Handling manic mornings like pros
In the spirit of back to school today, Maya Jagjivan Kalicharan shares some manic morning throwbacks by way of encouragement to mums…
MANIC! That best describes my mornings as a mother. If you are slowly raising your hand and saying me too – then read on.
If you’re a dad or a parent-to-be or someone who is curious by nature, I hope I can give you some insight into the not-sotypical mornings for mothers – because every day, there’s bound to be some drama and in different doses.
What makes your mornings so crazy and intense?
Do you iron school clothes in the mornings or the night before? What about making lunch? I won’t judge you for your choices. It’s about being honest about what works best for you.
And then what about those Monday mornings when the black shoes are covered in dust from the week before and haven’t been polished after all the weekend activities?
That was me one day.
But for some reason, I just stayed calm and got the job done myself. Ordinarily, I would be screaming at both my son and husband and waking the neighbours up. I’m a morning person thanks to the early mornings working as a journalist, and I relish it!
For those mornings when I am feeling not so chirpy, a quick hot shower does the trick and I’m ready to open out my lungs again to coax my son to wake up. He loves school, so that’s half the battle won. And believe me, it is a battle to get him to move at a fast pace.
I remember one Monday morning, even with the curve ball of the dirty shoes thrown at me, we beat the traffic and arrived at school before 7am. I was surprised.
That hadn’t happened in a good few months. I had decided to park at a garage nearby – to make myself look more presentable and yes to buy coffee. I earned it after the morning rush – said in the voice of a self-confessed coffee-holic!
At the garage, there were many other mums, sitting in their cars. As I reached for my brush to go through my dishevelled hair, I noticed at least three other mums doing their hair and makeup, just like me. I thought to myself – it’s not just a coincidence.
That right there was proof that, as mothers, mornings are missions – which we do accomplish. We all rush to get our children to school on time and make a mental note that we can always worry about our appearances later.
And we stash our high heeled shoes for our office look in our boot and drive in our slippers, sometimes bedroom slippers.
Ah! Talking about those, allow me to share this story with you…
Fridays are usually my day off, make that “Friyayyyys” for me! But one Friday, my husband had to be at work earlier than usual, leaving me to do the morning school run, with just five minutes notice! And so I did what I have never done before, bearing in mind that Friday traffic is dreadful. I put on my warm, fluffy bedroom shoes, I brushed my teeth and got into the car in my pyjamas. I was mindful that the polka dots on pink fleece could alert others to my out-of-sync attire so I threw on a pretty pink shawl to camouflage the top.
I went undetected in my pyjamas, got back home and into bed. Of course, I couldn’t sleep, so I did the laundry!
Motherhood really is a maze and amazing! It’s about how you navigate those straight and curvy roads and the many turns along the way.
At the heart of it is your love for your child or children that will see you doing things you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Face it, there’s nothing ordinary about being a mother. It’s an extraordinary role that must be saluted.
Let’s celebrate the phenomenon of motherhood. If you have forgotten to acknowledge yourself, let me do it for you – well done mum for all that you do! Now, let’s get another manic morning started…