Father’s Day and #7daysofreality

This Father’s Day was always going to be different from the last one. For a start, last year the father in question was in hospital and we visited him in his hot, stuffy room, making the best of a bad situation. This year we had the father back home and one more child in the family. Double cause for celebration, you might think, only some days don’t go to plan do they?

It started with first born’s disgruntled moans of, “Why haven’t I got a present? I’m going to be a father soon too!” Enough to make both mum and dad choke on their tea – he is only five, after all.

It ended with me blurting out what my husband assures me is a rite of passage for all frazzled parents – those fateful words spoken in a fit of pique, “I’m going to give you away!” Aaarrrhhh! I’m feeling ridden with guilt just writing it down, the poor child, and have resolved to be super mum for the rest of the week to atone my sins.

It’s funny how some days things just go badly from start to finish. Perhaps it was because I’d been reading a great blog post the day before on Sisterhood and All That called #7daysofreality. It was all about how rather than try to paint a picture of perfection through the #100happydays meme currently doing the rounds on social media, we should bring a rather more real view to our friends. After all, although I’m sure we all have those beautiful ‘Kodak moments’ in our lives – and don’t get me wrong, we had been out for a beach picnic the day before and had an absolutely fantastic time – how many of our lives are picture perfect all the time?

So I’d love to post a picture which showed me trying to reason with my tired and disgruntled son, but unsurprisingly it wasn’t a moment to be caught on camera. So instead, here is a super-cute photo of the gnome he painted for his dad instead, complete with flamboyant moustache. Although my son can wind me up sometimes, he is also a loving, fun-filled, lively and creative character who is always up for making things (he was sellotaping legs onto a model at 7am this morning). So along with his dad being back at home, and his sister being well installed in our little family, what greater gift could there be?