News

I feel very lucky to have a lot of friends that are mums, some old friends I happen to be in (geriatric mother) sync with and our kiddies are the same ages, some newer friends that I’ve made along the way and I’ve been thinking about how totally DIFFERENT we all are!!

We all cope with the day to day things in different ways - hand written lists, alarms on your phone, a paper diary, shared calendars, kitchen notice boards, drawers you shove stuff in and rummage through at the last minute.. you see, we all do things differently.

Never more so when it comes to food and snacks. Now I like my kids to eat healthily - we all do! We may just not always have the time, the fridge may not be full enough or sometimes, you just really can’t be arsed! 

So, when a group of mums meet up with kids and it’s picnic time, their little upturned faces lit up with anticipation.  We know they won’t be disappointed. One mum turns up with a tub of chopped up peppers and cucumbers and homemade hummus , one turns up with nicely cut sandwiches with ham AND cheese options, one has a co-op tub of cocktail sausages and a huge family pack of monster munch, and here you are with a box of barney bears and a little bit of hope.

But there, right there is why it works!! A full balanced range of picnic food where no child will go home without something fresh, filling and tasty, with a whopping big treat at the end (whoever is the barney bear mum that week definitely gets the glory!) Thank you to all my amazing Phenomemum friends - you know who you are 💕and I hope you guys are as lucky as me. (Promise I’ll be the hummus mum again next time!)

We don’t have to change to fit into a Mummy ‘mould’... what shape would it be? How can we all squeeze ourselves into a ‘one size fits all’?

Some of us are organised and patient and well prepared.. some of us are haphazard, slightly manic and leave everything to the last minute. But that’s ok. We do our best and the world will keep on turning, we need to just accept ourselves and adapt our lives accordingly. 

I like to think I’m organised, but I always think I’ve got more time than I have, and everyone is lulled into a false sense of calm. So, when I realise I have 5 minutes and not 15, I start barking orders at the kids and running around like a loony shouting ‘put your shoes on NOW we’ve got to go NOW....’ and small people are wandering around startled and lost like baby rabbits looking for shoes and still eating toast.

Something to work on perhaps!

But I also play breadsticks like a recorder, pull silly faces at the kids in my rear view mirror and sing songs at bedtime, and they know they are loved and cared for. We don’t have to fit into a mould or be any better than we are, we just have to be US.

Be YOU and the love shines through 😊

So here we are, new mums on the block.. Phenomemum.  But it’s not really me. It’s YOU.

Having a think about what it means to be a phenomenal mum is a little bit silly really because ALL mums are phenomenal. At any point of the day when you dig deep, take a breath and do your best.. you are phenomenal. It’s just about believing it too.

Read more