Mother in meltdown
Once, I remember seeing a woman snapping at her toddler in the supermarket. He was demanding a treat, throwing himself back in the seat of the trolley, his face tear-stained, his feet beating against the metal with a clanging sound.
‘Enough!’ his mother hissed. ‘One more word and you’ll get a smacked bottom!’
At the time – desperate for kids but not yet a mum – I found myself mentally tutting. The poor child, I thought. She should control herself and speak to him calmly. And as for threatening violence!
Join the club
Now I have four-year-old twins and I not only sympathise with that woman but I’ve been there. In fact, I don’t know a mum who hasn’t – because parenting is nothing if not challenging. And, when life adds extra stress, it’s hard not to slip from the standards
