Why mothers don’t get involved in politics

Last updated: 10/06/2015 09:58 by DeirdreODonovan to DeirdreODonovan's Blog
Filed under: MummyBloggers
I have finally figured out why women don’t get involved in politics.  Or more specifically mothers.
 
Today I got up, got the two kids ready, made lunches, made breakfast, got kids out, put on a wash while putting on my face while eating toast.  Then it was up to the school to do shared reading, met a constituent at 9.30am, left at 10.15am to meet another constituent but was stopped by a lady outside the shops with an issue she needed some assistance with.
 
Upon pointing her in the right direction, I headed to my next meeting.  Then at noon I met my dad (my one-man non-party machine) and we delivered leaflets advertising my latest Advice Clinic until 1.30pm.
 
Then I was Lidl-bound to buy lunch, home to read emails and answer texts and calls, collected Child One, fed her, dropped her up to after-school stuff, rushed back down to collect Child Two, got him home, fed him and did homework until 4.15pm.
I then realise I haven’t had a cup of tea all day, but I have to sit down to help organise the setting up of two residents associations, answer queries about school enrolment policies for local parents, round a team up for the Knocklyon Special Olympics pub quiz, organise Child Two for a scouts trip. It’s three nights in Northern Ireland – one of us definitely won’t get any sleep.
 
Back up to collect Child One, do her homework, get the tea on while answering the phone to journalists about a tragic death in the area.
 
Husband comes home, we all sit down to eat and then I am out the door again to attend said Advice Clinic. 
 
 
By the time I come home the kids are ready for bed and I am ready to collapse, but South Dublin County Council have responded to some queries raised by constituents and so I have to get those replies out. 
 
My hubby – who is just finishing his part-time Masters – settles down behind his laptop while I cuddle up with mine.  Occasionally, over the tip-tip-tapping of computer keys we exchange a few words and suddenly I realise that I’ve forgot to spin the wash and there are no uniforms for tomorrow.
 
As I head to the utility room I trip over Child One’s school bag and a note spills out:  “We are making deep sea creatures tomorrow. Please ensure your child had the materials to make a star fish.” Throwing a coat hanger and some tin foil (it’s 11.30pm, it’s all I’ve got left) into a bag to leave by the door, I check my schedule for tomorrow.  It’s even busier than today.
 
And as I drag my exhausted self up the stairs to bed, a thought occurs to me – I bet Enda Kenny isn’t doing this!
 
Mum-of-two Deirdre O’Donovan is an Independent county councillor, living in South Dublin with her IT consultant husband. Deirdre was a successful journalist, but following the birth of her second child in 2007, her career came to an abrupt end when her baby’s digestive issues meant she couldn’t return to work. Thanks to her ‘Army of Mums’ she was elected to South Dublin County Council last May and now works full-time assisting constituents and community groups within the Rathfarnham constituency.
 
Déanta in Éirinn - Sheology
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