Mom No Longer Wants to Take Her 2 Small Kids to Other People’s Houses Because She’s ‘Absolutely Exhausted’ After

A mother of two young children says she’s “exhausted” every time she brings her little ones to other people’s homes — and she’s starting to think it might be better to ask friends and family to visit her instead.

The woman shared her experience on the U.K.-based forum Mumsnet, explaining that she and her husband have a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. “We went to visit some family yesterday, and the whole thing was just chaos from start to finish,” she wrote.

She described getting out of the house as “a nightmare,” and said that once they arrived for dinner, both parents struggled to juggle the kids’ needs. “The toddler only sat in his chair for five minutes, then wanted to get down, so it was me trying to inhale my dinner while the toddler ran around, and my partner tried to soothe our screaming baby. Then we swapped so he could eat,” she explained.

The mother added that “no one offered to help,” making the visit feel like “parenting with an audience in a very toddler-unfriendly house.” She also noted that the home wasn’t childproofed, forcing them to “keep an eye on the toddler at all times.”

By the time they got home, she said she felt “absolutely exhausted and wishing we’d not gone in the first place.”

Now, she’s wondering if it would be socially acceptable to limit social gatherings to her own home. “I feel like telling people that if they want to see us then they can come to us, but is that just me being really difficult?” she asked.

Many commenters reassured her that her request was perfectly reasonable. “I agree it’s better to invite people to your place, and then you are in your own space and can control timings. People without toddlers often have unrealistic expectations of what a toddler can do,” one user replied.

Another added, “It doesn’t sound like this worked for anyone, so there will probably be no opposition to you saying you’re not going again. These things only really work when everyone understands what having two tiny children as part of the party will look like, and are happy to run the event around that. Sounds like your family expected a ‘normal’ dinner, having forgotten what it’s like. So yes, just say no in future.”