Reality Bites - Hard!!

My New Years Resolutions …

1. Avoid procrastinating as much as possible (I’ll get around to doing this, I promise);
2. Plan, plan and plan. This year, I will plan my business. Properly;
3. Swear less;
4. Play with my kids more:
5. (hmmm, those two could go well together);
6. I will drink less coffee;
7. And stop telling myself I only drink it for the calcium.

That was last year.

But, Reality got in the way.

My little boy went to school, taking up a majority of my opportunities for "spending more time with the kids".

This also provided me with myriad opportunities for procrastination. You can’t start your year off as a School Mum and not have coffee’s with the other First Timers. Or assist as a Classroom Helper. Perhaps a bit of assisting with fundraising for the school. Or even go so far as Joining The Parent Committee.

(OK I didn’t go quite that far – I’d pretty much filled my Procrastinating Diary with the other commitments.)

My Darling Husband became a Full Time Stay At Home Dad. There went my opportunities for planning the business. He also assisted in the procrastination process. He also took over some kid stuff, further reducing the time I was Spending With the Kids.

But mostly, he got just in the way of my planning; coming up with new ideas, "helping" with the business, and getting bored and wanting me to spend more time with Him.

Alas, the time has come again to re-assess last years Resolutions and to declare my purpose for the coming year.

My first of which was "Write down New Years Resolutions for 2007 on or before January 1 2007".

Amidst am eruption of expletives, bucket loads of coffee (I’m not having any more cups than previously, but I did find larger Mugs) and more chocolate that I’ve consumed in any given period (did you know that chocolate also contains calcium?) I realise that Reality has once again thwarted my well laid out Plans.

Because, lets face it, running a business, raising children and maintaining (I use the term loosely) a household, the Christmas/New Year period is not the time to be resolving such important issues.

I’ve spoke to the school, who refuse to change the end of school year to a more suitable time of year.

Santa will not return my phone calls, emails or letters.

Worst of all, my family refuse to behave and cut me some slack.

And I’m attempting to locate my To Do lists under mounds of wrapping paper and curling ribbon, still recovering from the trauma of the in-laws visiting for Christmas, and pretty much waiting for Reality to subside.

Therefore, I have resolved that, this year, I’m going to embrace Reality, to work with and around it, in all of its chaos, its extremes of having kid free hours through to contending with attention starved kids demanding undivided attention, with its nutrition laden coffee and chocolate and its moments of extreme profanity.

This will be a Resolution I can keep, and one that I will be more than happy to work with.

One that won’t leave me feeling guilty, inadequate or incompetent by the time Christmas comes around again.

On a final note: Thank Goodness for Chinese New Year, which allowed me to deal with Reality, procrastinate and still get my New Years Resolutions in on time!

Happy Real New Year!

Article Source: http://www.therepozitory.com.au

Written by Mad Cow (aka Amanda Cox), wife, mother of three boys, WAHM and founder of fluff-free reality parenting website www.realmums.com.au and control freak who is unable to locate her desk under all the crap.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated