Mothers' Day memories: From Toddlers to Teenagers

As we approach Mother's Day, I seem to have been surrounded by doting parents and their young children eagerly participating in weekend activities together. I think back to a time when I too was captured by the excitement of each mini milestone made by my children. I even have a recording of my children talking, recorded over a period of time for prosperity. Sounds of crying babies, children making animal sounds on cue, nursery rhymes and cheeky chatter bring memories flooding back.

When did life start getting so serious that as a parent of teenagers my concerns are no longer about toilet training, toddler tantrums and timeout but now involve more complex issues. My life now revolves around providing a teenager taxi service, teenagers obsession with Face Book and texting, emotional hormonal driven outbursts, theirs and mine, driving lessons, accruing driving hours, alcohol consumption and wondering where on earth my tough love teenager is and wondering if she is safe and well.

Sadly this is my first Mother’s Day without my mum which is perhaps the reason for the introspective contemplation.

I would like to wish all of the mums out there a very Happy Mothers’ Day. I hope that your families dote on you for a change. I am reminded of a quote which I have on a fridge magnet. “Mothers hold their children’s hands for a while but hold their hearts forever.”

Teenagers Taxi!!! Who said a woman’s place is in the home?

They were wrong it’s in the car. Actually that goes for the dads as well as the mums. Let’s not be too gender specific here. Both parents can and usually do share in taxiing of teenagers to sporting activities, social events, school and extracurricular activities and part time work.

Ahh!!! the weekend is here. It’s time to relax after a busy and challenging yet very productive week at work. So I look around my house to see a backlog of washing waiting for me and the never ending tidying up that needs to be done and yet never seems to be completed before someone messes things up again. Why is it that I can be really well organized coordinating people at work and yet I can’t seem to coordinate myself and my family to achieve tasks which need to be done at home?

Ok so back to the Teenager Taxi Service. I do admit that this is one thing that does take some time out of the day. While the actual transporting of teenagers from one place to another does not take long, it is scheduling drop off and pick up times to different activities for different members of the family and the constant clock watching required to achieve this that takes the time. OK so that is my excuse but let’s face it I lack the self discipline to work to a schedule at home and would rather do something creative than doing the domestic duties which surround me. So I had better stop blogging, get off my butt and start cleaning, washing, tidying before I have to go and taxi my teenagers again.