Fights At The School Gates

 

 

“Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.” ― David Sarnoff

As if waking in a manic panic having looked at your clock, stumbling out of bed and running around like a headless chicken to get your child ready for school on time wasn’t enough of a battle. Along comes another for which one has to prepare for.

The hardest part of being a mum to an eight year old so far has been the playground politics and the extension onto Facebook that inevitably occurs.

There has been from the very first day my eldest son started nursery as a toddler to primary school age a distinct sense of competitiveness amongst some of the other mothers. Whether it were based on early childhood development to the extra curricular activities their child was doing outside school which often left me feeling perplexed as to why I had to be forcibly coerced into this unprecedented battle.

Or the undeniable mummy-cliques that left you feeling as if you were back at school again. Gossiping and being a tad judgemental about others and also each other no less. To most notably the common denominator being the divide between working and stay at home mothers.

Nonetheless, I have over the years met some amazing people through the school runs some that may go on to become lifelong friends and others whereby our relationships have certainly become strained.

What I have concluded is that life is too short to spend it caring about what others think. We already as parents put enough pressure on ourselves to be the best we can be for our children without succumbing to this ridiculous ‘mumpetition’. For me personally motherhood is not a competition. Being a mother is who you are and not what you have. It is an act of love and responsibility and I choose to focus on what’s best for my children’s needs. Motherhood should be fun. We should be taking this time to enjoy our little ones whilst they’re still young and also supporting one another as we each share a commonality and that is our desire to raise great children that will become self-sufficient and responsible adults. 🙂

 

In response to: No Time to Waste