The Parents Daily is your source for advice and information for rasing your kids.
Author: Sarah Cruickshank Article source: http://www.articledeshboard.com/. Used with author's permission.
Being a mum is the most challenging task I've ever taken on and I don't think anything could have prepared me for it. Every day I make new mistakes and discover new things about this little person who has been entrusted to my care.
Every day I realise that being a mum is what I've always wanted to be and that no matter how many sleepless night or rows, there's always a look, or a cuddle or a word that just melts my heart.
The tuneless but enthusiastic and joyful singing with which my son chooses to entertain us can brighten any day.
I defy any mum to watch their child in a school assembly or Christmas play and not have a pile of tissues in their hand.
So, come with me now, not to a specific time, place or moment. Enter with me into the ordinary, the every day, the precious experience of my motherhood.
What?
What do you want to get up now for? It's 6.30! What do you want for breakfast? What do you want in your sandwiches? What did you do with your school uniform last night? What are you watching that for? What did you do with your homework?
Peace …
What did you do in school today? What did you get those stars for? What d'you mean you can't remember? What have you done with your coat/lunchbox/homework? What do you want for tea? What do you have to do for homework? What violin practice do you have to do this week? What do you need for school tomorrow? What time do you call this? What d'you mean you got scared? Go back to bed you should be asleep.
Peace …
When?
"When I was little we didn't have all these kids T.V. programmes, there was the odd thing, but nothing much."
"Yes love, that was the 'olden days', when mum was little"
"Well, we played outside. See where those houses are now? There were woods and we made dens in the trees and we had a gang. We'd have our tea and then all meet up in the woods and play games 'til it got dark. It was good fun."
"When you were born you were too lazy to come out by yourself. You were two weeks late and I had to go to hospital. They put me on a machine and I had to press a button every time you kicked me, but you kept going to sleep, so they couldn't get a long enough reading. In the end, the Doctor decided to put a sink plunger on your head and see if he could pull you out, but it popped off. Then he used a sausage turner and you came out the wrong way up and with a pointy-head from the sink plunger. You cried a lot when you were first born because you had a headache from being pulled around so much."
"When you were six we were going to have another baby, but it died before it could be born. You said 'Never mind mum, perhaps the baby forgot to eat inside you and just died and went to Heaven'".
When I feel sad you always cuddle into me and when I feel happy, we laugh together.
Why?
But WHY mum? Why do I have to get up? Why do I have to go to school? Why can't I have school dinners? Why do I have to take that note? Why can't you come to school with me? Why are we going this way? Why is it raining? Why is the sea blue? Why did the cat have his bits chopped off? Why do we live in our house? Why isn't our house somewhere else? Why doesn't it snow? Why didn't our school close when it snowed? Why are we having our photos taken? Why can't we go to Finland? Why did Granny buy you a present from her holiday? Why do trees lose their leaves? Why isn't it summer? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
How?
How can I even begin to explain what being your mum is like? You bring me such joy, you make me laugh, and you melt my heart.
Sometimes you drive me to distraction and then you look at me with those big brown eyes and say, "I love you, you're the best mummy ever".
I know that if I hadn't carried you for nine months and if I hadn't known and loved you for the last eight years, I'd be a completely different person. You are my first thought when I wake and my last thought before I sleep. Everything I do is influenced by what would be best for you and every sacrifice and compromise I've made has been worth it.
You are my proudest and most lasting achievement. "I love you, you're the best boy ever!"
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