"No reading at the breakfast table"

So hands up if you had a little complain about Mother's Day?  What if it was a little less than all you had hoped for?  Last year I wrote about my Mother's Day which ended up making for quite a funny read, but just showed how ridiculous the whole business is. Yet, mothers continue to hope for so much from the day and then often feel disappointed.  It seems to me that it is especially mothers of small children who are not supported well by their husbands. After listening to many sad tales of disappointment in the past few days, it dawned on me that often the disappointment comes from men's apparent inability to mind read. 'I don't want to have to TELL him what I want from the day - he should just KNOW'.  Poor man - he is doomed for failure. And if he hasn't been particularly useful over the past 364 days since the last Mother's Day (thus the mother's  d e s p e r a t e  need for a break), it's quite possible that he hasn't actually ...

Looking for some light reading while you swan around doing nothing on Mother's Day?  Ok, it's unlikely you'll be doing nothing, but here's a few book recommendations for you anyway. 'The Mothers' Group' (2012) by Sydney writer and mother Fiona Higgins is an easy read and I enjoyed it.   The stories of six new mothers are told as they meet through a northern beaches mother's group.  They are all very different, from the older mother leaving a strong career behind her to the young mother in her early 20's recently arrived from Indonesia.  The book builds to a real climax at the end which you don't see coming ... but you need to read it to find it out. 'Dying for Cake' (2003) is also by an Australian author and mother, Louise Limerick.  Not dissimilar to 'The Mother's Group', as it tells the stories of a group of women who have been meeting for coffee since they met through their children's preschool.  But it is much da...

So much is promised for mums on Mother's Day.  A blissful sleep in.  Gorgeous children collaborating with humour and joy to serving you breakfast in bed.  Beautiful gifts purchased thoughtfully from an expensive department store. OR ... it could look like this: Friday :  Tears at breakfast because we couldn't find enough $5 notes around the house to pay for my presents at the Mother's Day stall.  The 4 year old did use her own money (apparently she knows what a $5 note looks like - this was news to me) and went happily off to the preschool mother's day stall.  I suggested that the Tupperware measuring set looked good, but she went STRAIGHT for the cellophane wrapped pink bubble bath.  Handed over her money and happily stuffed it in her bag. She spent the whole walk home in the afternoon pestering me about when she could open her present and I gave up suggesting it was actually meant for me, her mother. So she opened it up and kept it for he...