Recently I have been thinking I have this mum of three parenting malarkey down.
I survived half term with the three of them, even with a baby on the move. I’m managing to get them to all appointments, birthday parties, school, sports, swimming, clubs, on time.
I even managed to take all our library books back, albeit they were 134 days overdue, but they’re now safely back on the shelves.
Not only that – but both of my older boys declared that their new favourite food is baby sweetcorn.
I know. Winning at parenting right?
Wrong
This week it has hit me like a bulldozer.
Parenting is not a game, and certainly not one for the weak hearted, and you don’t win or lose. Parenting is a rollercoaster.
A white knuckle ride of highs, lows, twists, turns and those straight bits where you hold your breath waiting for something to happen.
You have good days and bad days and inbetween days.
And when you think you have it cracked with a series of good days there is going to be something which is your downfall leading to a series of bad days.
There are days with mum guilt, brothers wrestling, children scavenging sweets from where you threw them into hiding.
Times were laughter fills the air and you can barely breathe through the sheer joy that is your children
Followed by days where you want to hide in a cupboard and scream until you can barely talk.
Then there are the times where everyone gets along and you have true moments of sibling harmony. You catch snippets of their games as they whisper together.
But from those afternoons you get the nights where you have no energy to make whatever Hello Fresh delivered for dinner but instead you slam down plain pasta in front of them again because you know they’ll eat it and you can’t be bothered to fight anymore.
And of course there is sleep
The ultimate rollercoaster. Naptime, bedtime. Too much sleep, too little sleep. Will he sleep? Won’t he sleep?
Sneaking down the stairs at night.
One more story. One more kiss. One more glass of water.
Then the baby wakes and you do it all again.
That is the parental rollercoaster
There are no two days the same.
There are no days that are all good, no days that are all bad, no days that are all “meh”.
It’s simply a rollercoaster.
One I got on back in 2012 and have been riding the twists and turns ever since. Adding further cars along the way with the second one arriving in 2015 and the final piece of the puzzle late 2018.
Good job I’ve a strong stomach…..