10 incredibly validating tweets about why moms stay up late (even though we’re exhausted)
Picture it—it’s Thursday night and you’ve had a long day of kids climbing on you, climbing on furniture, climbing on each other. You’re exhausted. You should probably go to bed, but you don’t—because moms stay up late. Or at least, they have a tendency to.
Why? Why do we do this to ourselves when we’re Just. So. Tired. The answer is simple. It’s our “me time.” No kids, no chores, no obligations to anyone other than ourselves and season five of Selling Sunset. (“Oh my God I could never walk in those shoes,” I mumble to myself, as butter-saturated popcorn crumbs fall onto my Dolly Parton pajamas.)
Yes, sometimes moms stay up late. Not because we always want to (though more often than not, we do). But because we have to. Our sensory overload demands it. We need to wind down before we slip into unconsciousness and tackle the same crazy day all over again.
Revenge bedtime procrastination is real, and we are not sorry. (Sleepy, yes. Sorry? No.)
Here are the best tweets to explain why moms stay up late—and they’re hilarious.
Me: Why am I tired all the time it’s such a mystery
My brain: Please can we go to bed at a normal time, maybe find out circadian rhythm
Me: No we will watch ten episodes of this random TV show I found and indulge in revenge bedtime procrastination— Vi La Bianca (@AuthorConfusion) April 27, 2022
My kids don’t like going to bed because they think exciting things happen after they’re gone.
Little do they know them going to bed is the exciting thing.— Jacana Mommy (@jacanamommy) September 10, 2020
That moment when you finally get your kids to sleep and you have 8 million things to do so you climb into bed and do none of it.
— Mommy Owl (@Lhlodder) January 23, 2018
Oh, youâre one of those parents with a bedtime routine as opposed to yelling GO TO BED from the couch every 10 minutes for 2 hours.
— Jessie (@mommajessiec) July 20, 2020
— Bimbo weregoat (@aneandes) September 2, 2021
Them: why donât you just go to bed after the kids go to sleep if youâre always so tired?
Me: I stay up a lot later than I should every night because I donât belong to myself during the day. So I want to belong to me for a few hours before I go to bed for everyone else.— Terri Fry (@momlikethat1) February 12, 2021
parenting makes you do weird things like hate the daylight for waking your kids and preventing them from going to bed
— That Mom Tho ð¦ (@mom_tho) May 21, 2020
Me: Whhhyyyyyy do the kids insist on stalling their bedtime by talking, acting out, or taking improvised poops? Donât they know that they NEED to SLEEP???
Also me: *scrolls twitter until 1am every night*— Richard Dean (@dad_on_my_feet) August 9, 2019
When the only âme timeâ you get is when everyone else in the house is sleep so you stay up late every night drinking wine and watching TikTokâs ð
— tdw (@tellisaw_) March 31, 2022
I say I stay up late for my âme timeâ to stay sane but Iâm starting to think what I really need to stay sane, is sleep. Iâll work on it. ð¤£ð¤¦ââï¸
— tiff ð (@justagirlm0m) April 29, 2021
A version of this story was originally published on April 27, 2022. It has been updated.