Possible unpopular opinion alert: I don’t want to spend Mother’s Day with my kids.

Do I love them so much I could just burst?

Yep.

They’re also at an age and stage where they are an incredible amount of work.

The same work I’m faced with every single day.

If Mother’s Day is supposed to be about doing something special for the moms who work so hard, then let me say this again: I don’t want to spend Mother’s Day with my kids.

In fact, I’m not even sure I want to be in the same building as my kids.

I don’t want to clean up another mess or change another diaper. I don’t want to referee the fighting every 14 minutes, nor do I want to listen to someone else take on the battle. My ears are tired of hearing the complaining, arguing, sassing, and whining. I don’t want to deal with the deliberate defiance that happens regularly.

RELATED: Being a Parent is Exhausting Even If Your Child Isn’t

I don’t want to come up with two dozen activities (plus all the associated prep work, facilitation, and clean-up) to keep the little people entertained as the struggle is most definitely real where entertain yourself is concerned.

I don’t want to go on a fun outing with my family. Those outings require so much thought, planning, and preparation, and almost always end in disaster anyway because my kids are difficult to manage and have the attention spans of a gnat. The term “fun outing” being somewhat an oxymoron.

I just don’t wanna.

What I would like is a break. A REAL break.

Not the kind when I take an hour to run errands (for the family) by myself.

Not the kind when I’m shoved out the door for a massage, that while well-intentioned, I don’t really want because I’m all touched out at this juncture.

I’d like a break where there is quiet and no obligation to or responsibility for anyone else. A day where I choose how I spend my time even if that means choosing to do nothing at all. Doing all that nothing all by myself.

Please don’t come at me with all this “you’re gonna miss this” or “you’ll regret not spending this time with them while you could.”

My love for my family is fierce, that’s why I’m in the trenches with them daily. It’s why I drag my tired self out of bed every morning to do it all over again, Groundhog Day style.

RELATED: He’s Not Always Easy, But He’s Easy to Love

Being in the trenches with them daily is also the reason I need this break.

It’s OK for me to say I need this break, a break that doesn’t include my kids, even on Mother’s Day.

I feel sure that, while possibly the unpopular opinion, I can’t be the ONLY one.

So, in honor of Mother’s Day, let’s honor moms and celebrate in the way that makes her feel the most loved . . . whether or not that includes the kids.