Heather has never come back from a girls trip wishing she had stayed home, even the ones she almost backed out of. On this episode of Rated Mom, she, Dena, and Jessica ask whether a mom should take the trip, and why the guilt shows up after she has already lined up rides, groceries, dinners, and laundry at home. Dena describes a long weekend in Rhode Island where she overheard two friends talking about her from the next room. Jessica, who had her first child at 18, explains why trips were never part of her life, and Heather remembers wheelbarrow races on an Atlantic City rooftop at sunrise.

If the planning or the cost keeps talking you out of a weekend away, they point to smaller options: one night a couple of hours' drive away, or pizza and an espresso martini in town.

Key takeaways

• Heather often gets apprehensive as a trip gets close and goes anyway, because she has never regretted one afterward.

• She gives her husband the dates without asking permission first, and she backs him taking a boys trip when she gets home.

• Jessica went years without a trip: she was a stay-at-home mom on one income, and her closest friends were family with kids the same age.

• When trips weren't in the budget, girls nights filled in: bunco at someone's house with everyone bringing a dish, or a craft night making wreaths.

• Some friends won't come but still want to be asked, so Heather invites people from outside the core group.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Introduction

• 01:45 Should a mom take the girls trip?

• 02:47 Dena's work trips, bunking with strangers

• 04:11 Heather gets cold feet and never regrets going

• 06:22 Telling your husband versus asking permission

• 09:33 Why Jessica went years without a trip

• 11:34 Jessica on being a mom at 18

• 14:36 Dena overhears friends on a Rhode Island trip

• 18:40 Wheelbarrow races on an Atlantic City roof

• 20:51 The book club behind the Boston trip

• 28:01 Can you leave the kids with your husband?

• 30:17 Girls nights when a trip costs too much

• 32:05 Making friends as an adult

Connect with us

• Rated Mom Website: https://www.ratedmom.com/

• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/ratedmom

• Dena: https://www.facebook.com/dena.childresscooke

• Heather: https://www.facebook.com/HomeFryez

• Jessica: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.peyton.14