Confessions of a Maverick Mum

 

Not on The High Street got in touch and asked me to share my thoughts on mummying in the 21st century… specifically how our generation are dispelling the myth that ‘a good parent is a perfect parent.’. We might be living  life at 100 miles per hour and oversharing on social media, but we are doing things our way and that is an excellent thing.  They call it being a ‘Maverick Mum’, which has got a nice ring to it?  WAY better than ‘Yummy Mummy’- bleurghhhh.

••Side note my eldest Bertie’s middle name is Maverick. ‘Albert Maverick Telford’ – which I really hope he likes when he is older, but then again he could well hate it. Oh well**

Without further a do, here are my ‘Confessions of a Maverick Mum’:

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• I haven’t read a parenting book since Bertie was 4 months old, at which point I realised that they were a hindrance rather a help.

• I regularly let both my boys go out the house in fancy dress. I tell myself its so they can express their creativity. It actually because it saves washing their actual real clothes.

• I stand by my own decisions. I know I ‘should’ use a stair-gate. But they do my head-in. So I don’t use them.

• I have a crew of Mum mates, some of which I’ve never met… Our mums went to playgroup to chat to other Mums. But we have the world wide web which means we have a global pose to message in the middle of the night. At first its odd to call someone an ‘internet friend’. But actually these bonds are real and strong.

• I dress like me. I still cling on to the Topshop dream. I’d rather risk looking like Mutton Dressed as Lamb, than turn into a ‘Fat-Face-gilet-loving-fuddy-duddy.’ Look at my Mum in the pic at the top – she was wearing all white with 3 kids! – go Mamma.

• I hate baby rhyme time. I’d rather sing to my kids at home. And spend my time and money doing decent things like galleries and drinking good coffee.

• I still want a career. Somedays’ I feel a terrible pang of guilt as I had off to work. But sometimes (most days) I feel a woop of joy to be able to use my brain and have some office banter. And generally not be defined as anyone’s Mum.

• I bought my changing bag because it looks cool. It just so happens that Tiba + Marl are really functional too. But mainly they look good.

• I never ever feel like I’m nailing the parenting thing. But have learnt to live with that feeling.

• I didn’t do party bags at my sons party, even though you are ‘suppose’ to. It’s a waste of  money. We didn’t have an entertainer either. It was his 3rd birthday. I won’t be tight forever, but for now balloons and music and food is enough.

• Everybody in my house wears odd socks.

• I bought my boys a dolls house for Christmas. Gender equality!!! yeah that, that and the fact that I wanted to play with it….

• Similarly, Woody my youngest has got an amazing curly barnet. So much so that he often gets mistaken for a girl. The person who makes the mistake always apologises when I correct them. I’m not sorry. I kinda love it.

• I tell myself that my Instagram account is going to compensate for a lack of baby journal.

• I regularly fail on the following: teeth cleaning, nail cutting and keeping the parts of the toys together. I HAVE NEVER IRONED A SINGLE ITEM OF MY CHILDREN’S CLOTHIN

• Mainly what I hope makes me ‘Maverick’ is the sisterhood. I try not judge other Mums. Maybe they aren’t doing it how I’m doing it. But hey – that’s their choice. Instead I try to cheer on other Mama’s:

• High-five to the person who got the train for the first time with her newborn.

• Fist pump to the Mum who managed to have 3 kids in bed by 7 o’clock and is now drinking a large gin.

• Well done ALL  of us for surviving.

• It might be a grubby/testing/illogical job, but bringing our children to up the next generation of:  Maverick Kids/Maverick Dads/Maverick Employees and of course a Maverick Mums is a challenging but AMAZING opportunity.

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Any of this feel familiar? If so then share your moments by tagging it #maverickmum and you could be in with a chance to win £500 worth of notonthehighstreet.com