It seems that when it comes to getting up in the morning, there are two types of people: those who can easily wake up early just to watch how the whole world is slowly waking up, and those who would skip the extensive morning routine in exchange for a few extra minutes in bed. To each their own, one might think, but what happens when someone’s morning choices affect their whole family? A 26-year-old Reddit user under the name @Waste-Independent-21 shared how her significant other, with whom she raises 5 kids, decides to sleep in while she gets up early just to get herself and the kids ready for the day. Because of this exact reason, she decided to open up about her family situation to the Reddit community and ask them for advice after deciding to teach her partner a lesson.
More Info: Reddit
Despite our desire to spend at least one extra minute in bed, a lot of us are dragged out of there by fear of missing out on important things
Image credits: Celeste Lindell (not the actual image)
The woman started her story by revealing some of the details about her family: the woman and her 28-year-old partner are raising their 5 kids, the oldest being 7 years old and the youngest - 5 months. Having in mind how much time and effort it takes to take care of such a young bunch, the woman believes that her partner should also help with the kids as much as possible. That is especially important in the mornings when she needs to get ready herself and prepare the kids for the day. However, her significant other turned out to be of a different opinion. When the woman shared her concerns about helping with the kids, the man said that he should be able to sleep longer on his days off. The mother of 5 even confessed that this issue has been talked about during their therapy sessions and added that they all agreed that the man should be helping out more.
A woman online decided to share how she’s been annoyed with her partner for waking up late and missing out on helping out with the kids
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One time, she found a way to teach her partner a lesson and once again stress an ongoing problem in their family of him not helping out in the morning
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Even though it might seem that the family had talked through this and found a way out, his later actions showed that nothing had changed. Until one morning, the woman took an opportunity to teach her significant other a lesson. The family had been planning a trip to the zoo with both her and his parents, siblings, and their kids. The night before, the woman reminded him of the upcoming outing and that he needed to wake up as early as she would to get ready for the trip. They both agreed to wake up at 6:30 AM; however, the man once again failed to get up together with his wife. This time, the woman didn’t bother to try and wake him up, so she just left him sleeping, got ready together with the kids, and left. Once she arrived at the place, the relatives asked her where her partner was, to which she replied that he was not coming because of not being able to get out of bed on time.
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After the man once again failed to get up in time and missed a trip to the zoo, the whole situation caused a serious argument between the extended family
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A little later, the woman received a call from her partner who was surprised that they weren’t at home and later got mad after finding out that they all left without him. He then called his own mother and told her how he was left in the morning. This is when the argument between the man’s mother and the OP’s family began. After this, the woman wasn’t sure if she really did the right thing by not even trying to wake her significant other up.
After a while, the OP started wondering whether she did the right thing by leaving her partner at home and not waking him up
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It is safe to say that a lot of us sometimes struggle with waking up in the morning as there are numerous reasons why we can’t just leave the bed. Very often we might think that we just have a messed-up sleeping schedule, we drink too much coffee in the evening, or that this is the consequence that we face after spending too much time looking at our phones and laptops. But this issue could also indicate that we have some deeper problems that are related to our physical and mental well-being.
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Bored Panda contacted Dr. Matthew Edlund, who is the director of the Center for Circadian Medicine and well-known rest and sleep specialist. He is also the author of the books “The Body Clock Advantage,” “Designed to Last,” and “Psychological Time and Mental Illness.” By specializing in Regeneration Health, Dr. Edlund agreed that our sleeping patterns can say a lot about our mental and physical well-being: “Sleep is a third of life. It is deeply related to all our physical and mental being. Sleep is like food. Without it, any animal dies.”
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The woman came back and shared an update that followed after the whole situation took place
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Usually, there are a lot of various symptoms that are trying to tell us that something might be wrong with our bodies. But how often do we take into consideration the quality of our sleep? “There are innumerable reasons for increased sleepiness. There can be new sleep apnea, drug effects, inadequate sleep time on many nights, or commonly new leg kicks that wake people dozens or hundreds of times at night. Those will look asleep but not feel rested; most of us don’t remember waking if it’s less than several minutes. And depression is also a very common cause of hypersomnia,” shared the specialist.
How can people distinguish between not being a “morning person” and actually having some sort of condition? The doctor explained: “Morningness in people is genetic. They know they want to get up at 5 or 6 AM, as opposed to owls who would prefer to go to bed long after midnight. If your sleep pattern changes - you used to wake up at 7 no problem, and now can’t wake until 10 - check it out.”
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After the woman shared her story online, the update on the whole situation followed, revealing a more serious situation but a pretty happy ending to it. After the whole family trip fiasco, the couple had a talk about where this lacking of help comes from. The man was quick to pull it together and start being there for his kids as well as seek professional help and make some pretty drastic changes in his life.
After some talking, the man shared what was on his mind and revealed how his attitude towards helping his family out changed because of his own mother
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Image credits: Bev Sykes (not the actual image)
According to the OP’s partner, the habit of putting a load of housework on his wife started when the family moved in with his parents for a bit. His mom apparently played an important role in him believing that the woman is the one who should take care of him. Soon, the man got stuck dreading everyday life where his job “wasn’t stimulating enough” and his family couldn’t figure out what was wrong. But the woman shared that they did what needed to be done, meaning that her partner decided to stop communicating with his toxic mother, left his job to find a better one, and, most importantly, started spending more time with his family.
This story is a great example of how important communication between family members is and how a simple-looking issue might hide a more complex problem. What do you think about this situation? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
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Eventually, the family issues were resolved by them following other people's advice and seeking professional and family help
Image credits: u/Waste-Independent-21