To wonder how parents of toddlers manage to look perfectly groomed!

[Anon8604]

Being a complete scruff myself I often notice that other mums at the playground or play groups seem to look a lot smarter than me. I see them chasing around their toddlers with perfectly blow dried hair and a full face of make up (the mums, not the toddlers ) and I can't help wondering how the they're managing it?

If I try to put on make up or blow dry my hair in my toddler's presence it will most likely lead to make up spilled on the floor and me sporting a pair of panda eyes thanks to dodgily applied mascara. My DH looks after DS in the morning while I shower and get dressed but he has to go out to work so I wouldn't expect him to hang around for ages while I do my hair and make up. These two facts combined tend to mean I wear no make up and my idea of doing my hair is to put it up in a ponytail!

So, given that I imagine my circumstances aren't unusual, how are all these other mums managing to look so unreasonably smart while in charge of a small person?

I have two toddlers (well a 3 year old and a 2 year old) and I shower, blow dry my hair and do my make up every morning. Takes half an hour from start to finish! The DC play in their room (and come running in to ask me what I'm doing every 5 mins!)

Oogle me too! Not because my worth is bound up in my vanity (nice ) but because I find doing some basic grooming helps me feel like my full self, rather than a glorified servant to a tyrannical 2 year old!

For me, I've just perfected a quick make up routine (bb cream, splodge of eye shadow, mascara, sweep of blush and tinted lip balm) and luckily my hair suits a pixie cut which I can just let dry naturally and then stick some wax through. I do all this at the living room mantlepiece mirror, so 2 yr old DS can potter around me with toys etc (I then have to ignore toys strewn everywhere until evening!)

I wouldn't do all that just for a park or toddler group visit though - maybe just mascara and some face powder for shine/redness. I'm convinced part of the looking put together thing is being comfortable with yourself. If I (personally) had a very full face of slap down the park I would be sweating through it and wiping eye liner down my cheeks in minutes...

I'm working on my 'capsule wardrobe' too - have this dream of a carefully curated set of items which look effortlessly stylish no matter what I put on. Currently 8 months pregnant though, so currently leggings, primark cami dresses, and a nice cardie or blazer to stop me looking like I'm in my PJs!

In fairness to my 4am start I do go to bed at 9 and it's a sleeping pattern I adjusted to when I was doing 5:30am starts in the past (couldn't get me doing that now for any money) so it's not like I've purposely done it that way so I can do my makeup. I do like having some time to myself to wake slowly and gently and do a few bits rather than being up and out the door in an hour (which just makes me feel frazzled and rushed)!

Husband looks after and feeds dd while I get dressed he leaves for work, I do make up in lounge dd plays iPad I watch the BBC news so I can see exact minutes on the clock and have timed doing each bit of my makeup in line with finishing at an exact time. iPad comes away from child thereafter...
lounge cream carpet now has blobs of makeup everywhere and before dd I used to do it nicely upstairs. No hope of that now! I pack everything the night before for work and put out two options of what to wear, one for fat days & one when I'll fit into a smaller top as sometimes I just wake up so bloated from previous nights overindulgences haha.

Oh and are you sure you're not just selecting the well groomed mothers? I often look like I've got my shit together by the playground but I have well been known to turn up with no makeup on shove dd inside nursery then run to do my makeup on the train to work... sounded a bit like I actually manage to look good all the time in my previous post. I don't

@dogsmum why would people have messy houses just because they spend 30 mins getting ready? I find it's the opposite, organised people can do both. Id feel chaotic if my house was a tip and I looked scruffy. Life was chaotic enough with toddler twins without that!

Sunglasses and lipstick if no time.
Smart coat covers a multitude of sins.

YOU can diy a Brazilian blow dry? furiosly searches on Amazon

I have 3 kids and dh works away so I do the morning routine/school run on my own every day. Kids are 7, 5 & 2...

I'm up at 6.30 every money and have to leave the house by 8am latest...I have a shower every morning (5 mins) and do my make up (10 mins) no problem. I try to do this when my kids are still asleep but otherwise they'll eat their breakfast (I sometimes help the 2 year old) while watching tv 🙈.

I do most of the packed lunches the night before + sports clothes etc..out and their clothes are ready for them. The oldest 2 dress themselves - I just brush the 5 year olds teeth & hair...

TBH I don't find it that difficult...they just get on with it...I'm pretty strict though and organized...

Make up only takes me about 10 mins. I wear foundation, powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, blusher, mascara and lip gloss. It sounds like a lot but I only wear a little of each so I don't look obviously made up. It really doesn't take me any time at all. I have a shower while ds is in his bedroom on the iPad (we have a stair gate across his bedroom door and I can hear him if there's a problem) and then I get dressed and we go downstairs and I do my make up in the living room mirror whilst ds plays on the iPad on the sofa. Ds is 5 now but we've done that since he was tiny. (When he was really tiny I used to port him about in his bouncy chair)!

I'm pregnant with no.4 and do remember that it's tougher with a baby though...trying to fit feeds in before the school run and baby needing to be held but I suppose I'll do my make up standing up...and they'll have to cry while I have a quick shower...

My house is tidy too but I'm meticulous and the kids have to tidy up after themselves...

my youngest is two and I've only just managed to stop looking like a scruff. before this it was just too much effort to put on makeup and do more than just comb my hair when I knew I would end up looking scruffy again an hour later. now I spend 15 mins max as all I do is eyeliner concealer and spend a bit of time on my hair.

I have a 2 and 6 year old and am a single parent. I am by no means perfectly groomed but I have showers in evening and in morning I can straighten my hair and do my make up etc while they play or wander around the house.

I have a 3 year old and work full time. Dh leaves for work around half 6 and we leave at 8am. In that time I shower, make beds, get ds ready, do a full face of make up and sometimes have time to empty the dishwasher or put washing on. Ds does play really well on his own or in a morning I'm afraid I'm guilty of giving him a bowl of fruit and pj masks while I sort myself but I do manage this 5 days a week, although some mornings I feel like I've run a marathon by the time I get to work. It's definitely not easy but I love make up and have to look smart at work.

Always have a full face, including in labour and every day in hospital. Have always done it. I have long hair so tend to wear it back in the week so thats easy. The boys have never really caused an issue when I was getting ready, maybe because it was just normal. They are more of a pain now they are 11 & 9

Just do it.

I go in the bathroom, put on makeup. The kids are downstairs, they can't 'knock things over' or whatever.

It's not like they have to be perched on your lap 24/7.

Always do shower hair and makeup in the morning. I think once it's part of your routine it's not a problem.

I wouldn't say I'm 'groomed' by any stretch but I find showering or a bath in the evening while OH looks after the little one is easier than trying to have a shower while listening out for baby upstairs during nap time!

Also find it nice to get up maybe half an hour to an hour before little one so I can get dressed/mascara/cuppa and then get him up so we're not fighting to get dressed at the same time 😂

Ps. I'm sure you look absolutely fine and someone else might be looking at you and thinking 'gosh she's groomed'! Also, at the same time it's all well and good to be groomed if you've got the time but not at the expense of playing with your little one so who even cares 😁

I struggle some days especially on the school run to get myself sorted make sure DS 9 is smart remind him to brush his teeth, guide dd who's 4 do her hair and get a baby dresses.

Dressed*

iPads? I'm scruffy myself so I wouldn't know.

I have a friend who always looks glam with her face beautifully made up, even though she's mostly on her own with her 3 children now of 8, 7 and 5, her DH works away. She's our hairdresser and always makes an effort to look good.

By contrast I don't bother with make-up as long as my hair is tidy.

People I know who have good hair say they do it the night before. And some people's hair goes naturally straight or in nice curls unlike mine.

Make up - I'm not the best as bothering even without kids but I think having a few well chosen items - foundation or powder, eye liner and lipgloss for instance - can make it look like a "face of makeup" when actually you haven't done much.

Get up 30 minutes before the baby/toddler.
Have a good hair cut / colour every 6 weeks.
Get nails & eyebrows done every 3 weeks.
I don't often wear make up as I'm lucky to have good skin but it only takes 10 minutes if I do put it on.
Have a good wardrobe that fits properly, nice jacket, boots & bag.

I don't think I look immaculate though.