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.
parenting makes you do weird things like hate the daylight for waking your kids and preventing them from going to bed
— That Mom Tho
(@mom_tho) May 21, 2020
When the only “me time” you get is when everyone else in the house is sleep so you stay up late every night drinking wine and watching TikTok’s
— tdw (@tellisaw_) March 31, 2022
I say I stay up late for my “me time” to stay sane but I’m starting to think what I really need to stay sane, is sleep. I’ll work on it.
— tiff
(@justagirlm0m) April 29, 2021
A version of this story was originally published on April 27, 2022. It has been updated.