Stop Mum!

Easter hols - the first time the family has been altogether since that sparkly present stuffed family food marathon we call Christmas and I don't know about you, but all my family wanted to do was be outside.

Hubby had cleaned the barbie (in the garage because the rain was going sideways!) and looked lovingly to the sky for the last week, ignoring the BBC Weather website that clearly showed a forecast that looked like a lot of black sheep were wandering across it.

My children had worked out a itinerary that included picnics, chocolate, crabbing, chocolate, bike rides and egg hunts with yes more chocolate and hubby had polished he's Mersea Island beer mug ready for the 40 odd beers that would need testing at the Mersea Island Beer Festival.

We got off to a pretty good start - cycling to the beer festival at the local vineyard. Sitting in the sunshine watching the kids run around the vineyard, laughing and playing. We smiled confidently thinking what a lovely Easter we were going to have with all this sunshine. The fish from the Company Shed that would be grilled to perfection. The welly paddling on the beach......

But then as in all "feel good" films, just when you think everything is going to be perfect before the sad bit in the film , the clouds gathered, the temperature dived and we were 3 miles from home. Hubby was more than happy to stay at the beer festival until the weather cleared, but THAT sky wasn't going anywhere.

So lets cycle home in a rain deluge and laugh about it, shall we? My son found it hilariously funny, watching the rain slurp up my back but poor old daughter cried her little heart all the way home.

Life has a habit of throwing things your way whether you like it or not. So it was funny to think that we were all experiencing the same thing, but one of us could only concentrate on the "I'm wet get me out of here!" while the rest of us laughed at the silliness of it all.

Duvets, hot choccy, log fire (okay so it was only a pretend one) and family film - cheered us all up, but it took a good few hours to defrost us.

Little did I realise that my back had other plans for the Easter that did not match the rest of me.

Saturday I woke to a - OOooOOOoo feeling. Having a curve in my spine and a arthritic condition I am very used to "ignoring" pain. But this was not the norm. Sniffing and achey, glands around my ankles maybe the slightly damp bike ride was having more effects than I had appreciated.

So here I sit on Monday, weather has not been er... ideal... but regardless my body has demanded a sit and do nothing Easter.

And do you know what my first thought has been?
What about the kids?
("Why won't you think of the children!!?!!" As the lady always wails in the old black and white films.)

I am not dying here but moving around is not great and lots of pain just makes me feel tired. So all I want to do is ..... nothing. But what about the wee lil ones?
I find myself thinking "I could fight it like normal and jump into Mum mode. We could hit the zoo, wrap up warm and take to the beach. We could..."

It must be imprinted into Mothers to always think about the impact of everything on your children before you think of yourself.

The fact is they are more than happy. I just left my comfortable spot to track down the kids who are happily watching Muppets in Oz, painting eggs while eating their 4th course of breakfast.
Do they seem remotely bothered that Mum is not commenting on their every brush stroke? Are they perplexed that we are not cycling the length of Mersea Island?
No. See that is the thing about children they actually are very good at coming up with their own ways to have fun and entertain themselves. (and it does not need to include anything electronic!)
Life does not need to be a permanent torrent of structured family fun. Research from around the world shows that children need to experience boredom to ignite their imagination.

Another sneeky peek at the kids tells me, they are hunched over a piece of paper discussing the design for the tree house club's logo. Apparentely it is going to be painted on the floor. Lets hope they don't paint themselves into a corner, but then at least they could use their imagination to get out again!

So when I finish this blog I will slowly wander the garden with stupadog, watching the children invent fun, safe in the knowledge that it is okay to stop. It's Okay to put my spine before my children for a couple of days and super mum can come back on duty tomorrow.