Welcome to the At Home Mums Blog

Welcome to the At Home Mums Blog! My website, at Home Mums is aimed at mums who are home with the kids, and may be looking for part time work or how to earn a little money, while still being there for the children. It also looks at some of the difficulties mums face when they move from full time work to full time motherhood and includes information on child care options, government benefits, health issues and much more.

This blog will include my personal thoughts and experiences on a range of topics affecting mums today, and I hope it will prompt some feedback and discussion from my readers.

When I was setting this up, I tried to think of a catchy name for the Blog. I came up with two potentials, that made me think.

'Mother Knows Best' seemed like a good option. After all, I know what Holly and Michael should eat, I know when they should go to bed, I know they aren't safe crossing the road or swimming without an adult. I know when the television should go off, and the jumper should go on. I know we should brush our teeth and not eat multi coloured ice cream. I know we should always wear a seatbelt, we should say please, thank you and excuse me, we should not hit, bite, kick or push, we should be kind to the cat, eat our vegetables, drink lots of water, wear a hat. I don't just know best, as far as my kids are concerned, I am, in fact the boss.

Did I sound confident there? I have had to explain the whole boss thing many a time to Holly. Her conclusion is that mummy is the boss, but Holly's in charge. Perhaps I'm not as in control as I think...

'Mum's the word' was another option. Mum's the word, means keeping something a secret, and hey, here's my big secret, when it comes to the big things, I'm not sure I know what what I'm doing at all!

Let's get back to the beginning. I had no idea how to breast feed. It all came together by about 3 months, but I think it was a joint effort on the learning front. Dad did the first bath, because, let's face it, I didn't have a clue, and this baby was so small and so fragile. I certainly didn't know how to get Holly to sleep through the night and even when I got that one sorted, the same approach didn't work for number 2. I didn't know whether my baby would like solid food, and can still picture my hand shaking with that first mouthful of baby rice. I still don't know how to get Holly to go to bed after the final story without a drama, I don't know the best way to help her confidence, or teach her to be less rough with her brother. I don't know whether they have too many treats, too much television, enough exercise, enough one on one time. I don't know how to avoid so many tantrums (theirs and mine!) and how to help them make friends and have fun.

So maybe Mother doesn't know best. Or maybe it's a hindsight thing... Who do I go to for advice? My sister (another mum) and my Mum. Do they know best? Maybe. After all they've been there, done that. I went to a seminar with a friend last week to talk about issues with our pre-schoolers. My friend was after some suggestions to help with bedtime for her 3 year old, and at the end, she reckoned her mum would be very pleased to see her trying all those little things the mum herself had suggested. So, maybe mother does know best. We just don't always want her to.