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| Being a Mum
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| What does it mean to you?
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At this time of year, everyone goes mad buying cards, flowers and other gifts for Mothers' Day. It's when we mums are celebrated and thanked for what we do, every day, for the majority of our adult life. We're simply doing what women have done since the beginning of time. We're mothering like our mums did, as did their mums before them. And so it goes on.
It's nice to be appreciated though isn't it? To have one or two days of the year (i.e., Mothers Day and our birthday) when it's all about us. When our kids might stop for a minute and think about what we actually do for them. Because let's face it, being a mum means putting everyone else first.
Everyone knows that being a mum has its ups and downs; trials and tribulations; successes and epic fails.
It can be amazing and heart-breaking at the same time. We would all put ourselves in our child's place, rather than have him or her go through pain and heartache.
Being a mum is a life's work too…babies are not just for Christmas. You can't give them back when they start to get older, give you backchat, demand money, time, energy, the use of the family car, their own car, or need bailing out from dangerous or inappropriate situations. We're still there giving advice about relationships, motherhood, marriage, divorce and everything in between well into our dotage. Being a mum NEVER stops. We will worry about our kids until the day we die.
It's a rollercoaster ride that can be utterly exhausting at times, elating at others and generally draining, but it's a privilege, a wonderful gift, a journey of a lifetime. To bring a baby into the world, or adopt one as your own and know that you would literally lay down our own life for that little person is truly amazing when you think about it.
Sometimes it's difficult to really put your finger on what it means to you to be a mum. So we asked a few of our past and present mum interviewees to tell us in their own words - serious and amusing - what being a mum means to them.
Actress Hayden Panettiere, 25, recently said about becoming a mum for the first time:
You just re-prioritise. You hear that they're healthy and you don't care about yourself anymore… I mean it's the most out of body experience where you go, I will completely lay myself on the line for my child without even a hesitation.
Being a mum means…you finally understand why your mum worried and cared and fussed over you so much. Our children are our everything.
Shelley Craft, TV Presenter
Being a mum means…I have a front row seat in the lives of my children and being constantly overwhelmed by how amazing they are.
Jo Abi, TV/radio presenter and journalist at iVillage.com.au.
Being a mum means… always being The One. You're the one they tantrum at, throw their food at, shout, scream and go crazy at…but you're also The One they want to show their amazing scribble drawing to. The One they run to in the park with arms wide open laughing with sparkly eyes. The One they want to scoop them up when they've fallen over or comfort them in the middle of the night when they're scared. The One they know they can show their emotions to without fear of you never ever not loving them. And although this is about being a mother… is true for dads too. And grandparents. And all those amazing people who look after children and give them a safe haven to learn, discover and above all be themselves.
Claire Askew, Deputy Editor, Cosmopolitan Magazine (Australia).
Being a mum means…I am obligated and honoured to keep myself healthy of mind and body, so that I can give very best of myself to my son every day.
Melinda Zanello My Invisible Life
Being a mum means being given the incredible gift of seeing the world through a child's eyes and being showered with slobbery kisses every single day!
Ali Mutch, TV Presenter at TVSN Instagram ali.mutch
Being a mum means…Never taking a dump, a phone call or a minute to yourself again. And when they have left home, those scenarios will remind you how much you miss them. Apart from the dump part, because that is unnecessary and rank.
Mrs Woog @ Woogsworld.
Being a mum means…you won't ever sleep in again, that your needs won't come first, your life becomes busier, fuller and more chaotic than you would have ever known and then it also means you waste less time in bed, you become more conscious of others and life is fuller and richer with love, laughs, tears and more! With two of my children now independent adults it also means for me, that I try to be my best self as their part-time guide and role model. It's good to have someone still watching and learning from you, even when you'd least like them to. It keeps me honest!
Jackie Maxted, Publisher, Beauty Heaven & Home Heaven.
Being a mum means…my house will never really be clean again, but I get to laugh every day...oh and the cuddles of course…can't forget those cuddles.
Cris Edwards, Founder, Ecochic.com.au
Being a mum means… to be filled with exquisite, unrelenting love for the rest of your life. A life filled with tantrums, tears, sleepless nights and golden moments of pure utter delight and joy. It can be the hardest job of your life, and yet the most fulfilling. It's a lifelong commitment, but when my daughters say 'Mum, I love you to infinity and beyond' I know my life is complete.
Jo Karabin, Founder of PASH Australia.
Being a mum means…I have changed my perception of who I am and my place in the world. Seven years ago that meant becoming mother to my beautiful twins, a boy and a girl who have captured my heart, and will own it forever. It was also, ironically, the same time I changed my perception of the mother-daughter relationship between my mother and I. I was a new mum, and my mum was dying. So I became her mum. During her final days, it became apparent the circle of life between her story and mine was happening before my eyes and that circle would now be complete. She gave me life. I gave my children their life. I had to say goodbye to my mother and start truly being the mother I was born to be. This is what being a mother has meant to me so far. We are part of 'the sandwich generation' and our roles shift over time, but we end up exactly where we are meant to be."
Josie Gagliano, Editor
Being a Mum means…unconditional love, tears, tantrums, laughs and cuddles. Taking the good moments (hanging on to them with all of your heart) and letting go of the bad.
Adele Te Wani, Founder/Director, 31stsecond.com.au
Being a mum means…sharing in the joy of little lives discovering the awesomeness of the world they live in and cherishing the few times their little hands find their way into yours as you walk along together.
Katy Rowden, Entrepreneur.
Being a mum means…I am the teacher yet surprisingly, the pupil. Who knew how much these little tiny, wee people can teach you about yourself - for me that's patience, courage and unwavering love, the likes I've never known. I found a new identity and purpose they helped to create. I'm a completely different, better person since having children. I've achieved so much because of them, not in spite of them. I pretend to have it all in hand and that I am in control, that I am all-knowing and that I'm strong, even though I'm secretly winging it and pray they don't find out. Above all, I want to teach them we are all here to learn, that we all make mistakes, to accept responsibility when you do, to value their health, choose their friends wisely and above all, to give to others and to be kind.
Juliet Potter, Editor MotherDriven
Being a mum means…having nowhere else to be.. There's so much peace in that.
Jacinta Tynan, Author, Mother Zen.
Being a mum means…I now know how much my mum loves me. Happy Mother's Day All!
Zoe Tuckwell-Smith, author and actress
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Join in…tell us what being a Mum means to you
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