Parents don’t get much time to themselves. It’s just a fact of becoming a parent. That’s why so many of us wake up early, stay up late, or both, to savor the sweet moments after your kids are sleeping and you can be an adult human who enjoys thinks like reading, watching a show, exercising, or just sitting in complete silence.
A global pandemic adds a whole new layer of complexity and difficulty to this parenting thing.
After a long day of balancing childcare and working and simply existing during a global pandemic, that precious hour (give or take 30 minutes depending on my level of exhaustion) between the 3-year-old’s bedtime and my own, is a treasured time that must be used to refill my cup. As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. And mom’s cups are getting depleted at lightning speed these days (though coffee seems to be in endless supply, thank goodness!)
There are many layers to self-care, and engaging my mind in something interesting and avoiding the soul-sucking tendencies of social media and news these days is important for me to keep myself happy and balanced. This ultimately is a form of self-care for myself and my family so I have no qualms with drawing boundaries and carefully curating what goes into my brain.
Parents are just having a really, really hard time right now. Finding ways to cope and relieve some of the pressure is critical. I’ve enjoyed reading more books, watching interesting shows, doing hobbies, and continuing to declutter and rage clean my house (if you haven’t tried rage cleaning, it’s a great way to channel anger for good-ha!)
So without further ado, here are 6 shows to binge after bedtime that are sure to entertain.
Added bonus-each of these features strong female characters.
- The Watchmen (This one kept me guessing. What do you think the egg means at the end????)
- Little Fires Everywhere (I could’ve watched all of these in one sitting, alas, my fatigue wins.)
- Big Little Lies (Drama in a picturesque quaint town with relatable characters-yes, please!)
- The Crown (Excellent dialogue and both gripping and funny.)
- The Great (Not a watch with your parents kind of show but hilarious and entertaining.)
- Workin’ Moms (The show is based in Canada, which I discovered after googling it because one of the characters mentioned returning to work after an 8 month paid maternity leave. So other than making me angrier at the abysmal family leave structure we have in the U.S., this show is a hilariously relatable comedy about the realities of being a working mom.)
Here are 10 more of the shows I’ve loved and you might too.
These are all shows my husband and I watched together. They’re gritty, sometimes difficult to watch, but amazing television. Note-I finished these long before the pandemic, but it’s still worth watching if you haven’t yet.
- Game of Thrones (Based on the fantasy novel series, this show provides visual and verbal entertainment. After some convincing, my husband, who doesn’t typically like shows with dragons and stuff, actualy really enjoyed it. Added bonus-it was partially filmed in Croatia, where we visited for our babymoon.)
- Westworld (Interesting take on the question ‘what is consciousness?’ Not sure how I feel about the newest season but I’ll still watch.)
- The Americans (Russian spies in America influencing government…anyone?)
- Breaking Bad (Cancer sucks. We need universal health care. Hilarious and kind of sad.)
- Better Call Saul (Spinoff show to Breaking Bad with amazing camera shots and sweat-in-your-seat scenes.)
- The Wire (Makes you see deeper into people instead of judging by the cover. “All in the game yo, all in the game.”)
- Show Me A Hero (Based on real events, the mayor of Yonkers, NY became an advocate for desegregation in housing. Heads up there’s a sad ending.)
- An Idiot Abroad (Straight up hilarious.)
- Fargo (Deception, intrigue, murder…oohhhh.)
- True Detective (Hard to watch sometimes. If you like crime shows you’d probably like this.)
