Daddy is Brave

So last week I had a ‘day off’, my old friends now scattered around the country got together for a bit of sale shopping and a bite to eat.  I left the kids and my fella in their pyjamas – I had a bit of an unfeasibly silly strop because I couldn’t find an umbrella or bus fare and was off. Apologised for strop before I left in case something bad happened and the last words my beloved heard me speak involved swearing, tutting and general bad temperedness!

We had a good old catch up all of us talking at once and at great speed.  

In usual mum style I bought things for the rest of the family, shirt for the four year old, trousers and top for the baby, aftershave for the hubster.  Although if I’m truly honest I could have continued shopping and scoured the shops for personal bargains had it not been for that second bottle of wine calling after lunch.....how  truly decadent for my life right now – afternoon drinking and chatting – just bliss!

I’m sure the last time I managed to do that was a Sunday so long, long ago that we had to buy a plate of chips between 4 of us, to allow us to carry on because of the then licensing laws!!!

I think I may have spent a little too long questioning my mates on the practical day to day management of their lives,

‘So you drop off, childminder here, husband’s flexi hours here, ahh, doesn’t start till 9.30?’ etc.

Until I was finally told I am not the family management police and to give it a rest!

The thing is I find it so hard, so overwhelming sometimes being a working mum, I needed to know if there was some trick, some little way I had not thought of that just makes everything fall into place and run....run like clockwork that is not like a headless chicken.

Turns out there isn’t, it’s pretty tough for everyone, and the time you borrow with a ‘work from home’ here kicks you up the backside with a ‘sick childminder’ there and so on completing the clever balancing on a knife edge life and times of just about every parent.

I arrived home to find the one year old in a ‘Daddy is Brave’ T-shirt,

‘Why is he wearing that – Is it because you looked after them by yourself for a day?’ I joked.

‘Yes, yes it is’ he said with no flicker or irony, humour or amusement,

 ‘You know how hard it is!’ he accused

Yes my sweet and tired man, yes, yes I do!