These Days, I am Mostly Surrounded by Children…

by Susanne Remic

Susanne and son

I don’t know how it happened. Once, I was able to leave the house for a loaf of bread without having to give thirty minutes notice. I could even make it back again with time to spare before Eastenders started. These days, events like this take so much preparation and fore-warning that I would rather go without toast and opt for an easier life all round.

I’m surrounded by kids! I work with 24 of them. I come home to two of them (sometimes three, depending on what mood Ghostwriterdaddy is in) and I even have one kicking away in my belly. Sometimes I think I must be mad. Other times, I think I am the luckiest person in the world.

It is such an honour to be surrounded by children.

Nobody else can turn the work-day-from-hell into one of the most amazing, inspiring days you have ever experienced- only a child. I can honestly say that I genuinely laugh every single day. How many can say that about work?

My own children are a constant source of amazement and inspiration. It’s that smile you get when you get home from work and they see you from the corner of their eye. The way they drop what they’re doing to run into your arms. That feeling in your stomach as you realise you love them so much and have missed them so much and you are so happy to see them. It’s the way that you realise your life never really started until you met them and your life would never ever be the same again now that they are here.

It’s realising how precious the children in your life really are.

They are amazing, they are precious… they are also a full time job. There isn’t much time for anything else. I don’t get my nails done and I don’t ever go shopping alone. I never take long, relaxing baths and I certainly can’t put my feet up when my ankles swell. I don’t get much peace and quiet- even my twilight hours are busy with nightmares, demands for bottles and dirty nappies. I don’t get much ‘me time’ and I certainly have no space in my diary for a little ‘mum-to-be pampering’. The only time I’m not mum is when I’m Mrs Remic and there are 24 pairs of hands tugging at my leg instead of just two. So why do I consider myself so lucky?

I’ve been teaching for four years now and I can honestly say that I have never experienced anything like it. It’s stressful. It’s hard work. It’s often frustrating. But it’s rewarding.

I’ve been a parent for seven years and 32 days. It has been- and continues to be- one of the most awesome adventures a person can ever experience. In around fifteen weeks I will be a mother of three. Don’t tell me I’m not lucky.

Read Susanne’s blog Ghostwritermummy here

Photograph ©Susanne Remic.