Mutha Magazine (2026 Edition)

Because saying something is the job, too. The project management of asking for help is often harder than just doing the task yourself. The mental load of delegating is a second shift no one clocks.

I tried to go on strike once. A quiet one. I stopped reminding. I stopped refilling the soap dispenser. I stopped mentally tracking the expiration date on the car seat. For three days, we lived in chaos. The four-year-old wore two different rain boots. The baby ate a cracker off the floor of the bus. My husband looked at me with genuine confusion: “Why didn’t you say something?” mutha magazine

The cruelty of the default parent role isn’t the exhaustion. It’s the of the work. Because if you do your job perfectly, no one notices. The kids get to school. The socks match. The prescription is filled. The silence of success is the absence of crisis. And in that silence, the world tells you: See? It’s not that hard. You’re just relaxing. Because saying something is the job, too

My husband walked into the bathroom and asked, “Hey, what’s the plan for dinner?” I tried to go on strike once

And I snapped. Not because he asked. But because in that moment, I realized he had the luxury of asking. He was a user logging into the system. I was the system.