A mum-of-three has admitted to hiding in her car for 90 minutes each week in order to escape her children and enjoy some much-needed time to herself.
Claire Haiek, from Sydney, Australia, started making time for herself earlier this year when her seven-year-old daughter Olivia began taking tap dancing lessons, as she would stay in the car for the 30 minutes that the class took.
But shortly afterwards, Olivia said she wanted to go to ballet classes too, which run for 45 minutes directly after the tap class, with a 15-minute break in between.
This meant that Olivia would be busy for a full 90 minutes, and rather than drive back home to wait for her classes to be finished, Claire decided she would spend that hour and a half by herself in the peace and quiet of her car.
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She said: "It's not that I don't like spending time with my family, but working full-time and cleaning up after seven people at home, I don't often get to just stop and do nothing. So once a week, I sit in my car for an hour and a half, and I've really started to look forward to it.
"I thought it would be painful, but boy was I wrong!"
Claire told Kidspot that initially, her plan was to start using her 90-minute free time to start running again, but she soon decided against the idea and chose instead to stay in her car and watch Netflix on her phone.
The mum also spends her alone time gorging on snacks that she "doesn't have to share with anyone", and when she's feeling particularly "overwhelmed by life admin" then she also goes through her personal to-do list.
When there's nothing to watch on Netflix, Claire can also spend time playing games on her phone or talking to her best friend or her mum - and she finds the moments of peace to be "absolute heaven".
She added: "Without crumbs on the floor begging to be vacuumed up, without a pile of ironing waiting to be pressed, without kids to feed and shower. And most importantly, without the temptation to do anything other than just sit."
And what's more, Claire has realised that she's not the only parent who takes the time to just sit in their car and wait for their kids to be finished with their extracurricular activities - as she's witnessed another mum and a dad who both do the same.
She said: "So yes, I hide in my car to be alone, but it has nothing to do with my husband and kids and everything to do with forcing myself to relax."
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