Taking time for mum
I had a light bulb moment this morning, mummy needs to book in "Me time".
My light bulb moment occurred as I was about to have a shower and I realised that my leg and underarm hair was nearly a groomeable length. The leg hair I could handle, I mean after all it is winter. But the underarm hair, I actually screamed and jumped back with shock. OK to much information you're thinking, agreed but I needed you to realise that when you are a mum sometimes the simplest of things fail to get done.
The problem is, that on the lengthy list of things to do each day kids are first priority, Hubby second priority (what he has the ability to take care of himself). The house is the third priority and Mummy is the last priority. On the majority of days mummy gets jumped off the list to another day (aka just dropped off the list altogether).
Why does this happen? Mothers these days are highly educated intelligent people who have temporarily dropped their careers to take care of their families. We all know that in order to properly take care of the family we need to firstly take care of ourselves. But do we do it? No. As there is always something more important that needs to be done, someone that needs taken care of, something that needs cleaning. Not only that, but we also take on extra jobs and constantly offer help to people even though we haven't shaved our legs in weeks. It seems when you become a mum your ability to say "no" is also eliminated. Pre children if someone asked me to do something, I would automatically say "NO" (loudly) sometimes even before they had finished asking. Once I had done this I could then consider the question and decide if I actually want to do it or not. Post children I say "Sure I can do that" and then "is there anything else I can do for you as well" and I actually mean it, I actually want to help. I get a thrill from helping other people, but sometimes the smarter thing would be to say "yes I can help you, but maybe after I de-forestise my legs."
I think as the children get older you learn to take time out, but with a new baby and a toddler it seems impossible. My mission for this month is to set 30mins a day aside for myself, granted it may not be in the middle of the day, probably more likely to be 10:30 at night but I will do it. My legs will not go unshaven again I will claim part of myself back, after all I am not just a mother, but a wife and a woman.
My light bulb moment occurred as I was about to have a shower and I realised that my leg and underarm hair was nearly a groomeable length. The leg hair I could handle, I mean after all it is winter. But the underarm hair, I actually screamed and jumped back with shock. OK to much information you're thinking, agreed but I needed you to realise that when you are a mum sometimes the simplest of things fail to get done.
The problem is, that on the lengthy list of things to do each day kids are first priority, Hubby second priority (what he has the ability to take care of himself). The house is the third priority and Mummy is the last priority. On the majority of days mummy gets jumped off the list to another day (aka just dropped off the list altogether).
Why does this happen? Mothers these days are highly educated intelligent people who have temporarily dropped their careers to take care of their families. We all know that in order to properly take care of the family we need to firstly take care of ourselves. But do we do it? No. As there is always something more important that needs to be done, someone that needs taken care of, something that needs cleaning. Not only that, but we also take on extra jobs and constantly offer help to people even though we haven't shaved our legs in weeks. It seems when you become a mum your ability to say "no" is also eliminated. Pre children if someone asked me to do something, I would automatically say "NO" (loudly) sometimes even before they had finished asking. Once I had done this I could then consider the question and decide if I actually want to do it or not. Post children I say "Sure I can do that" and then "is there anything else I can do for you as well" and I actually mean it, I actually want to help. I get a thrill from helping other people, but sometimes the smarter thing would be to say "yes I can help you, but maybe after I de-forestise my legs."
I think as the children get older you learn to take time out, but with a new baby and a toddler it seems impossible. My mission for this month is to set 30mins a day aside for myself, granted it may not be in the middle of the day, probably more likely to be 10:30 at night but I will do it. My legs will not go unshaven again I will claim part of myself back, after all I am not just a mother, but a wife and a woman.
So, so true. Great post.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get all the kids ready in the morning, usually breakfast for me is last on my list and is the one that usually get's bumped off!
ReplyDeleteYour right, it definitely is tricky to remember to take time for yourself when your toddler and baby need you for so much, and the house doesn't clean itself! (as much as i wish for it on a daily basis!)
Catherine from Adventures with Kids wrote a post about a similar subjects with lots of great resources, it might be worth taking a look ;)
http://adventureskids.blogspot.com/2010/05/making-time-for-myself.html
Thanks awesome, I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteHi, that soup looks pretty tasty, I will give it a go, cheers Marie
ReplyDelete