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Sunday and 10 tips to help ease mum stress
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Sunday again today and I can confirm that mum stress is a real thing! We all know its real but today I have been moody and grumpy. I even marched upstairs with the bin liners to tidy away my 5 year old’s bedroom inside them, She cried and screamed but unfortunately for me she has still not tidied her room. Have you been at the point where the children push you so far that your body physically hurts? After a very stressful morning on Wednesday I arrived at work and soon after my hand and arm went numb. Later in the day I had to go to bed early as I had a pounding headache. Stress is real and is not something to be taken lightly!
So what can we do to ease the mum stress and pressure? Most things seem to fall on us. In this house daddy tries but it is me stood here laying down the law. All my threats get wiped out by daddy giving in. I want to take away the Ipad and Ipod long term but daddy could not take the tears and stress of the kids not having them. They keep them quiet. My daughter does enjoy the Amazon Kindle for Kids, note trial for America Kids Freetime and Amazon Kids unlimited, I would recommend this over an Ipad with Minecraft and Roblox.
So how did today evolve? well daddy had a really bad night. He woke me a few times with his coughing and spluttering. It was then 5.30am when our son wanted daddy to get up. Exhausted he obliged, error here, daddy has always got up with him, so now our son expects it. Once I got up I found homework still not started and rooms not tidied. Yesterday was spent on the gadgets with the agreement of homework tomorrow. My argument yesterday was to just get it done then there is no need to worry about it. I got ignored the gadgets over rule.
This afternoon I managed to get the kids to help tidy the front room. Standing here screaming and getting upset. The amount of toys that appear down stairs is incredible. These are the kids that complain that they do not have anything. I am forever tidying up lego and K’nex, the tiny pieces are forever ending up in the vacuum cleaner. However, despite my mum stress and anger their rooms are still a mess, the front room is better then it was.
Both kids have now completed their home work and they have both read. I learnt today through my 5 year olds homework that Blackbeard the pirates real name was Edward Teach, we gave up listing the ingredients that are in Grog.
Our kids will rarely do as they are told and answering back is frequent. We have tried reward charts and reward stickers, these worked for a little while. Then daddy started to pay them to help. Our 7 year old liked this idea, however he was being paid for jobs that he really should do anyway. Paying him to keep his room tidy was getting too much. He then lost the money because he kept playing with it. Over time I have found it and the money is now safely in his bank account but he is no longer being paid to help.
So as a mum of two very demanding children what do I recommend to try and ease the mum stress.
- Trying to get the children to behave, reward charts and stickers as above are worth a try. Paying pocket money is also worth trying but remember you are in charge not them. So do not let your children black mail you. Our 7 year old tried and did not get very far with me.
- Trying to find time for you and daddy or your partner, this is important. Once the kids are asleep maybe make time for a date night, or cuddle up with a film. You need time to unwind as yourselves rather then constantly being mummy and daddy.
- Try to make time for you. Stress is very bad. Try and find time to read a book or enjoy your Kindle. Amazon also offer a trial of Kindle Unlimited – America and Kindle unlimited – UK
- If you enjoy listening to books then Amazon are also offering a trial of Audible – America and Audible UK. If you are in America and have a stressed friend who enjoys listening to books, then Amazon America offer Audible gift membership
- Worth looking at if you are a stressed mum in America are Amazon home services, I do not think this is available in the UK. In the UK there is Amazon Fresh which is for groceries but you need to be an Amazon Prime member, (Link for Amazon Prime America)
- Other ideas are to relax and put your feet up with a nice mug of tea or coffee
- Walking can help to relieve the mum stress. To just get out of the house and walk, preferably alone. Taking time for yourself.
- I started writing my blog due to my mum stress. Sometimes it helps to write.
- A long bath (if you can) with bubble bath,
- Maybe listen to some relaxing music, Trial – Amazon music unlimited America and Amazon music unlimited UK
So end of Sunday, its now 10pm and I have now calmed down. I had a bacon sandwich for tea followed by ice cream, not the best diet but chocolate would have been on the menu too if we had some in the house. The children make me mad and can have me hiding in the bathroom as it is the only room with a lock on it. Daddy is now snoring in his chair. Yes this is my life. I need to find my kindle and stop typing, I have my book still to read beside my bed.
Despite the mum stress though I am sure all mums would agree that we do love our children very much, but wow why do they have to be so hard?
Back to work tomorrow and the usual routine of the school breakfast club and usual work day for me. I am now going to go, try and get some rest, maybe even read some of my book if I get to bed early enough. Try and get some rest and relax so I am ready for tomorrow and being mum.
For more see, 15 ideas to help keep the kids entertained
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Tuesday mud and a Teddy bears picnic
Today was Tuesday again, ending in alot of mud. Yesterday I watched a Teddy bears picnic. We have had a busy start to the week and right now I am exhausted with mum stress as it seems by 5 year old has put a hole her duvet.. I was trying to relax – also trying to sort out a blogging issue but that’s a whole other problem and now after my rant I now find myself alone. Am I happy? no, do I want to cry? yes, am I going to? no. I’ll just scream inside instead.
So here is my week, yesterday and today started the same, still the arguments before leaving the house. Then racing the kids into school for breakfast club. Yesterday I had work, yet another busy day. At the end of my day though I rushed to school to watch my 5 year old perform a Teddy bears picnic. It was only about 2 minutes long but it was lovely. She does ballet club on a Monday and they have been practicing with their teddy bears. She remembered all her movements and did a really lovely job. All the children were amazing and I filmed it with my mobile phone.
Our world would be so different without our smart phones. Imagine how many more photos or how much video footage there would he of us if our parents had them. I must have thousands of pictures, to many to develop and hours of video. The closest my parents have is slides. We used to enjoy watching slide shows.
Today has been a day off for me. I was happy to leave them at school this morning, looking forward to my day. I was planning on reading my book, this again didn’t happen. When writing a blog there always seems to be something that needs to be done. I still have about 50 posts that I need to rework for SEO and I am wondering if I have done the others right. I think like with everything, blogging improves with experience and knowledge. Managing photos and Word Press is all part of that.
This afternoon my 7 year old had foot ball club and our daughter, numbers. At 3.00 today it was raining hard, we thought well at least he wont come home covered in mud. Well an hour later when I collected him I was greeted by a very cold muddy child, shivering looking throughly miserable. The photos here look better then the muddy mess that he really was.
We got home and he immediately went and ran a bath. Why do schools do this? I agree that it is good for them to get some fresh air and my boy loves football but not in the pouring rain. This is the child who moans for his umbrella if he feels a splash of rain on his head. Also of course, all his clothes and plimsolls had to be washed, he has PE tomorrow, so they are now all drying on the radiators. His top will not be ironed in the morning but at least it will be clean. I just hope it is dry.
My 5 year old enjoyed numbers and she had managed to acquire a hair band from a friend. Her hair is a frequent mess not helped by the fact that she will not brush it and she has cut it herself so many times. I should really take her to see a hairdresser but there is not much they could do with it right now. She can only just get it in a pony tail. It is either growing very slowly or her cutting it herself is keeping it short but it is mess as very thin as well.
We managed to get reading done tonight but it looks like my son’s River Nile homework will be handed in as it is. At least he has done something, tomorrow we really must work on their spellings.
Bedtime tonight was a nightmare as usual and now it looks like I have a Care bear duvet to repair. I am reluctant to replace it as she was climbing inside it when the accident happened. I was not very sympathetic and at 9.00 in the evening she should be asleep not playing.
So here we are, end of Tuesday. My reading not achieved again. Work on Pinterest not achieved either or my previous blog posts SEOd. Tomorrow I have another busy day starting with a trip to the office about 20 minutes away. They have forecast snow tonight, I really hope that it stays away. Like alot of people I hate driving in it.
I am now going to go, find daddy and try and get some rest before the morning arrives and the day starts again. Bringing with it the stress and work of being mum.
For more see, Tuesday plimsoll stress
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Sunday again and a birthday party
Today was Sunday again and we had our nephew’s 4th birthday party to attend. Laying in bed I knew I needed to just get up and face the world. The children came in disturbing my peace, jumping and telling me to get up. They had both woken daddy before 6am. I was grateful that they had left me this long.
Finally I ventured out of bed and got a bath. Laying in the water, I willed time to stand still, of course it didn’t. I got out of the bath and went downstairs to find my family and breakfast. Does everyone else take a while to wake up in the morning? I re-boiled the kettle as I was now desperate for my coffee and Weetabix. Then after taking daddy a drink I sat down and started to eat.
It’s funny that as soon as mummy sits down to eat breakfast a child appears demanding toast. I told my son to wait till I had finished. He then walked off upset and reported me to daddy. Thankfully daddy told him to wait till mummy had finished. Soon after my daughter appeared asking for food too. This now meant that I really had to put down Facebook and sort out their toast, no more wistful pushing my Weetabix around the bowl.
After their toast, it was then a repetitive plea of “when are we going to the party” over and over. It was still early which meant our 7 year old still had time to do his homework. This was met with protest and refusal.
A little later we left daddy and went to the birthday party. A room full of small children and parents trying to control them. The game of pass the parcel upset my 7 year old, as he did not win the prize inside the last parcel. He did not understand why it had to be one of our nephew’s friends who won. However, he did enjoy the chocolate buttons that were inside his layer. When I was a child I am sure that there were just a few presents or just one inside the parcel, not a present in every layer. I can remember birthday parties where I did not win anything. Children’s and parent’s expectations are so much higher now.
Our nephew’s birthday cake is pictured in the featured image. Here is the inside of his cake. My brother in law’s car is pictured on the top and the inside has red seats. Hence the inside of the cake is red. It tasted great, though my 7 year old commented that it was too sweet.
The children also had some cup cakes with blue icing. Our son insisted on taking his home for daddy whilst our daughter enjoyed making a mess with her’s.
The children enjoyed the party and the food, But, why is it that when they have music playing, a dance floor and the company of other children, that if they can find mischief they do?
Yes, a helpful person had left a trolley in the hall. The children were having a lot of fun climbing on it and then pushing each other on it. I tried to get my two kids off but their peers wanted to continue. Despite the efforts that my sister had made to entertain the children they were having a lot of fun with the trolley. Unfortunately for them, adults can see the forthcoming dangers so they were not playing for long.
After the party we returned home to try and get homework completed. Our 7 year old needed to research the River Nile. With the help of Wikipedia it is not completely finished but, he has made a very good start. We then needed to listen to the children read, it was now we realised that our son had left his book at school. Our daughter read her’s to daddy, she did her writing homework with me yesterday.
So we are now ready for Monday morning. The children both went to bed after daddy finally went up and stopped them playing. They often don’t listen to just me, it takes both of us most nights, to get them to go to sleep.
We are now sat watching Eddie Murphy as Dave, it is a fun film. I am now going to go and relax and get some rest before Monday again and the on going stress and work of being mum.
For more (and our niece’s birthday party) see, Back to school tomorrow
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