The Real Supermums...

SUPERMUM...
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It's a term that seems to pop up all over the place lately, it's not a term that I'm particularly fond of, for a number of reasons, mostly because of the way it's thrown around... so what exactly does it mean?
 
Generally speaking, the term 'Supermum' is used to describe mothers that possess seemingly extra ordinary abilities. You know the ones I mean... they're the mothers of multiple children, that work full time and perform with Cirque Du Soleil every second weekend, while serving their children nothing but organically grown food sourced from environmentally sustainable farms and harvested by magical pixies. They're the ones that appear to have all their shit together, the ones that have you questioning, 'How does she do it all?’
 
So what are we then, if we're not amazing life-ball jugglers?
 
In this house, we certainly don't eat organic food all of the time, and (brace yourselves) we've even fed our kids McDonalds on occasion... and I'm about 99.9% sure they're still alive! I'm a stay at home mum of two small children, and most days, I find the time between coffee in the morning, and wine in the evening bloody hard work... and that's on a day that we don't even leave the house! Most days, especially the craptacular ones, I feel like a superhero just for making it through the day with both of the kids alive, and my hair still attached to my head... Let alone the times that Nath is away and I'm flying solo! I think it's extremely unfair to refer to ourselves as 'just a mum'. What we do each and every day is deserving of more recognition than saying you're 'just a mum', in fact, it's pretty damn important. Whether you're a working mum, a stay at home mum, or something in between, our job as 'Mum' is the most important job that we will ever have. After all, we're responsible for raising real-life miniature humans, and each one of us has our own unique set of superpowers.
 
Now, maybe it's just the women in my life (I'm lucky to be surrounded by so many amazing ones), but these last few years I have seen a completely different side to motherhood. Often times these mum's go unnoticed, or they're overlooked for whatever reason, and lately, when I think about the term 'Supermum', these people that come to mind. They are the mothers that have experienced the pain of miscarriage, or stillbirth.  A loss that so many of us cannot even comprehend... yet, there are so many amongst us. They are each and every day, putting on a brave face, mustering the kind of courage and strength that I can only imagine. Each and every day, they're getting on with life, because no matter the pain they have experienced, life still goes on. The mothers that have babies in NICU or special care. They're the mothers leaving the hospital WITHOUT their babies, a moment that so many of us look forward to, a moment that so many of us take for granted. The mothers of special needs children, or multiples, or the hopeful mothers dealing with the pain of infertility. The military and FIFO wives, the single mums... I could go on, and on. Each and every one of them deserves the title of 'Supermum'.
 
I guess what I'm trying to get down to is, we're all supermums. We're all dealing with our own circumstances (and no two sets of circumstances can be compared), and trying to get on with it. Don't compare yourself to those that you think have it all worked out, and don't judge yourself either (let's face it, there's enough from other people). Be kind to yourselves my fellow supermums, even if you don't think so, I can guarantee that there are little people out there that think you're pretty super.