was a pair of feet in the doorway. My heart started beating. Is she even alive,” he remembers thinking.

Bristow’s wife, like countless other parents, is notorious for constantly going, going, going. Very rarely does she stop to take a breather or a few minutes to herself. So when he saw her on the floor, he assumed something terrible must have happened. After closer inspection, he saw the situation for what it really was: A tired mama in desperate need of a break. “She said she’d changed the nappy and just looked down at the carpet like it was a luxurious bed of feathers.” Before walking away and letting her soundly snooze, he covered her in cozy blankets and left her with a pillow.

“Bless you hun,” he says to his wife. “You give life [100 percent and] it was nice to see you ‘just stop.’”

Part of being a good parent is making sure you’re taking care of yourself. A recent study showed new parents don’t get a good night’s sleep until six years after baby is born. Yikes! It’s easy to get caught up in never-ending to-do lists that keep you busy all day and tossing and turning all night, but everyone needs time to wind down. Even if you’re only able to catch a few minutes to yourself, make it count. Here are 10 great ways to spend 10 minutes of freedom.

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