The Mothers Day Interviews: My Mum

This year to celebrate Mothers Day, I've interviewed a group of Mums that I particularly admire. They are all Mothers with different experiences, views, stories and opinions. Some are from the blogging and social media world whilst others are ones I know in real life. I'm running the series through out this week and we'll be talking about birth stories, parenting advice, sleep deprivation and much, much more!

My final interview in the series is with my own Mum, Ann. She's raised two girls from neurotic to rebellious and back again. She is the most patient, diplomatic and loving person I know. She's also pretty cool and will fight my corner no matter what.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a Mother?
I don't think there is any one thing, being a mother is challenging, it's still challenging, you never stop being a mother.

What kind of Mum did you think you would be?
To be honest I didn't think about it much, I guess we all hope we will get it right, be loving, gentle, caring.

Did you turn out to be that kind or completely different?
Yes I was loving caring and gentle, I was also tired, tearful, desperate, sometimes bordering on hysterical and emotionally drained.

Grandparent Guilt

Three days a week Finley spends his day with his two sets of Grandparents. We drop him off in the morning and pick him after tea but he spends his whole day with them, all day long for about ten hours. This is because we both have to work full time and we are seriously lucky to have two sets of parents who can step in and help us in this way. I know there are a lot of people out there who don't have the help that we do and we are aware of how fortunate we are in this regard. 

However, I do think that society wants me to feel bad about this set up. In that I should feel guilty for abandoning my child, burdening our parents and skipping off to work without a care in the world. I get this vibe from the media, from other parents and from people who comment about how much time my son spends at my Mum and Dads house. The implication of course, is that our parents shouldn't have to raise their children's children. 

Well no, they shouldn't.

A Gruffalo Birthday Party

Last weekend was Finley's second birthday party and surprise, surprise (!) we went with a Gruffalo theme. If your child is obsessed with all things Gruffalo then this is a brilliant theme for a party.
However, if like me you are sick to death of the sodding Gruffalo and his idiot child then don't pick this theme. It will likely tip you over the edge and result in necking the emergency back up cooking wine straight from the bottle.

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