Superwoman… Patience of a Saint… on a regular basis these are some of the things I get told I must be and to be honest they make me more embarrassed than flattered. I am none of these, I love babies and all we ever wanted was a big family, you take each day as it comes. The ups with the downs and its not as if all of them are toddlers and I’m constantly run off my feet with them…you want to see a real superwoman check out Chloe and Beans This lady is 23 and has 6 under 3! GO MOMMA!
Our children are almost 20, 18, 13, 11, 6 and 2 so two of them aren’t even children any more and one lives with his girlfriend! I use to feel like I needed to justify it at times when anyone asks me how many we have…’Actually we have 6 children…but…’ **take it from me never justify yourself to anyone**
These days is only the smallest two that need constant attention but even now they are very independent little girls, woe be tide if they want something they get up and get it!
When I first fell pregnant at 21 it was the most wonderful feeling in the world, I was going to be a young mum who would have all of this energy to play with my child, dress him up and generally show the world how grown up I was. Looking back now I realise just how much growing up we still had to do!
We hadn’t been together long before I got pregnant and this took its toll in the early days but we fought through and are still here today (21 years later), Benjamin was born and we were a couple of kids ourselves, looking back through photographs I cant believe just how young we looked! We focused on work and building our home, dressed Ben in novelty outfits for photographs and took him to Mothercare when they would have the little photo booth with sheepskin rugs for ‘baby shoots’!
I can remember being constantly stressed and worried about the smallest thing, paranoid about every rash, worried that every sniffle would be life threatening. I sat for 3 months at the bottom of my bed just watching him and making sure he breathed, in and out, in and out. I can remember sitting and crying for days on end not knowing if I was doing a good enough job of being a mum…. Now I know I had post natal depression but was too proud to ask for help.
My attitude and life between 1996 when Benjamin was born and 2014 when Amelia was born are in stark contrast to each other but in other ways not that different!
Benjamin was born when I was 21 and Amelia was born in the same year I turned 40!
Our little firecracker child had 5 older siblings to look up to and to watch and follow. I’m not sure if its a girl thing or whether we are just so much more laid back but we seem to laugh a lot more now, this kid is hilarious!
We allow her to do so much more than we ever let Benjamin do, she loves to jump from furniture…I would have had a conniption if Ben had done that…OMG he might break his legs, grab the bubble wrap. **insert eye roll**
We have allowed Amelia to feed herself from being very small – baby led weaning is a thing now, back in 1996 if we had put the food in front of Ben and let him get on with it we would have been neglectful parents!
Photographs of Benjamin were always pristine and he had a little sailor suit with matching hat (didn’t all kids back then?!) His face was always wiped clean before photographs and made sure his hair was brushed…CHEESE!! Photographs were in packets and you ended up with more blurred ones than perfect (but you still couldn’t throw them away!) I really should scan some of them in! This is one of the first digital photos we have of Ben!
Amelia – pah! This kid NEVER has a clean face, photographs now are taken on the spur of the moment, hair is everywhere, face plastered with chocolate/jam etc and more often than not she has her tongue out or is pulling a silly face.
Mums of any age are fabulous, there are some amazing examples out there and a lot of wonderful ladies I call friends are both young and older mums. Myself, This time round I am so much more relaxed about things, maybe life has taught me it passes too fast to worry about the little things. Maybe I’ve grown a thicker skin due to some of lifes lessons. Maybe I’m just getting a little more chilled out the older I get, either way, I much prefer being an older mum!
What about you? Did you start young or save motherhood for later in life? Have you done both and which do you prefer?!
XOXO
Debbie
2 responses to “Younger mum v Older Mum?!”
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Very inspiring read! I haven’t got on this path myself yet, but it was very interesting reading all your experience and thoughts.. because quite frankly, I’m still full of questions about the unknown.
You’re an amazing superwoman!
I was a young mum, I’d had all 4 of mine by the time I was 26, when most of my friends were just starting their parenting journey.