Amy Winehouse, trainwreck pop singer, wails, “They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said, no, no, no!”
Obviously, Amy doesn’t have any kids. Sometimes rehab sounds pretty appealing to me. Who wouldn’t be tempted to say “yes, yes, yes” to a month without chauffeuring anyone around, picking up the toys and books that get strewn from one end of the house to another, supervising the nightly homework extravaganza? Unfortunately — or, rather, fortunately — I don’t have a substance abuse problem (unless chocolate counts) so nobody is going to whisk me off to some exclusive, isolated Utah rehab facility where I can sleep later than I do at home, have someone cook for me, write in my journal and sit in a circle to talk about my issues.
Now, I don’t want to diminish the seriousness of addiction or suggest that rehab is in any way easy. However, the idea of disappearing from my life for a month to follow a program of self-reflection and wellness does seem rather attractive. I got to thinking — I wonder what a typical rehab schedule looks like? — and browsed around online for examples. Inspired by my findings, here’s my proposed “Rehab for Busy Moms” schedule:
7:00 – 8:00 am: Meditate.
8:00 – 9:00 am: Breakfast (not consisting of a half-eaten piece of toast grabbed off your kid’s plate).
9:00 – 11:00 am: Group therapy. Discussion of such topics as “How to Say No to Too Many Volunteer Positions,” “Getting Your Family to Help Around the House,” “Sex: Who Has the Time?” and “If They Are So Cute, Why Do I Want to Kill Them?”
11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Exercise. A variety of yoga, Pilates, tae-bo, aerobics, power walking, swimming and running programs will be offered.
12:00 – 1:00 pm: Lunch. Options: all the fruits and veggies that you love but your family won’t eat, pasta with sauce on it, foods deemed “icky” by your kids, and all-you-can-eat dessert bar.
1:00 – 3:00 pm: Personal time for journaling, goal-setting, reflection, and reading.
3:00 – 4:00 pm: Mandatory Nap Time.
4:00 – 5:00 pm: Female Bonding Time: may include gossip, chatting, silly girl talk, showing cute pictures of kids, sharing birth stories.
5:00 – 6:00 pm: Chores. (Most rehabs do have their clients do such chores as washing dishes, scrubbing toilets, etc. but my “Rehab for Moms” program would be trying to rehab moms out of doing those things, so for our “chores” we would do community service, such as tutoring disadvantaged kids.)
6:00 – 7:oo pm: Dinner. Options: Same as lunch, plus wine.
7:00 – 8:00 pm: Moms Anonymous meeting, with presentations by recovering moms who have successfully completed the rehab program.
8:00 – 10:00 pm: Chick flick, book club, or bunco.
10:00 pm: Lights out. Or not. It’s up to you. Do whatever you want!
Now, the question is, after a month of that, would you be ready to reintegrate yourself into your family and society, or would you want to stay in rehab forever? Maybe that’s why moms don’t have their own specially designed rehab…we might never come back!
October 18, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hmm, am I allowed to sleep through meditation? And breakfast?
This is rehab for morning people. And non-Internet-addicts — I don’t see any blogging/email time
October 18, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Sure, sleep as late as you want. That’s a healing process.
Blogging/email would be in the 1-3 time slot. Unless you’d rather have extended nap time
October 18, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Nah, once I’m awake, I take computer time over sleep anytime.
Ok, as long as I’m allowed to sleep late, sign me up.
October 18, 2007 at 5:33 pm
this is great. sign me up.
October 18, 2007 at 10:19 pm
My kid is grown and out of the house, but I’m willing to create some fictional ones to get in.
October 18, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Please, can I come too? I’d love a guilt-free month off. I’m not too keen on the chores or anything to do with children though. Could I posit crafting instead? The scarves we knit could be sent to disadvantaged children.
Actually in Germany, it’s possible to go on a “Mutter Kur”. Unfortunately, you have to take your children, but they get looked after all day in the Kur Kindergarten while you have treatments and rests all day long, and then meet them for dinner That Someone Else Has Cooked.
October 19, 2007 at 12:45 am
I not fully on board with your rehab agenda…I think I need to make a few changes, but the nap thing, yep, I’m down with that in a big way.
And I like how you are always on the WP home page? I don’t think I’ve ever been. What’s the secret?
Your truly,
Pub whore
October 19, 2007 at 6:59 am
Mitch — the man who was just featured on Time.com is wondering how I got on the WP home page? I don’t actually know how things get put there — I’ve never actually seen my own post on the front page, but today I see if I click through the news categories to “Family” it’s there. It’s a mystery!
Charlotte — Mutter Kur sounds wonderful. I wouldn’t mind taking my kids if they were entertained during the day.
All right, everybody, we can do a Rehab for Busy *People* (maybe it’s not fair to restrict it to moms).
October 19, 2007 at 8:19 am
Aaahh!!! Take me! take me!!
I have tonsillitis and it is painful, but I have to say- it’s almost worth the pain- I had no idea how badly I needed some time off.
October 19, 2007 at 1:00 pm
After a month of that, I’d be so crazy that my family would WANT me to go to rehab.
Or, is Rehab just a PC word these days for “asylum?”
October 19, 2007 at 2:14 pm
What a great post!
I’m not a busy person, but it sounds wonderful to me.
October 20, 2007 at 6:35 am
I always wanted the moms in my neighborhood to buy a house together so we could have a place to get away, take a shower without someone pulling back the curtain, crying for a snack or conflict resolution, make a phone call without five thousand interruptions, sit in total silence…but your idea is MUCH better. I too have envied people in the high dollar rehabs. What could be better than to be pampered, fed and allowed to talk about yourself all day….
October 20, 2007 at 6:59 pm
I like that house idea! Rehab is fine, but a house you could use *whenever* you needed it? Much cooler, IMO!
October 21, 2007 at 7:27 am
honestly, the schedule sounds good to me, GO yoga mum !! =)
October 23, 2007 at 4:32 pm
I could go with that, though perhaps with more Japanese martial arts films and less chick-flicks. And perhaps we could switch the bonding for networked Halo 3.
October 29, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I want to go to Mammy Rehab now! The schedule sounds brilliant, apart from the birth stories. We might have to have a ban on those when I’m around, but otherwise I am packing my bags and getting ready to go right now!