Jenna Fischer Hiding From Her Kids In Her Laundry Room Is All Of Us Right Now

In one of her most relatable Instagram Stories, particularly during quarantine with two small kids at home, Jenna Fischer revealed she hide in her laundry room and eats chocolate chips straight out of the bag. As she explained it, it's the one room in the house where she feels like she can be alone. And this would be funny if it weren't so painfully true for so many moms, especially right now.

The Office Ladies podcast host shared a series of fun videos on her social media feed recently, starting with a new fig cake recipe she was making with her daughter, 6-year-old Harper. The two worked together in her kitchen making a lovely cake from figs picked right from their own tree, with Harper doing a whole bunch of the stirring for her mom. She moved on to sharing several photos of a salad she ate for lunch, a nice dinner, and some Lego building fun with her 9-year-old son Weston.

Then things got real.

The former Office star found herself sitting in her laundry room because no one bothers her there. "I think it's because if they follow me in here they know I'm going to ask them to fold things," she said. "If I say I'm going to the bathroom they can still bother mom but the laundry room is my safe spot."

Fischer, who shares Harper and Weston with her husband of 10 years, writer Lee Kirk, went on to explain in her laundry room confession, "My kids are going back to school tomorrow, they're doing distance learning. And the school has been amazing. The teachers put together these packages, we were able to pick them up workbooks, and it's so organized, it's great."

But still, Fischer is feeling "overwhelmed" at what is going to happen to her living room once school starts again. "My day is going to be spent facilitating this school thing because my kids are little so they need pretty constant facilitation."

So what does an overwhelmed mom do in this situation? Hide in the laundry room. And eat chocolate chips right out of the bag. Fischer was getting emotional because of some messages she received from her followers, with a lot of people telling her "there are up days and down days." "Some days are easier and some days are harder. And we just can't expect it to be anything else," she added.

She found the affirmation from other parents that everyone is in the same boat, struggling to raise their children in a pandemic while maintaining a semblance of normalcy, very comforting.

If eating chocolate chips while hiding in the laundry room helps you get through the day like Jenna Fischer, embrace that time away. Self-care might look different these days, but it is self-care nonetheless.