A Week of Neglectful Parenting

Some weeks you’re winning and others you are just trying to survive.

This past week was very much a survival one. It should have been a winning week, I was off Monday and Tuesday…so that should have lead to an easy start and an organised week, but the universe had other ideas.
We took advantage of the lack of homework to have a Tuesday play date. Sunny weather meant an after school trip to the park. Dinner was prepped so we stayed on a little while longer.
On our return we discovered a major disaster. One of the alpacas had somehow got caught in the fence and had broken it’s leg. Chief farmer was 2 hrs away so I had to stay with her until he returned…the vet took 3 hrs to arrive and she was in a lot of pain so couldn’t be left.
Thankfully our eldest managed to keep things together while I remained field bound.
Dinner time came and went with no dinner produced. She dished out toasted bagels and fruit as required, organised games and kept the show on the road. When himself arrived back I finally got our play date fed and dropped home but it was past nine when my own were given dinner as the curiosity of what the vet would do was too much for them to resist.

The result of the injury!


Wednesday was a long day at work so I was gone before they got up and home not long before bedtime.
Thursday wasn’t much better.
Friday was another long day, I was organising piano drop off and collects…there was no piano, it was finished for the summer, thankfully himself remembered enroute!
Friday was brightened by the arrival of Cria No 2 Benezma

Saturday should have been a quiet day but once again was crazy. We had potential buyers on the farm for the morning, and then the arrival of a man with a drone to do a few hours of filming on the farm, lunch was not had until 3…it was just that kind of day.
A very late arrival, at 7 in the evening, of Cria No3 meant a race to get her dry and warm before nightfall, she was a weak little thing so much watching and fussing was required until the chief farmer got home. All this meant a delayed and rushed bath time and a slightly hassled bedtime.

It’s just been one of those weeks, some great things have happened but there was a lot of rushing and not a lot of listening.
The was some shouting and a lot of stress.
There were moments where the children shone and I was sadly lacking.
Next week will be better
Head down and just get through
It will be alright in the end
These are phrases I cling to, and desperately hope are true.
Right now I’m glad we got through this week, I know the children enjoyed the extended freedom it resulted in, and I’m hoping it will be alright in the end.
Some weeks we are winning, this just wasn’t one of them.

4 thoughts on “A Week of Neglectful Parenting”

  1. You are winning. Seriously. All of that stuff was outside your control but you rose to it, as did your kids. I think it sounds like a brilliant week!

  2. Thanks Andrea, we just about got there! Sometimes it feels like the juggle might just be too much, and just as quick you find your balance and all is well again!

  3. Jesus what a week!! You are so winning, as Andrea has already said, this was all out of your hands, your children are beautiful and what a star your daughter is 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *