It’s okay to say you don’t like your kids. I’ve done it before. Many times. It doesn’t mean I don’t love them. No matter what I’ll always love them, it’s just how it is. But when they really crack my last nerve, my fondness does waver. A long day of yelling and being driven round the bend, it’s hard not to be cranky and not like someone, it doesn’t matter who they are! If everyone liked each other all the time, we’d live in a pretty boring world.
The hardest part is explaining to your kids that they are driving you up the wall. When another adult irritates you to no end, you walk away or tell them and either an argument ensues or you don’t talk to each other until tensions have eased. It might be a bit more complicated than that (especially with the vast differences between how females and males perceive how an argument goes, but don’t get me started on that!), but overall you get the idea. When it comes to telling your kids to give you some space, you may as well attach a big neon sign to your head that says “Keep annoying Mummy”.
I don’t like being the angry mum who tells her kids to go away when I’ve reached breaking point. The looks on their faces is enough to touch anyone’s heart. Oh the mum guilt! But I have also taken to hiding in the cupboard from time to time. It becomes a game then to see who can find me. At least it breaks the tension down a bit. And being able to jump out and scare them as well is also kind of funny. You have to have some laughs at the expense of your kids otherwise where’s the fun for you?!
Life without kids would certainly be boring. Well, in a really weird way. Who doesn’t miss being able to go anywhere you wanted at the drop of a hat and all you needed to grab was your phone, wallet and keys and off you go?! Mind you, the amount of things I need for my girls to leave the house now isn’t that bad, but it’s more the time it takes to get ready to leave the house. Insert big face palm and sigh right here!
We don’t live in a perfect world. I’m not a perfect parent and I never will be. I certainly don’t expect my girls to be perfect either because that’s never going to happen, I’d be living in a dream land if I thought it was. I know their attitudes and behaviour are going to get worse as we head towards teenage years as well. So much to look forward to, haha! But sometimes I just feel it’s not that much to ask my girls to be nice to Mummy so she doesn’t go off her brain day in day out. I still swear they hear something else entirely. Must be their selective hearing kicking into gear!
I know one day I’ll likely look back and wonder why I was worried about all the small stuff when there’s bigger fish to fry. But we all know how different things are when we’re currently living it. All I can say (as I hear another ‘loving’ sister fight brewing in the background) is lucky I love my kids and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Come check on me in five minutes though, I might just change my mind, haha!