seriously no idea

A Mom Wants To Know: Seriously, What Did We Do With Our Time Before Kids?

"Why was I not making like a million dollars with some new business idea?"

by Sarah Aswell
A mom is wondering what we did with all of our time before we had kids.
TikTok / @marissalyda

It’s funny how quickly it becomes hard to remember the time before kids. What did we do with those huge blocks of free time, especially on the weekends? Did we just sleep and make elaborate meals and watch entire episodes of television? Did your houses mostly just stay clean? And most importantly, if we had that time back now, would we do things differently?

It’s something Marissa Lyda, a TikTok mom of two and family finance influencer, has been thinking about a lot. What did we do, and why weren’t we all busy following our dreams?

She posted to TikTok with that exact question.

“Do you ever look back at your pre-kid life and think, ‘What did I possibly do with all of the extra time that I had?’ Because I think that almost every day,” she says. “Why was I not making like a million dollars with some new business idea with all of the extra time that I had?”

Same. If only we had those years back...

Or if only we could remember how nice it was to get a restful night of sleep, whenever we wanted. Or to read a novel for hours. Or eat an entire hot meal in one sitting.

Down in the comments, a lot of other moms were totally puzzled about were our time went those days.

“I think about this everyday! How could I have thought I was so busy,” one person wondered.

“I constantly would tell people I didn't have time,” another said.

“I joke all the time like I remember being SO tired. TIRED OF WHAT?! Sleeping 8 hours a night?! Hilarious,” another person wrote.

“Why wasn’t my house spotless,” someone else wondered.

Other people remembered pretty well what it was like.

“I was reading, and watching movies, and hanging out with friends, and drinking, and sleeping in, and had hobbies. It was luxurious. I didn’t know what I had,” one person wrote. “And it was all worth giving up for my so...”

“I went out with friends, spent time grooming myself, picking out cute outfits, applying makeup, cooking good foods that took more than 20 min, had hobbies and and read books,” another said.

“The Sunday afternoon nap!” another said.

Don’t remind us! It’s too painful!

“I do more in one day now than I did in a full week then,” another mom added.

And we feel that. It’s pretty amazing, actually.