Sport Mum/Dancing Mum/Everything Mum

Ah, the end of the year is nigh. At a time when all you want to do is lay on the couch and eat the kids advent calendars, there is more and more to do.

Christmas shopping. Sporting presentations, finals, Christmas Carols. Class parties, work break ups and dancing concerts.

Our lives have been consumed by many of these things all year. As a mum of three kids doing various activities, my weekends and after school hours are spent either in the car, courtside or waiting for one or the other to finish a class.

I'm not gunna lie. I've bitched about it. I've cursed netball training. I've spent many a Saturday morning in traffic on Yan Yean road wishing I was back in my pjs, working my way through my fourth piece of toast and 7th coffee.

I've spent hundreds of dollars on fees and outfits. I've probably spent $700 alone on bubble o bills that my 2 year old stole while I sat at JoJayz cafe waiting for my girls to do dancing.

I've used intense hostage negotiation techniques to get my kids in the car to their activities. Most of the time they are happy to go, but sometimes they just want to be.

I've bribed, cajoled, screamed and sympathised. They always go, but it can be a struggle.

I don't know if it's just that I am super lazy, but a lot of the time, these activities are of an enormous inconvenience to me.

The dancing concert dress rehearsal especially was almost the end of me. There was SO MUCH NOISE. SO MANY PEOPLE. SO MUCH HAIRSPRAY.

Trying to put make up on my 6 year old was like making over a blinking jellyfish. Doing her hair in a ballet bun left me with a migraine and tennis elbow. There were tears and screaming and that was just from me.

I came away from that rehearsal vowing never again. Like EVER. They could play footy or chess, but never dancing. That sh*t sent me crazy.

UNTIL

THE CONCERT

I had to spend the first night of the concert backstage. Helping our little ones into their costumes, buckling their little tappers. Adjusting their sparkly tiaras and topping up their lippy. It was loud, busy and chaotic but in a good way.

Our family came to watch our girls and afterwards were full of glowing praise and compliments. I was proud! I was really proud. But I also thought maybe they were just being kind. Giving out the obligatory compliments like good family members do.

It wasn't until the next night of the concert that I got to sit in the audience and watch. I got to sit there and absorb the atmosphere and absorbed I was.

My friend Karen and I sat through most of the concert with tears streaming down our faces. We giggled at the tiny little dancers. Glowed with pride at our own kids. The drama people. We were in awe of the older girls. They love dancing and you could FEEL it. My friend Katie, who of her own admission is almost twice as old as some of the dancers in her class was up there. She wasn't there because her mum told her she should do an activity. She was there because she loves it and you could feel it in the performance. It was like we were being let in to a secret place. To the dancers haven, their happy place.

Watching these beaming performers changed something inside of me. Through my tears I was smiling. Because it made every difficult afternoon worthwhile. Each lesson that irritated ME, lead to a wonderful performance that gave my children the opportunity to shine and be proud of themselves.

Same goes for netball. Every cold freezing game in Diamond Creek on a Saturday morning suddenly seemed irrelevant as I attended the Laurimar Netball Presentation today. Watching my daughter bowling with friends and being part of a team was worth every frantic search for black bloomers. For socks and her ankle brace.

The culmination of all these minor irritations, has meant that my kids have had rich experiences. They have made wonderful friends. Been guided by amazing coaches and teachers. While my bank balance has dwindled, their confidence has soared, and no price can be put on that.

So today, I am grateful. For all the people behind the scenes. For the people who run these activities for the love of it. For the benefits of our children. My frustrations must be minor compared to yours but you do it. For every hour I spend for my kids activities, you spend double.

So thank you.

Claire x