<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"This upcoming weekend is Peter&amp;#039;s (he and I switched last weekend so that Anna wouldn&amp;#039;t miss two separate birthday parties for her friends). The plan for Peter&amp;#039;s summer weekends is that he takes the kids on Thursday night through to Monday morning. I, of course, know better. I knew that as soon as he made the plan to take them early, he&amp;#039;d want to return them early as well. And I was right. Of course. I was reconfirming the schedule with him the other day when he suddenly (but not surprisingly) said &amp;quot;I was thinking I&amp;#039;ll bring them back Sunday night.&amp;quot; I smiled and very diplomatically said &amp;quot;Oh, that won&amp;#039;t work. I have plans. You&amp;#039;ll have to make it Monday morning, like we agreed.&amp;quot; I pride myself on the fact that I didn&amp;#039;t say &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m sorry.&amp;quot; I also pride myself on the fact that I didn&amp;#039;t explain further. Yes, I have plans. I have plans to enjoy a full kid-free weekend, just like he does every other weekend. As the person who takes care of these kids 2/3 (or more!) of the time, I think I&amp;#039;ve earned it. I have plans to sit on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and watch Netflix. I have plans to see a movie with a friend, if she&amp;#039;s available. I have plans to write and write and write on my laptop while sitting on a rocking chair on the screen porch. I have plans to do whatever the heck I want to do on my time and my terms and I will not make excuses or apologize for it and most of all, I will not give those plans up just because it&amp;#039;s a lot more convenient for Peter. And even though I feel incredibly empowered by the fact that I said no, and even more empowered by the fact that he said simply, &amp;quot;OK&amp;quot; when I pushed back - I still feel a little guilty. Like I&amp;#039;m being petty, insisting that he respect my free time like I respect his. It would be a simple enough thing to rearrange any plans I do have, and it would be a lot easier on him, after all. I feel like I&amp;#039;m not being....nice. I try to be nice to everyone. I teach my kids to be nice. I just feel guilty being nice to myself. If I don&amp;#039;t say no, I have a feeling he&amp;#039;ll be asking to bring them back early every one of his weekends and I&amp;#039;ll never get a full weekend again. I feel like if I give an inch, he&amp;#039;ll take a mile and then some. But I also feel like I do need to be flexible, so that he&amp;#039;s flexible with me, should I ever need it. What do you think, readers? Am I being petty, refusing to budge like this? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a47255/utterly-empowering-to-say-no/?src=shelter_footer>