Echolalia and repetitive noises are common in a child with certain sensory issues. They find them comforting/stimulating or calming depending on what they are responding to. They are, however incredibly annoying and frustrating for people around the child with sensory issues because they are incessant, repetitive, loud and not always appropriate.
Parenting is hard at the moment. I’m not going to pretend it’s all fuzzy and lovely just to please social media or the people in my life who have no clue of the reality I/we face. I’m not going to ask for grace or try and push myself harder to please people who think mothers should grin and bear it all and pretend it’s all fine.
I’ve spent twenty minutes trying to get a child ready for school who won’t stop singing “who let the dogs out?”, who needs constant attention to make sure he gets dressed on time, and who spent most of yesterday in meltdown mode about homework.
I’m tired of motherhood being portrayed as a quest for perfect. I’m tired of being told I need to just be stronger, have more grace, be better at it, to pretend that it’s all amazing.
Motherhood is amazing. It’s a privilege. It’s also bloody hard, hard work, and when it’s not going like the books (written by experts who have no real clue about what actually goes on behind closed doors!) it’s tough, very tough, and I won’t pretend that it’s not. I don’t get paid to do this, I don’t get on the job training or support, I don’t get paid time off, or sick leave. I don’t have colleagues to hand the shift over to. I do however face the world and it’s expectations of how I should be performing and of course, I don’t hit the targets set for me, because they aren’t real or fair.
My children have gone to school. My house is a mess, because both the husband and I have had a mild flu like virus and haven’t had capacity to tidy like we normally would. I’ve got work to get done, but I’m going to have my breakfast, grab a second cup of coffee, then I’m going to take myself back to bed for an hour. All the things I should be doing can and will wait.
When I collect my kids from school, I’ll have had a few hours to myself, I’ll have got some work done, the house will be tidy, dinner will be sorted, I’ll have gone for a run to clear my head, and it’ll be ok. It will never be perfect, but it will be ok.
I am not a perfect mother, sometimes I’m not even a terribly good one. I’m ok with that, I just wish the rest of the world would be too!