"Everyone has ten minutes!"

My son is 5, and I've been a single mother since my husband passed away when our son was just 13 months old. Learning how to parent alone is an ever evolving challenge. The last few months have been especially overwhelming and I decided to see a psychiatrist to see if some meds will help me get over this mounting anxiety. At an appointment a few days ago my psychiatrist was asking how new meds are going, and one question she asked was if i felt like I was being more patient with my son, and if I had managed to secure a routine where I felt satisfied that I was spending enough time with him. This was a very big part of why I decided to seek mental health help. I told her honestly, that no, I still feel like I don't have enough hours in my day to keep my career on track, my household running smoothly, and spend time doing fun and meaningful activities with my son. Her response? "Well, have you tried just spending less time on your phone? Seriously, just put your phone on silent in the evenings. Everyone has ten minutes!" I was so surprised by what she said that I just mumbled agreement, but afterwards I was fuming. First of all- I certainly do spend TEN MINUTES with my son everyday, the issue is that he deserves MORE than ten minutes!! Secondly, oh- set my phone down?? Will my phone do the laundry and prep the lunches for me if I leave it alone enough? Will it mow the lawn, cook dinner, mop the floor, bathe the dogs, clean the guinea pig cage, sort the old clothes for the upcoming garage sale, call the roofing company to schedule an estimate? UGH! I'm very privileged and very grateful for all I have, but I'm fairly certain that the reason a single mother working full time feels she doesn't spend enough time with her child is NOT because she's spending too much time on freaking Facebook!TL;DR a mental health professional implied I, as a single mother, would magically be cured of feeling like I don't have enough time to spend with my child if I simply didn't check my phone as much, and that making ten minutes for him a day should be sufficient. I wish I had told her to go screw herself. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2ruoZld