Home alone with the kids

I haven’t posted on Steemit for a while. Family life has just taken over, I had a couple of events to plan so with three kids, my small amount of spare time was devoted to that. Now I have several half-written posts/ideas that I want to put up on my blog but as is usual with me, I end up writing about something that I wasn't expecting to write about. My husband has been at SteemFest in Lisbon since last Wednesday, leaving me home alone with our three young children.

I was uneasy about the idea

Now this is no big issue. It’s quite normal for a responsible adult to be home alone with their own children…..normal for most people. The the first time ever that I have been in my own home alone over night with my own kids was for one weekend this time last year when my husband went to the first SteemFest! And I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I was uneasy about the idea. My first thought was “Quick! Go and stay with my Mum and Papa!....oh damn we can’t because the kids have school/activities”. They live a two hour drive away so just popping over for a few hours wasn’t an option. Then I tried to get friends or family to stay over...”Come on, I’ll throw a slumber party!... I’ll leave mints on your pillow...I also offer a turn down service!”. No one took up that enticing offer for whatever reason so it was just me and the kids. My youngest was just 2 months old at the time and I think I was just getting used to coping with the new dynamic of three kids. It turned out to be a character building experience.

Isolated and depressed

This time around my kids are 8, 7 and 15 months. I’m used the having three kids part but I still felt the same way about being at home alone with them, this time for 5 nights. I couldn’t take the kids out of school and go to my parents house, not even for the weekend due to their activities. And although I desperately tried to make plans to see friends and family and invite them over, no one seemed to be free. Plus close family members left the country around the same time as my husband left for SteemFest. This left me feeling isolated and depressed for the first day or so. Sounds weird right? Seeing as I wasn’t actually alone, I was with my children. But three young kids without a second pair of hands is pretty full on. It’s nice having another adult around for company too, or just to say “listen to your mum and do as you’re told!”.

Single mothers

All the single mothers I know say that after they have put their little ones to bed and the chaos of the day is over, they feel incredibly lonely. I’m lucky to have a husband who I can still talk to on the phone and who can tell the kids “listen to your mum and do as you’re told!” via FaceTime. There are a lot of women who don’t have that. There are a lot of women who do it alone all the time. There’s no one to watch the kids when they want to pop out to throw out the bins, or go shopping, or to the gym, or just have a break. And then there’s the financial aspect. But they do it.

Soldiers

Single mums get on with it every single day. And I have the utmost respect for them. More now than ever before. I’ve had to Woman up over the last few days. Raising kids is an absolute privilege and it’s fun too, but it’s not easy. You have to be strong mentally, emotionally and physically. Women who do it alone are soldiers. And I salute them.

MummyImperfect x

A little note to the organisers of SteemFest: Please consider having the next one in the UK school holidays so that me and my kids have the option of running home to my parents house.