Parenting: reality versus imagination.  Before my boys came and lit up my life I really didn’t have any experience of children other than being one!  I was the epitome of a career woman.  Over the years I hope that I have shared the reality of parenting here, however, I too still reel from the difference between parenting expectations and reality!

As part of my work with Bassetts Vitamins, they asked me to share with you a look at our real life.  Bassetts Vitamins are all about supporting families in the pursuit of an exciting, happy and colorful lifestyle, but they understand that life isn’t perfect and this is what makes it colourful for all involved.  To find out more check them out here or take a look at their facebook or Instagram site.  They are part of my families daily routine, the boys love their soft and chewy texture and I love that they are age appropriate (you can even get liquid for the littlest ones in the family.  Plus they leave me safe in the knowledge that my boys are getting all the vitamins they need in addition to their diet and that we are starting the day off the right way before we step into our colourful and mostly chaotic day ready to take on whatever may come.

A day in The Mad House

Today is one of those days…….

We are all tired.  I am not sure why. I think the dark nights and school schedule has taken its toll on all of us.  Maxi is settling into Senior school and has a bus to and from school now adding time to his school day.  Add to that the fact that we are now a month into the football season and he is now playing football for the school and his team.   Mini is working hard in his final year of primary and is on the school council .  Poor MadDad is getting dressed in the dark and soon will be coming home in the dark too.  I suffer from a condition which means that I become anemic and am currently in need of a top up of my beloved iron or blood!

In my pre-children days, I would spend Sunday morning in bed with the newspapers and a big pot of tea before meeting friends for brunch and spend the afternoon reading whilst the husbeast pottered and made a delicious roast dinner, followed by a long walk and then a deep hot bath in peace before slipping into freshly laundered sheets.

Today, I woke up to the noise of the boys fighting and tried to not move in the hope that the husbeast would get up and shut them up.  It is like a game of sleeping lions that I HAVE to win.  I need that extra 30 minutes in bed more than he does!  Today I get a hot cup of tea brought to me by Mini and the knowledge that I am winner.

Sundays mean football and today it is raining, oh joy!  So we all bundle up and go to watch Maxi play.  The only way to get Mini to come to is to bribe him with the promise of bacon sandwiches at the game.  Today Maxi loses one nil, but he played well and thankfully the sun came out.

One of the things that I find the hardest as a mum is the constant need to think about feeding and feeding my boys.  This is one of the reasons that i love the weekends as I can pass that off to the husbeast, however, lunchtime is my responsibility as he is cooking a roast dinner (winner winner chicken dinner).

Then the battle to get the boys to do their homeworks starts.  Mini hates literacy homework as he still finds handwriting really hard.  Today I make the decision to lose the battle to win the war and give up and decide that I will talk to his teacher about it at parents evening.  Maxi on the other hand, decides that he will do his homework without a challenge, perhaps because his brother is creating such a fuss.

Then it is time to wash the cars and yes, we make this much harder by insisting the boys’ help.  Normally MadDad and one of the boys wash the cars, but both of them want to help.  I guess that they are after some extra pocket money!  I decided to go out and help, but really there was no need, however, it is so much more fun washing cars together than doing housework.  Yes, the boys end up soaking wet and yes the car’s still have dirty patches on them!  Then the boys are distracted by friends playing out and go and join them.

There really is nothing better than a Sunday roast and I love it when I do not have to cook it.  We all enjoy gathering round the table and this really is what I imagined being a parent was all about.   Ah, but that joy is short lived as the boys are now arguing over who is going to walk the dog and who is going to have a bath first.  In the end, I stomp about like a three-year-old and take the dog out for a walk myself, sometimes I find myself acting younger than the kids!

I guess I really needed that time out and return home to find the husbeast has everything in hand, one child is in the bath, the other in the shower and he has also made Mini’s packed lunch for school.  He is a keeper!

I do love Sunday evenings as a family, today we decide that we will do some drawing and watch the Strickly Come Dancing results before the boys go to bed and the husbeast and I get some quiet time.

One thing I have learned through the years is that it that it doesn’t matter that I am not the perfect parent.  I have learned that the imperfections make our life more colourful and all add up to a happy, fun family.   Yes there is chaos, yes there is noise, yes there are raised voices, but there is also compassion, understanding and most of all love by the bucketful. So our life may more always be interesting, but it is never quiet.