I wrote a little poem about Mums, and how we often have all this extra pressure from society to be 'super heroes'. It's like a badge of honour to be able to do all the things all the time, a competition to spin as many plates as possible.
This rhetoric is a little dangerous. For as long as we talk about mums as super heroes, we're not treating them as human. We are trying to treat them as super human.
As if as soon as we give birth we magically inherit these extra powers where time isn't the same in our world, we have suddenly more energy than your average gal (ha! wouldn't that be nice...er hello sleep deprivation) and that our heads become a rolodex of every single event happening in everyone's lives and we never miss a thing.
If anything the opposite is true. We need more support, we need more people doing more for us, we need to share the mental load and the physical load of raising a family.
We are simply human.
Mother's are wonderful, amazing, strong, wise and full of love.
But we're not superheroes. For that suggests that we are ok with the burden of having to spin all the plates all of the time.
If this resonates with you, share with a mum you know and help her to feel seen.
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Just a normal mum, and that's ok
You're not wonder-woman or a super hero
or 'more capable than a man'
You haven't got a hidden cape
Or a secret stash of master plans
It's not down to you to remember every possible occasion
To always cover the birthdays, school clubs and play date invasions
You are mum to tiny humans, the creator of life
This is more than enough without the rest of life's strifes
Your hugs are embracing, your comfort sought out
Your voice always soothing, your words carrying clout
Strip away the life admin and what do you see?
A mother with heart, who wants to be seen for 'just being me'
So this Mother's Day give your mum a huge thank you,
but not for all 'the things that you do'
But for all of the wonderful, amazing things that you are,
Caring, kind, funny, with patience that goes far
And to all of the mothers in the world out there.
Who feel the weight of the superhero cape they're told to wear
Throw off societies expectations, burdens and pressures
And concentrate on all of parenting's small little pleasures
The most important thing to remember this Mother's Day, by far,
You are loved, oh so loved, for the human you are.
By Ruth Bradford
