The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms

A couple of weeks ago I was ill. Hang on a minute; didn’t I start another blog post with the exact same line not so long ago? Yes I did, and I’m not at all amused at having to take to my bed again. In fact since the start of school in September I’d had Chicken Pox, a cold and this flu before we had even reached half term. Bloody kid germs! (But that’s not the issue I want to air here – my rant about kid germs is far too long for your average blog post.)

After being in bed for a day sweating, napping fitfully and intermittently fretting about what I should be doing I suddenly had the urge to rouse myself from my pit. I decided to have a comforting warm bath to ease myself back into the real world.

I had a nice long soak then things snowballed as I took stock of how unkempt I was. I set about deforesting my frankly quite repulsive sasquatch-hairy legs. I gave myself a pedicure (a fancy name for sanding down the hard skin on my heels before they became hooves). I cut my bangs (that’s a fringe to the UK readers and yes, the subject of another of my blog posts – how many links can I get into this one post?) I addressed my unruly eyebrows which were in danger of affecting my vision. Hold on, I can sense you wrinkling your noses in disgust. I don’t want you thinking I’m completely skanky – I do at least shower and wash my hair every morning, but my bathroom and dressing routine is fast and efficient. There’s no time for primping and I’m in the kitchen making packed lunch and breakfast 20 minutes after the alarm goes off. And I’m guessing that’s a fairly typical scenario for most of my fellow moms.

The self preservation tasks listed above had all been on my mental to-do list for ages, but sadly neglected because they were way lower in priority than all the family-, house- and school-related to-dos on my ever expanding physical to-do list. It dawned on the freshly groomed me how long it was since I’d taken time to pamper myself, or simply take care of myself instead of the rest of the family. And I know that’s not good for my well being. The Queen of MoJo, Lissa Rankin of Owning Pink, recently gave us 10 top tips gathered from other moms in her guest blog on keeping your mojo in the face of motherhood. At #1 was ‘Taking Time Away from the Kids’ because every woman polled listed nurturing yourself as absolutely critical. (Two more links – I’m on fire!)

It doesn’t matter what you do: go out, stay in; exercise, relax; socialize or have some quality alone time, but it’s important that you do it, do it regularly and stick with it. I have one friend who insists that going for a regular run is as vital to her as bathroom visits are to her husband. Another friend swears by regular retail therapy. Start when your baby is young and be sure to keep the good practice up. As a rookie mom it’s hard to imagine you could possibly dedicate any more time to your offspring, but believe it or not, as your family grows bigger and grows up, the demands on you also grow. It’s easy to forgo your own hobbies and social occasions when you’re busy taxiing your children to theirs. (That one was just for the hell of it).

To quote a popular moms’ saying “Don’t do as I do; do as I say” and be sure to take good care of yourself Mom.

Filed under: Motherhood Tagged: | Baby, Emotional Issues, Family, Motherhood, new mom, Nurture, Parenting