to think that I'm the worst mother ever...

[Twinkletoenails]

Slightly melodramatic but I am at the point in the hols where I feel like I'm on the edge. Seriously on the edge.

I feel like I have no patience with dcs at all. I try desperately to hide it. Inside I'm screaming "stfu!!!".. I feel like I have my teeth clenched constantly. I try desperately to hide this and I do BUT my tone of voice probably gives it away.

Very active kids for the record and I just feel drained mentally and emotionally. Then I see people close to me who are so patient and almost saintly in their parenting. This highlights how crap I am. It has gone through my head to run away but I know that must just be a release for my overloaded brain.

I have tried hard to give them a good til but I feel like I've failed!

Sorry for the moan.

@Candymay you poor thing .
Please do not worry about your children’s summer. You’ve had a serious traumatic event.
There are plenty more summers and by Halloween break you might feel up to doing a few extra things💐

Also sorry to derail thread

Summer here is 9 weeks, it’s honestly gone so fast but there has been lots of shouting and gin at bedtime , isn’t that what summers all about ?!!!

@AudacityOfHope
Must be there can't be 2 councils that sadistic.
East coast of Scotland by any chance

@GiveMeAllTheGin8
9 weeks that's brutal

Just told mine I was going to sell him on Ebay, then I cracked open a bottle of Budweiser because it's 5 o'clock somewhere.
So you're doing orite!

In Ireland it's something like 12 in secondary school, haha!

I suspect that other parents look at me and think that I have got my shit together parenting wise. Quite a decent actress. Inside going INSANE

Oh god, I'm near the edge today...am a teacher so I've pretty much been with my offspring all day, every day. I'm trying not to wish it away but dear god, we're all testing one another's patience at the moment.

My DC are generally pretty good with one another but today - DS1 was winding up DS2 who then cried. DS1 (13) just smirked at me and I lost the plot....

Normally I'm calm and rational. Honestly!

I actually cried (not in front of DC) and DH was agog. When he asked why I was so upset I wobbled 'It's just been a very long 6 weeks...'

I also realised that we hadn't left the house for 2 days. We all went for a long walk...Boom, everyone much happier!!

A friend once said she wanted to be like me as I was always so calm. I nearly fell off my chair.

This made me laugh as I had a friend make a similar comment to me. I am definitely not a calm, serene, perfect parent! I just got back from a holiday with my 13.5 and 7 year olds and I spent all my time trying not to scream while they bickered. The eldest told me he really wished he hadn't been forced to go on holiday - he'd rather have stayed home watching YouTube. I tried so hard to find somewhere he would enjoy too. I give up! My youngest is a sweetheart but has basically gone 'Mum... Mum... Mum... Mum... Mum...' approximately every five seconds for five weeks now (more frequently when I've said to him I need to do x now so can you play and not interrupt me for five minutes please). This has been rather wearing!

I have 2 DDs - 17 and 18.

School holidays this year and last have been blissful... they are either here with their mates, out with their mates, or working.

... so it gets better...

I have 2 pre schoolers and this thread has really cheered me up. I’m always looking at other parents and wondering how they keep so organised and calm! I for one am losing the plot!

Oh I could have written your poste OP. Nearly word for word. If only I could get 1 day of grown up holiday without any DC!

Oh god, sometimes I am like this. Like the twenty-fourth time my DD asks me where the ball on the Night Garden has gone, or the fiftieth time she scrambles away when I’m trying to straighten her socks so she’ll stop sobbing that they’re not on properly.

It’s just tiredness, monotony and stress. Totally normal.

Candymay

I know that’s not funny but I just laughed out loud at the week by week breakdown starting with the corpse. Sorry.

Honestly, dont think that anyone is doing any calm, peaceful parenting by this week in August, we are all swearing on the inside (and occasionally out loud too!)
Dont feel bad, I'm sure our parents were doing the same too.

You need a regular, daily time out, even if it's just half an hour with a cup of tea somewhere. It reboots your patience & tolerance levels.

I've found my people!!

Thank fuck for you lot. My FB feed is full of Mum's complaining about the holidays going too quickly and bollocking on about "making memories" whilst I'm eyeing up the bottle of Malbec on the kitchen counter (ok, I've been eyeing it up since lunchtime) and fantasising about faking my own death and starting a new child-free life in a town where nobody knows me. The first two weeks? Loved it. Absolutely bloody loved it. But now I've well and truly had enough, I'm struggling to feign enthusiasm for the park, swimming, crafts, baking etc etc and I just want to get back to some kind of normality. I'm exhausted, I'm grumpy, I'm desperate to get back to work for some adult conversation and the chance to go to the toilet in peace. And I'm so sick of the constant mess...the whole house is covered in glitter, I'm finding stickers in places I never knew I had and the kids learned some interesting new words this morning when I trod on one of Barbie's high heels in my bare feet AGAIN.
OP, you're not the worst mother ever. I'm pretty sure we've all felt like the worst mother ever at some point over the last few weeks and we can't all be the worst mother ever, can we? And comparing yourself to others truly is pointless because we're all much better parents when we know someone's watching.

Mum to adult kids who live at home . And frequently I have been told I am the worlds worst mother.
A stressful week so I am going to see my councillor tomorrow.

OP I could have written your post today. The days my DH is in work and I'm cooped up at home with the four of them when there's nowhere to go and I'm trying to stop them from fighting and screaming and constantly clearing up after them are awful sometimes. I feel some days all I do is shout and moan at them. I just need an hour to myself but I can't.

I hid from my five year old in the bathroom today.

I've got two more weeks to go before they go back. I'm hanging on by the skin of my teeth, I've exhausted every type of sport and activity, my bank account has been pillaged and even the dogs are looking at me like "fucks sake are they still here?" at the end of each day.

Everyone has shit days/weeks. That they are alive, loved, fed and tucked in at night with a kiss is the only thing that matters today. Go easy on yourself.

Hang in there everybody - think baby kitty hanging from a wire with a bloody great vat of wine in one paw. . .snarling. . .

Counting the days until they go back now, feel terrible saying that, but keeping a 12 year old and a 3 year old entertained/off screens/happy for the past weeks has been a challenge to say the least! I've definitely lost the plot a few times!

We have recently moved into a big old house that is a wreck and needs EVERYTHING doing to it. It's filthy..dusty..had leaks etc. This coupled with my two bickering/screaming/fighting constantly has pushed me to the brink..as well as the fact that the big old wreck of a house has taken all our money so DH 'tasked' me with finding free things to do all summer...it's been very trying at times...

..I gave up on trying to keep them off screens weeks ago..