From hate to love of the school run!

From hate to love of the school run!

Ok, so I am going to be really honest! For the past 2 years I have hated the school run. There I have said it. In fact I would even go to say I hated everything from the time the kids woke up. The struggle to get them downstairs, the battle with getting them to eat their breakfast and then the whole drama that goes with getting them to brush their teeth and dressed.. The whole thing felt like one big circus. I was always exhausted from my 3 hour daily commute and then also feeling guilty because I had shouted at one of the boys for being, well a child!

I have another confession to make, because of my sheer dread of the morning run, I used to book early morning business meetings which sometimes meant be leaving the house at 6am , just so that my husband had to take the boys to school and not me. I would not be surprised if you are thinking along the lines of … that is really horrible… what a bad mum. I promise I did feel bad!

Don’t get me wrong, I used to love picking my boys up and really missed them when I was at work, but I just hated the palaver of the school run. I really couldn’t understand how all those other mums looked so happy and managed to look great, whilst I looked as if I had been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Well fast forward a year to now and actually I can now say things have definitely changed. After leaving my job and setting up Gifts for Little Hands, I can now officially say I LOVE THE SCHOOL RUN!!!

You may be thinking why?! The answer is because I can now make time to think about my boys and really listen to them. When I was working in the corporate world all I was thinking about was my next meeting, my never ending to-do list and, never focussed on just the boys, I was in my world and not theirs.   Now it’s different, don’t get me wrong, owning your own business is very stressful and I have many sleepless nights as a result but because I am now in control of my working time and my day, I decide on when I start work and I make a conscious effort to just listen and concentrate on them in the mornings.

I now love the morning cuddles and no more am I in a rush to get them out of bed. I smile constantly listening to their conversations, it’s amazing and funny what children talk about, so young but actually their conversations have so much depth and thought. I enjoy sitting have my cup of tea whilst they are eating their breakfast, (don’t get me wrong, I still have to hurry them up – any meal times are slow!). The school run is great because I actually get to see who they play with and how excited and happy they are. Most importantly, my children say they love that mummy drops them off and I love that smile they both give me, which speaks a thousand words.

PS. I still look like I have dragged through the hedge, but I am sure I will master looking great one day, but for now, I am enjoying the school run, come hail, rain or shine.