and other Parental Dramas…
I had an epic argument with my husband this morning. But it wasn’t over money, infidelity, lack of respect or any of those classically epic argument topics. No, it was over a child’s hat. And it was because I, myself, try to wear too many hats.
Don’t we all when we are mums trying to multi-task?
He’d only tried to be helpful…
It’s just I didn’t really appreciate that kind of help at 8.40am, two minutes before the kids had to be ushered out of the house and into the car for their carnival day at school. Because said assistance entailed him clumsily sticking super glue to the nib of my son’s perfect little pencil hat (this year’s carnival theme is art) and me watching aghast as it dribbled down the side of the cone, looking messier and messier by the second!
I flipped out!
Well, who wouldn’t? I’d spent all weekend whipping these simple hats up (whilst other parents spent a few hours turning their darlings into easels, Piccaso lookalikes and picture frames) Crafty Beggar.
I had planned and devised, schemed and dreamed to get my cardboard creations looking almost perfect. And now look at them! Ruined.
And then I laughed.
But only after I insisted that he took the children into school instead of me. No way was I standing at the gates amidst the bashful gaze of my competition who, since the puddles of super glue had left nice dark patches underneath my mini cone of black card, would assume that not only was I uninspired enough to dress my children as pencils, I was also incapable of cutting nibs in a straight line… I laughed because it was all so ridiculous.
And I laughed because this reminded me of my friend and her Tooth Fairy drama.
My friend is a single parent; a wonder woman who multitasks much more than I. But a couple of weeks ago, well, The Tooth Fairy forgot her daughter had lost not one, but two teeth in a day. And they were her first ones! I know, I know. No coin under the pillow, just two apparently unwanted front teeth to wake up to in the morning… Epic fail, right?
Until you think about the hundred and one million things this Mum does remember…
She has single-handedly brought her daughter up from birth to seven years. She has put her career on hold to be that steadfast parent who is always there – unconditionally. She has juggled finances to find a way to take her daughter on month long camping trips all over the UK in the summer. She left everything she knew in the city and moved to a village on the outskirts so her little girl could attend a woodland school.
And on, and on, and on. There are so many examples that illustrate this Mum’s love and devotion, they could quite frankly make several books, and inspire the rest of the world. She really is that fab.
So the point is; it’s not about the little itty bitty things we forget…
And forget them we always will! How many things do we, as parents, have to remember in a day? How many plates do we have to spin, how many balls do we have to juggle?
It’s about remembering all of the things we remember to remember!
It’s about celebrating the utterly fantastic multi-faceted job that we do when it comes to bringing up our kids! It’s about realising the number of hats (though preferably not of the nib variety) that we have to wear just to get through a day… often changing out of and back into the same ones over and over again.
It’s about being kind to ourselves and giving ourselves several pats on the back for the things we do get right. And well, for all our costume failures and forgetful flippin’ fairies living at the bottom of the garden, it’s a chance to giggle… when children are out of earshot (and after giving our winged friends a stern reminder to smarten up their acts) of course.
And we can make it into a game next time, think on our feet, perfect our spontaneous comebacks, invent stories, and turn it all around.
Because one thing’s for sure, it will happen to us again and again and again. And if you’re an exception to that rule, I’ll eat my hat.
