Bad Mother Day

Oh yes, the Bad Mother Day has reared it's ugly head yet again. Don't be fooled into thinking that I haven't had one since the last post. Some are worse than others, and some are so bad that one day I think I will look back and laugh at them. One day. Not today though. Today has been full of cold, sleety rain, high winds (and not just inside the house) and miserable grey skies. Not a good day for getting them out and about. So here are some of my bad mother moments from today.

1. When the day began, my positive attitude was still in tact and I suggested we make a lego "Easter Story" to take photographs of and write out the story. Unfortunately, I attempted to persuade them to do it without me. The first mistake. Jonah kept stealing the required lego pieces. Max kept losing the required lego pieces and Toby kept shouting at them both for said stealing and losing. Instead of intervening, I left them to it. Needless to say, it ended without much of the story having been photographed.

2. I am continuing my school holiday rule of no screens between 10am and 4pm. Today, I regretted it and was sorely tempted (but did not give in.... I must not give in, I must not give in, I must not give in...). Sometimes I wonder why I make up such ridiculous rules.

3. While Toby went to a party, I decided to make Easter 'nest' cakes with Max and Jonah. You see, the creative thoughts are all there, it's just the putting them into practice that proves a little tricky. It was all going swimmingly until the shredded wheats became too shredded and Jonah decided to litter the floor with them. Then in the process of sorting out the shredded wheats, I burnt the melted chocolate. We tried, we failed, but they enjoyed it. The nests resembled spiky hedgehogs with mini eggs stuck on top, but the boys were pleased with them.

4. By the time lunch arrived, I was beyond caring. I served hot cross buns with nest cakes for pudding. No salad. No vegetables. No fruit. 5 a day?! Ha! We laugh in the face of 5 a day! (Actually we don't, I have been known to obsessively count their "5" but sometimes, on days like today, it just can't be done.)

5. The afternoon was spent happily chatting to my sister, whilst being interrupted every few minutes by boys with lightsabres and darth vader helmets. The car journey on the way home proved more difficult with pens and paper being thrown all over the car and silly arguing taking place. I shouted. Loudly. It only took one word though "SILENCE!" We continued home in blissful silence.

6. For tea, I did actually give them 2 of their 5. Two is better than nothing, I thought to myself. Maybe I'm not having such a bad mother day after all. It all went wrong though when they asked what was for pudding. I brought out those awful nest cakes and they happily munched their way through one each. Then, they asked if they could have more. My reply? I shrugged my shoulders at them and said "Have as many as you like!" Jared sniggered to himself and the boys shouted with glee, "What, can we eat all of them?" "If you can eat all of them", I replied and left the table so I couldn't see the fruits (or non-fruits) of my bad parenting. With huge grins, they set themselves the challenge of the 'all you can eat nest cakes competition'. As far as I am aware, Toby and Max managed 5 and Jonah managed 4. The sick bowls will be on stand by this evening.

I am very much hoping that tomorrow it will not be so cold and miserable outside so we can go for a good fresh air trip somewhere. They need to run off energy. Especially after eating all those cakes.