Thought being a mum of one was easy, peasy? Think again

The grass is not always greener on the other side.

 

If you know the joy of having a large family - and by large, I mean in quantity not weight - you may often wonder what it’s like on the other side; the side where you only have one child to care for.

 

And while I certainly won't dispute that there are a number of positives (most notably when it comes to how much of your income goes on afterschool activities) we're certainly not frolicking in the fields on a daily basis.

 

It's exhausting because you have to play with them

They don’t have a sibling to play with so it's you they call on when they want to play. Yes, having one child means that you spend a good portion of your weekend playing horses or shop. Sometimes it's fun; sometimes not so much.

 

Dealing with the constant "so when are you having another one..."

While not a rare thing in the classroom for pupils to not have any brothers or sisters, that doesn’t stop nosey parkers not only asking if you are having another, but telling you that it’s unfair not to have a second... Yes, this has happened. On more than one occasion.

 

Dealing with the guilt

See point two. Us mothers already have enough guilt to be dealing without getting it from others.

 

Living in fear that you are spoiling your child

The last thing any of us want is to raise a spoilt child, could you imagine the looks... And yes, I do fear that she will grow up spoilt so I make a conscious effort to say no. An art I’ve mastered down to a tee, if I’m being honest.

 

Getting too involved

Considering I only have one child, my daughter is victim to my verging-on-becoming-a-Tiger-mum moments. Not good for our mother-daughter relationship.

 

The ‘shall we get a dog?' talk

She asked for a sibling, we offered a dog....

 

Being a mother is tough whether you have one, two or a whole football team, so maybe it's time we all just learned to love what we have.

 

(Although we still get to complain now and again, right?)

 

Mary Byrne is a staff writer at MummyPages and mum to a horse-crazy, sports-mad, seven-year-old girl.