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Parenting is hard work. Any parent will tell you that.

You have great days when you can’t seem to wipe the smile off your face because your heart is so full of love for these little people that call you ‘Mum’, and not so great days, when you want to hide in a cupboard with a packet of chocolate biscuits, a glass of wine and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

I’d walk through fire for my kids. I’d be likely to go all Liam Neeson from Taken if anything ever happened to them.

But this parenting thing is bloody hard work.

I was writing out the food shopping list the other day and asked my husband if there was anything he wanted to be added to the list. Deodorant? Shampoo for his gym bag? Stash of fun size chocolates for his desk drawer at work? Me being in a cranky mood, muttered under my breath, “I’d like no tantrums and sleep. Where can I get some of that?”

I started to compile a list in my mind of things I wanted. Things I’m pretty sure most parents would relate to and want, but can’t be bought.

I want to sleep.

I want to sleep a restful sleep and wake up in the morning not feeling or acting like a zombie. I don’t want to wake to the sound of one child teasing the other child and have it quickly escalate to tears and a tantrum.

I want to actually enjoy my fantastic, soul-nourishing coffee at a leisurely pace in the morning. Not knocking it back in three gulps while making lunches. No interruptions from a toddler screaming like a banshee because his cereal spoon is on the floor, because he threw it there. Or drinking the coffee cold, because I don’t have the speed of The Flash to be able to get to the toddler in his high chair before he flings his cereal bowl all over the floor, resulting in having to clean the floor before the dogs walk through the cornflakes.

I want my seven year old to finally remember what he has to do to get ready in the morning. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Brush teeth. Go to the toilet. It is the same routine every. single. morning. Its Groundhog Day. I’m not sure why he acts so surprised when I tell him he needs to brush his teeth…

Me reminding him and sounding like a broken record doesn’t work, a reward chart doesn’t work, a list in his room of the chores he has to do for him to refer to doesn’t work.

He can’t remember to brush his teeth, but he can name about six droids from Star Wars. My husband didn’t even know there were that many different droids. I couldn’t care less about the droids. I just want him to brush his teeth.

I want to be able to leave the house at the predetermined time. We’re about to walk out the door and then we realise the toddler’s hat is missing from his bag, even though it was in there when I packed the bag the night before. Or the seven year old suddenly decides the socks he is wearing are uncomfortable and has to change them right nowOr as I glance back to check the house before locking the door, I notice the seven year old’s lunch bag and drink bottle are still on the kitchen bench and at the same time as I go to grab them, the toddler tries to make a run for it out the front door being held open, politely for me, by the seven year old…

I want our seven year old to not draw on the bathroom mirror in liquid soap, suncream, moisturiser or toothpaste, for just one day. I know it is him that does it, because he writes his name… Genius, I know.

I know by saying I want these things, I am probably sounding like the whinging children I am whinging about. But you know what? I’ve experienced so many epic tantrums and listened to whinging over dinners for almost every night for five years, I feel like I’m entitled to a tantrum of my own.

I want a break.

If we miraculously get a great day with the toddler, where he doesn’t try to bite inanimate objects out of frustration – the dining table, child safety gate on the stairs, drawer handles – or bite his brother, or hurl a fork across the dinner table that grazes past our heads, then his older brother gets his cranky pants on.

It is exhausting just thinking about it.

I’m trying to pick my battles. I’m looking for short cuts or #lifehacks to try and make things smoother. I’m trying to not get stressed about it. I’m telling myself that I’ll look back in the future and laugh at these times. Or at least have some cracking stories to tell at their 21st birthdays.

I want someone to pour me a big glass of red wine, point me to a comfy chair in a quiet spot where I can sit, and maybe close my eyes. I’m tired.

Some days, it truly feels like hostage negotiation.

What about my list of demands? My requests? Never mind a helicopter, a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine and a suitcase full of unmarked bills, I just want one day of no arguments, tantrums and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones…

What about you? Do you feel like a hostage negotiator some days? Are you exhausted too? SHARE WITH US in the comments below.

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  • I always say that every day I did the best I could to be the best parent I could be. Some days were better then others but I always tried.

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  • I hear you – parenting is wonderful but crazy also.

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  • Can totally relate to your article ;) thanks for sharing, so good to know other parents experience similar parenting moments at times. Our children are such a blessing and bring soo much more happiness then chaos (which I’m gratful for) I know I will miss all the noise and their presence once they are ready to venture out leaving the nest.

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  • I do feel like a negotiator especially between my husband and son. We have to very different ideas about parenting and I struggle to make him understand that being strict is not always the way to go

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  • Amen. Parenting is the hardest job! Best job though

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  • Oh goodness… I’m a FTM to a 6 month old and as I started reading your article, I was all on board, yeah, I want sleep too. Then I kept reading and now I feel completely overwhelmed for the future day to day dramas I’m going to face, realising that I’m still going to want sleep yet have so much more to face up to than my cute smiley little baby and who just sits there and occasionally grizzles when she’s ready to feed or sleep! Uh oh… what have I got myself into?!

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  • All I can say to you is these things will pass and end – and one day you’ll look back and wish that was all you had to worry about, but that too will end – one day!

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  • Sure there are not so great days where we have to chase and repeat and deal with fights and tantrums… But as you start your story there are luckily great days as well and those days fill your battery again !

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  • Yep parenting is a hard gig but you know what, there are people out there who don’t have/can’t have kids and are desperate to be tired like a zombie from waking up early with kids, or to be frantically scrabbling around trying to hold it all together. I think articles like this are good in some ways as they highlight what every parent out there feels like. What I don’t like is that it’s so negative – we should be focusing on how lucky we are to have kids who are healthy. It’s not the kid’s fault that they whinge and moan, it’s normal. I think as parents we need to remember to be more patient with kids and that it’s our job to hold everything together (that’s why it’s called parenting).

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  • I think exhaustion is just part and parcel of being a Mum, from birth and through the teen years as I’m experiencing now. I figure I’ll have a long time to rest once my son leaves home and that by then I’ll miss him so much.

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  • The dogs would probably clean up the cornflakes and other food off the floor for you. Only problem is bubs might think it is funny to throw food on the floor for the dogs.

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  • Parenting is definitely very hard and probably gets harder as kids get older, but if you can focus on the bigger picture than it may just make it a little easier.

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  • Parenting is tough and exhausting – especially if at the end of the day and during the night you don’t have anyone to help out.

    Heartfelt thoughts to every single mum, FIFO partner mum, and defence force mum out there. Parenting is tough enough without being with kids day in, day out on your own.

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  • I totally empathise with this .

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  • Parenting is definetly hard work and I’m always exhausted!!

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  • Unfortunately I’m a single mum, things didn’t work out as planned and I’m always tired! I feel like I’ll never catch up :-(

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  • Parenting is REALLY hard work. It never stops, there’s no breaks! But before you know it, they’ve grown up and left home and you miss it all like crazy!

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  • It is hard work, but time flies by so quickly that before you know it you’re dealing with other worries like letting your children go out with their friends, or teaching them to drive. The work and worry doesn’t stop, but the rewards are outstanding.

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  • I have one daughter who is 3 and this last week has been really tough. I blamed the full moon because that means things will now improve. Miss 3 doesn’t sleep through the night very often, yes I’m exhausted. Some days I would love less tantrums but I am happy .

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  • I have just one daughter, now 13, and luckily I’ve never had problems of sleeping. But I remember the incredibly long dinners when she was younger. It took her “an hour” to eat one bowl of soup. She was so slow at doing things. And that was often driving me crazy! :-)

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