11 surprising little luxuries tired mums will understand (and want right now!)

Posted in Wellbeing.
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Parents of small children are not only doing very important work, they’re often forgoing lots of things other humans take for granted, for the greater good! Here’s a few “luxuries” parents hanker for…

1. Solo toilet breaks

Blessed is the trip to the toilet where someone is not a) holding onto your leg as you pee b) screaming at you while you poop or c) hammering on the door if you’ve dared to allow yourself a little bit of privacy. Going to the bathroom alone is an Class A luxury for many, many parents.

2. Hot drinks

Remember when you used to clamp your hands around a hot cuppa and stare off into the distance, pondering the day ahead? We’ve heard this ability returns some time near retirement and in the mean time you can enjoy swampy, lukewarm coffee AND adorable kiddos. You’re welcome! 

3. Sleep

When you are pregnant or planning a family, people try to warn you about the sleepless perils of parenting. Of course you don’t believe them, until you are patting your toddler’s back for the 12 000th time in the dead of night and wondering if you will ever sleep again. Sleep = luxury.

4. A long lunch

Once upon a time lunch meant ordering, receiving and forking food into your mouth as you sip a drink and chatter to your companions or peruse a nice magazine. NOW, lunch means giving half your (now congealed) meal to a stroppy toddler and paying the gas bill in between mouthfuls. Luckily little people are worth it.

5. Getting a haircut and colour

Thank goodness regrowth is back in (thanks Kylie Jenner) because it looks like the last time we went to the hairdresser the internet wasn’t even invented. The concept of spending a few hours in a salon making ourselves nice seems very, very far away.

6. A tear-free day

Pretty much anything can prompt tears from a sensitive or exhausted child, so the idea that a day will go by without waterworks is pure folly for mums (and dads and carers) of small kiddos. Indeed, sometimes it’s the adults crying as they question, yet again, why they thought offering the red bowl – rather than the blue – was a good idea.

7. Wearing clean clothes

Almost from the first second your baby is born, they will mark their territory on your body and clothing. Deposits of various bodily fluids are their way of expressing love (TRULY!) Looking neat and tidy – and indeed spew-free – seems an impossible task.

8. Showering at own pace

Remember when you used to condition your hair? Shave your legs? Exfoliate? And all in the shower? Parents of small children may not only have to forgo their shower altogether due to parenting’s demands, when they do shower they literally run through the water, turn the taps off and get on with mum and dadding. 

9. Reading a book

The only thing that grows faster than a small child is the very, very hopeful reading pile that sits beside their parents’ bed. Mums of littlies need a 4 year run-up to the book club book. They’re still trying to get through Eat.Pray. Love. to be honest. One word a day IS a very good try, new mama, you are right!

10. A week without illness

You never realise a) how many bugs there are ready to infect you/your small child and b) how relentless the infection merry-go-round can be, until you have your own QUITE unhygienic and attractive-to-germs kiddo. Parents across the globe can be found lying in bed at night, praying to a higher power for just one week that’s snot/cough/spew/phleghm-free.

11. Drama-free outings

Every. Single. Situation. No matter how ideal it seems, is an opportunity for a meltdown and your child will remind you of this as often as humanly possible. The prospect of even leaving the house can seem more tricky than an Everest climb at times. Happy times out in the world are the kind of little luxury every parent deserves.

Thankfully, babies and children bring their own special rewards and they’re the kind that help balance out the challenges parenting brings!

You can read more about little luxuries on our Facebook page.


What would YOU add to this list of surprising luxuries, post-kid?! 

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