You know those days where by the end of it you are completely and utterly exhausted? Those days you can barely holding it together? Well this was me yesterday.
I am usually a very laid back person, it takes a lot to break me. But I can say with all honesty that I have never in my 9 years of being a parent ever had a day that shit! I was woken by fighting kids, breakfast everywhere, my kitchen resembled a holding cell for untamed animals.
I thought once I dropped the boys at school surely my day would improve. I was wrong. So unbelievably wrong! My 2 year old daughter seems to have embraced the terrible two’s with open arms. There was just no letting up. She is a very strong willed child which I’m hoping will be a benefit in her older years but for now, she is driving me to breaking point. I ask her to do something. No. Please do it. No.
I am not typically a parent who resorts to bribing my children to do things (toilet training excluded, they can have whatever they frigging want if it means they will crap in the toilet!) however yesterday I was at my wits end. I did not know what to do. I was stressed, time deprived with my husband and I cannot remember the last time I left the house to do something for myself or by myself.
I’m just tired of being tired.
As the afternoon went on it didn’t improve. Homework arguments, racing the clock for swimming lessons because their class times had changed. Rushing out the door with an extremely overtired 2 year old, 3 month old baby and the boys, only to get there and be told they changed our lesson time to the next half an hour slot which meant I had to entertain the devil child, I mean toddler, for an hour instead of 30 minutes in what can only be described as a sauna. *It is a heated indoor pool in a shed that is ONLY for lessons.
By this point I was barely holding it together. I made dinner and was counting down the hours until my husband came home. He walked inside and asked me how my day was – I couldn’t contain it any longer – “It was fucked!”. There was no other way to explain it. The tears started flooding my face and as my husband comforted me, I fell into a messy sobbing heap. He asked me what had happened to make it such an awful day and as I told him, the crying got worse. But as I talked and cried, I began to feel lighter, less stressed, less irritated (possibly less irrational).
My husband being the wonderful man he is reminded me that everyone has bad days. It is ok to not be on top of everything every single day. Not to bottle it up until breaking point and that tomorrow will be better! And like always….. He was right.
Have you experienced days like this too? How do you prevent it from happening?
I don’t think you can. You just have to go with the flow and realise you don’t have to be perfect. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to ask for help. And know that we have all been there and it does get better. (And everything feels better with sleep). Hugs x
Yes that is the one thing I have to keep saying. Everyone goes through it.
Oh Kell this is so true. A few weeks ago I burst into tears over something really minor at about 11pm. I’d been holding it together all day but it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. I hope the next day was better xx
Oh that damn straw! Haha. I hope your week improved, mine did. Sleep definitely helped.
I have a few of these days a year and I think they are more frequent as your kids age. I think the best thing to do is nothing. Cancel all plans and just cut-off. Thankfully my three year old has only just started being three. We skipped the ‘terrible twos’ altogether. It’s a major pain in the A though.
Sure is! I hope it doesn’t get worse with age. haha. Oh well, I guess I just have to take it one day at a time 🙂 Thanks for your support Jody!
Oh yes! I have definitely had these days, for sure. You sound and look like such a great mum, because you are. Always remember, your only human and yes absolutely we all have shitty days even if some of us don’t like to admit it 😉
Thank you so much Rebecca! I think we all need a little encouragement sometimes. I really appreciate yours.
Reading this bought tears to my eyes, as this was similar to my day today (except that I only have one child). For some reason my normally well behaved almost three year old was just a nightmare today and absolutely nothing went right. It can just be so hard sometimes but sleep definitely makes things better, not just for mums and dads but also for children too.
Oh no! I hope tomorrow is much better for you. Some days can just be tough. Feel free to pop over to our facebook page and chat there or this group >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/pregnancyandparentingchat/ it is a small group of mums who ask questions, chat about their days, struggles and successes! Such lovely ladies 🙂