Motherhood. Am I meant to be this drained?

[TiredOlivia]

I have 2 DC aged 6 and 1.5yrs old. I am totally knackered. My 6 year old has just gone back to school but I don't drive so that involves 4 miles of (uphill) walking a day. The toddler wakes at 5.30am and is full on from the moment he opens his eyes. It is constant feeding people, dressing people, cleaning. I am a lone parent and have no help and no break. After school is manic with making dinner, bath times where they love to SPLASH and getting things ready for the next day. They're both in bed for 7pm and after I've had a quick tidy around and had my own tea, my eyes are literally shutting and I'm always asleep at 9.30pm. I love them and love being their mum but my God, am I meant to be this drained?

Yes, it's relentless.

I'm a single mum of one and worked full time. I would eat a big lunch, then have a quick snack in the evening with ds and go to bed at the same time he did. Housework got done at the weekend. Very little social life.

It got easier when ds was about 6. Fewer battles, quicker meals etc.

If you read to them, you're doing fine x

I'm not a single parent and take my hat off to those who are. I wonder if you could maybe get an E-bike to do the school run?! My sister has one and it is fab! Your 6yo could ride her own bike and your littlest can go in a trailer on the back of yours. This idea totally depends on what the roads are like though. I also think you could stop washing the kids as much! However mostly just say say Heck yes it's hard graft, and sounds like you're doing a good job of it to me.

Motherhood is marketed hugely unfairly now I think. Statistically, our generation (even working or single mums) spend more quality time with our kids on average than our grandparents did (certainly, my father had a SAHM, but she had a lot of far more burdensome domestic work to do without some modern appliances and she spent a lot of time cooking cheap cuts of meat from scratch to try to make edible food for her four kids and husband - she would lock her kids out of the house and ask them not to come back until dinner time!), even if we don't actually think that we do, because we are sold this idea that being a mum means continually entertaining your kids.

Don't beat yourself up. Once your youngest gets some free hours at nursery, you will have a bit more time.