As a Mum of 5 I'm constantly on the go. Someone is nearly always pushing boundaries, throwing a tantrum, arguing with their sibling. Some days I swear I'm going completely insane.
I thought I'd share a few things we come across being a larger than normal family.
You are NEVER alone:
You can try and hide but they will find you, nowhere is safe. I used to bathe alone, pee alone, get dressed alone... not anymore.
Washing, washing and more washing:
It. Never. Ends. I honestly don't remember the last time saw the bottom of my washing basket. Even if all the clothes are washed and you don't have enough for another load, your clean washing basket will be full waiting to be folded and put away. Which lets face it NOBODY wants to do. What is even more frustrating is my kids seem to spend 80% of their time naked! Don't even get me started on socks- why is there only ever one? Where does the other sock go? I honestly think they hop out the dryer and run for freedom.
Leaving the house:
Attempting to leave the with one child at times can be stressful. With five though it is total chaotic madness. This is a time where you literally repeat words over and over for 20 minutes before giving up and accepting defeat - "shoes, where are your socks, no they are your sisters underwear, no I don't know where your other shoe is, you can not just go in buzz lightyear pyjamas, shoes are on the wrong feet"... In the end your kids leave the house looking like this :
While you look like this:
Buying mountains of everything:
Juice, toilet roll, yoghurt, milk... nothing ever lasts. I seriously hope that one day companies will bring out Jumbo sizes of the common things we run low on weekly.
 |
| A weeks worth of juice. |
8 years of cartoons!
Peppa pig, In the night garden, Thomas and friends, Dora... the list goes on. Most kids seem to go for the same cartoons too so you end up seeing the same episodes year after year. It is enough to drive anyone insane. You still like to see how the paw patrol save the day in the end though ;)
Toys, toys, toys:
When the kids are finally asleep and you go to get a nice relaxing bath - ahh I can skip a day.
When the kids are 'bored'
When you try to clean up the toys nobody has played with for an hour...
We try to work on less is more and regularly get rid of old or broken toys but there is like an endless supply of them. We even have multiple of the same toy to 'avoid arguments' which was a total waste of time because they want the EXACT same one.
Life as a Mum of 5 is crazy at times, and can be pretty stressful.
I wouldn't have it any other way though :). I love our big family, organised chaos is my life and I love it!
