September – new term, new books, new beginnings… for the whole family.
It’s back to school time, the cue for that awful clanking of the gears as we all try to get back up to speed after seven weeks off. What time do we need to get up again? Where’s his swimming kit? Am I absolutely sure Monday isn’t an inset day?
The start of the new school year is also the time when in my house we make resolutions. I say ‘we’ but my kids play no part in this ritual. It is I, their mum, or in their view, their tormentor, who has made this year’s list:
1. Children to do homework on the day it is set, so it to avoid meltdown at breakfast on day it is due.
2) Children to put half of their pocket money each week into savings accounts, so as to learn the value of (my) money.
3) Children to learn one musical instrument each, plus Spanish /French / Mandarin, plus do 30 minutes exercise every day so as to show university interviewer that they are well-rounded. (My kids are 9, 6 and 2).
The point of these resolutions is to make me the perfect mum, them the perfect kids and us The Waltons. I know, I know, it’s never going to happen. When I showed my offspring last year’s list, they shared a look between themselves that said: ‘It’s OK, She’s gone temporarily mad. She’ll calm down in a day or two and we can get back to normal’.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do your best, but aren’t we mums in danger of putting too much pressure on ourselves to measure up to an ideal? Who decided what is the perfect mum anyway? I bet they never had to defrost a packet of chicken nuggets, recite the eight times table and attempt to remove a piece of Plasticine from a two year-old’s hair - all at the same time.
So, maybe we mums need to cut ourselves a little slack and tell ourselves we’re doing a great job. Maybe, this year I’ll try to achieve just one of my resolutions, not all of them. Now, where can I buy a Teach Yourself Mandarin book for under 10s? Only joking.