Before I had kids I like to think of myself as a reasonably clean and tidy.....ish person, you kinda get that drummed into you when you join the Navy, living in communal harmony and all that jazz. It becomes a way of life and you generally make sure that the dishes are done, the house is vacuumed/clean and most things have a place.
Enter kids, the first few months were pretty sweet, both of my babies were good sleepers so I was able to clean and tidy during nap time, but once they started crawling/walking, life changed a lot, now I have a hurricane 4 year old, that leaves a path of crap after her, she has absolutely no care in the world and flips her lid when you tell her to put away the toy/book/clothing item if she is no longer using it. Its a never ending cycle, and it does my head in. My wee boy (18 months) is obsessed with balls and books, so on any given day he is throwing both around the house, we have had to limit the amount of books we have out and he will get as many out of the book case and proceed to leave them around the house, he is actually at the age that he will return things to where he got them, he loves putting things in the bin especially his nappies.
I am not your OCD type by any means and I honestly can't comprehend how an OCD type even handles this, but having tornado kids do my head in all day long, and I feel I need to get this off my chest, If you have any idea on how to get tornados to pick up after themselves without an attitude I would love to hear.
Stuff that does my head in with kids
1. Mess - The constant need to make it all the time
2. Whinging - about nothing, food in particular
3. Being told a zillion times to get there shoes on and still ignoring you.
4. Always making you late, always
5. Not eating dinner, even when they say they are starving
6. Folding all the washing - then the grabbing it and flinging it around the house
7. Stickers - Everywhere
8. Excessive amount of toys, that never get played with - my kids prefer cooking equipment. Toys with bits are the worst.
9. All of the below
10. The way your car gets totally destroyed - The rubbish, the smells and the buttons pushed.
All of these reasons and many more are the reason I cannot be a full time stay at home mum, I honestly commend those that are, because how in the world do you not lose your shit every 5 minutes. How do you not mentally flip out, some days I feel like my brain has gone to mush, I can't concentrate, I lose focus, I want to just have some adult time, hence the reason I started running fitness classes because I knew that from my own experience exercise is a life saver when you are feeling overwhelmed by parenthood as is Adult conversation.
I am one of those mums that will drop their kid at Kindy or Daycare/caregiver and run, yep the kid might not be impressed by being left but I have absolute faith that the people that I have chosen to look after my children are fully capable and amazing human beings, I know that if I linger there will more than likely be tears, or more tears, and that 5 seconds after I am gone, they will be distracted and forget about me altogether.
I love having my time (which is often work) but I can't recommend it enough for my mental health, I absolutely think it is an essential part of parenthood, Its great for you and its great for your child, your child will learn so much from others, they will learn skills that you do not have the time for, some of you will as you are amazing parents, but for me I know that my kids are thriving in the places that I have chosen for them.
So while some of you may think that you are a rotten person for having to work, you are not, you are doing something for you and your family, and know that your child will be learning and growing everyday, they will be bonding with others and they love you just as much as if not more than if you were at home getting angry about food not being eaten/mess. If you are a stay at home parent, I think what you do is amazing, you have way more tolerance than me, and you are spending quality time with your kids, your kids love you for it but also remember that you need time out as well. Either way you are amazing.