Maggie says: “Every mum loves their kids more than words can describe. However, being a mum, no matter what your kids age, is hard work and it can feel like the day never ends.
When you aren’t physically doing things to keep the family unit ticking over, your mind is preoccupied with how to get everything done and stopping things falling through the cracks.”
“Breakfast in bed, a special lunch or a gift is great on Mother’s Day, but the most valuable gift is taking something off mum’s plate. These can be one-off things or even better if they involve an ongoing shift in responsibilities away from mum.”
Here are some ideas for things that would definitely fall into the Mothers Helper category:
- Become a slow cooker hero. Make it a habit to cook a huge Sunday dinner with enough leftovers to cover a meal during the week
- Create a habit of taking the kids out every weekend. My partner used to take the kids out on Sunday mornings for what they referred to as “Dad’s Sunday Adventure”. The peace, time to myself and ability to do just whatever I felt like was bliss.
- Take on full responsibility for an out of school activity(s) for your kids. This means enrolling and paying, getting any uniforms, being the person who receives emails and knows when/where they need to be.
- Find ways to work more flexibly so that you can be around on a school afternoon to help with all the transits, cooking, homework etc. My partner did this for a while on the day when both kids did swimming lessons. No more breathing in chlorine and managing showers after the swim for me – definitely a win!
- Connect with other parents to find opportunities to share the load. Not everyone needs to drive individually to a birthday party or sports training. Ditto for babysitting – you shouldn’t have to pay for someone if you have people in your network who can help. Apps like Parachuute (www.parachuute.com) can help you take carpooling and sharing amongst a trusted network of parents to a new level, so there is more collaboration and less doing everything alone.
“To the mums flying solo out there this Mother’s Day – you are amazing.Whilst some of the ideas above might not be feasible there is a network out there who will be willing to help out – all you have to do is ask.
