When Parenting Becomes Overwhelming

Being a parent can be the most rewarding thing in the world but that's not to say that it comes without hardships. Not everything can be simple, where's the fun in that?

I'm sure I won't be the first to put my hands up and admit this but sometimes this parenting malarky can be more than a little overwhelming. 

Learning how to to be a mum or a dad doesn't happen overnight, we learn new things daily and of course we also make mistakes along the way too.

There are days when I'd really like to hide myself away, my emotions seem to end up all over the place and I feel like I'm not getting things quite right. I mean it doesn't matter how many parenting books you read, telling you to do things a certain way, each child is different and if we're honest, there is no-one who can really know how to handle your child, even if they are a mother or a father themselves, it's a matter of taking each day as it comes.

I would never not want to be a mum but I won't lie there are moments when I wish I could just take a break. Recent months have seen my husband working away a week at a time and this hasn't been the easiest of transitions. The kids miss their dad, I miss my husband and it shows in our daily lives. Single parents get a huge amount of admiration from me!

I'm a person who doesn't sleep well anyway but when the hubby is away I sleep even less, I think in the back of my mind I'm worrying more about the kids and the house because I'm in charge of it all. Then there's my lovely girls who I'm told by others are always polite and helpful seem to pick these weeks to misbehave, argue with each other and me and somedays I feel like all I do is shout just to be heard. 

Now I hate that, I don't want to shout but they don't seem to want to listen when I ask nicely, please tell me I'm not alone there?! And of course because I'm tired I know I snap quicker than I normally would and it is in those moments that the mum guilt seeps in and I start getting this fear that I'm doing things wrong somehow.

Realistically I know I'm being irrational in my thoughts but it doesn't stop me from having them, I think worrying becomes part and parcel of becoming a mum or dad.

Being a parent whether singularly or as a couple can be rather lonely at times but when we don't share our worries, instead letting them build up they can end up getting the best of us.

And that's the real reason for the post I guess, I'm sharing my own anxieties with you all, to let it be known that you're not alone in your fears and expectations of parenting. As overwhelming as it can be, there are always better times to look forward to, those harder moments are what help shape us as people but they do not define us. 

So as I sit typing this with a gin and tonic in hand I'd like to say cheers to all parents, lets be overwhelmed together.