Mom-of-two has the best response to being told she looks tired: 'I am very proud of looking tired'

Online trolls are mean and can totally ruin your day. However, a mom did not let it get to her when somebody online said she "looked tired." Instead of feeling bad about herself, she wore it like a badge of honor. Melanie Borden, a marketing professional for a luxury vehicle business, has two kids, aged five and seven. She wrote in a LinkedIn post back in 2020: "Yes I am tired. On behalf of everyone everywhere worldwide, we are all tired of 2020. Especially working parents." 

Speaking to Good Morning America, Borden explained that sharing this was "really important for working moms." She added that mothers are always hard on themselves and it is about time they acknowledge that they are tired and exhausted by all the responsibilities they bear. She further wrote in her post, "Outside of work I am a mom. My kids are my number one priority and now we are doing virtual school again for the second time around this year. Plus the normal parent things outside of a global pandemic like being woken up at night, sick kids, etc." 

She proudly concluded the post by writing: "I am very proud of looking tired, I work my tail off as both a mom and employee. If looking tired is a badge of honor for my accomplishments this year, I’ll take it!!" Borden said that the response to her post from other working moms has been incredibly supportive. She explained, "We judge ourselves and each other for everything from which schools we send our kids to, how we look, and what our career achievements are. We need to be kind to ourselves and each other, this includes over social media."

Borden thinks that parents should teach their children the important lesson of kindness by setting an example. After going through a pandemic, people want hope, happiness and connection with other parents going through similar life experiences. She said, "We are all in the same boat. Our kids are home and we are working at home with them trying to figure it out while trying to still be ourselves." 

We never really acknowledge the intense pressure mothers are under, and one mom on Reddit—who goes by the username BadMomsChristmas—called attention to this by sharing how she simply wants some peace and quiet. She questioned whether this made her a bad mother. The 40-something mom of elementary school-aged children asked the AITA Reddit forum if she was selfish to want to spend Mother's Day alone after she received harsh criticism for her decision. 

She wrote, "I love [my children] more than words; [my] husband is awesome and we have a great relationship. He definitely does his share of child-rearing (not exactly 50/50 due to the logistics of our jobs) but definitely does more housework than I do. We are really one of those happy families... But I'm TIRED and crave QUIET." As a result, her husband agreed to take the children to her father-in-law's house for the weekend to give her a much-deserved break. Fellow Reddit users assured her that the break is absolutely justifiable and that she shouldn't feel guilty about her need to unwind and relax.