Real Moms Real Challenges: Missing My Personal Space

Rachel Osborn of Don’t Call Me Supermom concludes our Real Moms Real Challenges guest post series today. She hilariously shares about a challenge I think all moms everywhere face: balancing personal needs with her kids’ needs. While she loves her two little girls, Rachel struggles to share her space, time, and even husband with them.

I am the last blogger to post in this series, and I have worried about what I would write all month! The first post was about raising your children abroad. I am raising mine 3.5 hours away from where I grew up. The second was about raising a child with special needs. I am blessed to have perfectly (weird) “normal” kids. The third post was about insecurities as a mother. I know I am not the best mom ever, but I also know no one is, so I’m cool with that. I always figure I could be worse!

I guess I just feel like I have nothing new under the sun to say. I’m a nobody; I’m not incredibly smart or talented, I’m just a regular, boring, underachieving mom. Why would you want to hear from me? Now I am wondering if I should go back and read Nikki’s post in the series… ha ha!

I thought of writing about how hard it is to be a health conscious mom in a world full of processed foods, bad-for-you artificial sugars, and too many real sugars (have you read the label on kid’s YOGURT, for heaven’s sake?). How am I supposed to encourage healthy eating when we are surrounded by crap? Every place my kids go, people want to give them suckers and cookies. Ugh!

But I thought a post like that might come off ‘holier than thou’ because, yes, I make my kids homemade zucchini pancakes naturally sweetened with honey, and use a mashed banana for “syrup” when they let me. Really- go ahead and hate me! (But I also may or may not feed them mac and cheese three times a day once in a while, so don’t hate me too much. 😉 )

I thought I could write about the long days alone when my hubby travels for work. He goes in spurts, one month being gone three out of four weeks! And now he’s been home for months. But you know, I’m getting used to it. At least he is not gone for months on end, like some hubbies in the military.

My Real Moms Challenge isn’t unique, nor does it sound all that challenging. Are you ready for it?

I am tired of sharing my space.

My space, my chocolate -even my mind! I cannot have a single coherent thought without my children bursting in with questions, endless chattering (who knew four-year-old girls could talk so much???), requests for milk or snacks or help pulling up their pants or putting their fallen ponytail back in (my two-year-old apparently needs to have good hair at all times!) It’s always something!!

I started blogging as an outlet. I hope to encourage other moms and offer some useful insight, craft and activity ideas, yummy recipes I love. But sometimes, my outlet becomes stressful. For instance, here I am trying to write a post about the challenges I face as as a mother, and I can’t focus because my kids are so demanding!

I sit down with my laptop to come up with a rough draft- or a subject, a title, anything! And my kids immediately sit down on either side of me, pinning my arms. Try to type without moving your arms. Yeah, not so easy. Sometimes, the two-year-old will sit right smack on my computer, like a cat. Gets right in my line of view so I can’t see a thing.

Maybe I should give up blogging, you say?

Well maybe I should give up my husband too, then? Because I am tired of sharing him as well. We can’t even hold a decent conversation half the time because we have one kid chatting his ear off and the other kid crying.

Maybe we should give up traveling? One kid is a puker and they both fight or chat (again, with the chatting!). You can’t drown them out with music either, because you might damage their little eardrums.

Maybe I should give up shopping, because sharing a fitting room with a four and two-year-old is no picnic, let me tell you! And neither is trying to locate your coupons at the store while they repeatedly ask to please get down and walk, or while you keep a beady eye on them so they don’t break anything and no one steals them.

Kids take up so much of your time and energy! I often think my biggest challenge is selfishness. Sometimes, I just want my own space. Some peace and quiet. I want to go somewhere without getting two kids in and out of car seats and having to monitor them every minute.

Being a mom is always challenging, no matter your particular situation. We all experience unique difficulties. But in the end, we’re all in this together!

You can read more of what Rachel writes over on her blog, Don’t Call Me Supermom. She is a stay-at-home mom who loves cooking, crafting, anything natural & organic, and getting a good deal! Her goal in life is to raise decent kids, and encourage others in any way she can. 

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