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It’s not often I use shouty capitals but I’m feeling shouty about this issue.

No doubt if you are a blog reader, or a newspaper reader or well breathing.. this week you’ll have heard about the whole breastfeeding/weaning carry on. I haven’t read it. I heard there was an issue, I believe it has something to do with a study about breastfeeding exclusively for six months being bad, early weaning good? If I’m wrong I apologise but I have purposely avoided reading about it because to be honest, people’s attitudes to emotive subjects like this annoy me. Don’t get me wrong – I am all for free speech, completely understand and respect the fact that different people will have different opinions to things, and whether I agree with them or not is besides the point. What I do dislike is that when there is any kind of uproar about a parenting issue, people get on their high horses and start telling other people that what they do or have done is wrong. Their opinion isn’t asked for. They are most often not professionals in health or social care, and to be honest, can be quite rude!

I have had many blunt and sometime downright bloody mean comments thrown my way since I fell pregnant with my first son and I really do wish that people would think before opening their mouths. I don’t like my decisions being criticised, especially when opinions aren’t sought, so I’m damn sure that other people don’t deserve that from me.

I get sick of justifying myself, and too often I have seen Mums and Dads almost apologising for choices they’ve made and it’s unfair.

So now I don’t apologise for my decisions!

Yes- I bottle fed Kieran and have bottle fed Taylor from birth – this was by choice. I am certainly not anti-breastfeeding but it was a decision my husband and I made and we are happy with it.
Yes I use disposable nappies – I am aware of the environmental issues surround this, yet I still get my Huggies with the weekly shop.
No, I do not now and haven’t in the past demand fed, my choice and it has worked well for us. End of story on that one.
Yes I decided to go back to work after Kieran was born, and yes I was aware that I was planning on letting someone else “raise” my child all day.
Yes I changed my mind and decided to stay at home and not return to work, and yes I am aware that this then meant I wasn’t giving my children the best start financially or teaching them a proper work ethic (have to say on this one… poo! I work ten times harder working from home AND being Mummy than I ever did in my previous demanding job!).

These are just some of the things I heard myself having to apologise about in the past, particularly as a first time Mum. Now – well gawd help anyone who tried – but how sad, and awful that people felt the need to comment so negatively on my decisions.

Parenting is the most difficult job you will ever have. There is no manual, you aren’t taken aside for special classes at school on how to raise children the “right” way and I’m pretty sure antenatal classes don’t get close to covering the choices that we will have to make between now and when our kids turn 18, so finding the way can be a rollercoaster but one worth queueing for!

So please, neighbours, other parents, fellow shoppers in tescos, politicians… let us raise our kids without your prejudices.

Is it just me who gets really mad with this?

I am a Work At Home Mum. It’s a great job, the hours are crap, the pay could be better, but I can’t imagine doing anything else or loving what I do any more.

The thing is – I never feel like I do quite enough.

In the times of BC (before children), I enjoyed a very fulfilling (and demanding) career in Health & Social Care. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, I loved it and was fully prepared to return to work after Kieran was born. That is until Kieran was born. I’m sure I’ve blogged about this before so won’t bore you with the ins and outs of why our plans changed but they did, and I found myself at home, jobless (and income-less more to the point!). That had to change quickly and after testing the waters I started my own home-based business selling children’s books. For 3yrs I did very well with it. This was an income though and not a passion, so early last year I decided it was time to bite the bullet and shake things up a bit. And I did! Now I am building an income from blogging & writing and slowly but surely am getting there. The rest as they say, is history!

So that is how I got here. I’m now a Mum of two gorgeous boys, I work from home pretty much full-time now, am a full-time housewife, full-time mum…. I’m a busy lady! The thing is, because I’m not bringing in a full-time income, I seem to find myself pushing myself harder and harder. I work hard to bring in an income – damn hard, I don’t just make our meals, I research recipes and spend a lot of time finding new meals for everyone to enjoy. I don’t do the shopping, I shop around and I visit different shops in order to save a few pounds. I try and be the Mum who does the baking, the crafts, the walks, the activities, I make dens, sing song and do as many of the cool things as possible. I make sure Roy’s tea is ready when he gets home, that homework is done, that there are always clean clothes and shiny shoes and gawd I do a lot! No-one asks me to constantly push and try and go the extra mile, in fact Roy regularly tells me to take a step back and that I don’t need to have tea ready, the dishes done and no-one will collapse if I serve omelette and chips instead of a flavoursome meaty dish!

Why do I do it? I call it my WAHM guilt, I sometimes feel like I have to be everything to everyone and do well… everything to “make up” for being at home. Don’t get me wrong, I am deliriously happy with my life and wouldn’t change it. In fact I’m not sure I could do less now.. I’d be bored lol!

Is this an isolated phenomenon? Do other WAHM’s feel like this? Please feel free to leave a message with your thoughts / experiences. I’d love to read them.

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They are our kids, we aren't idiots…LEAVE US ALONE!

Is this WAHM Guilt?