It’s a saying you hear all the time isn’t it? It takes a village to raise children.
The thing is…do you need a village? I don’t mean ‘Do YOU need a village?’ Uncle Sam style with pointed finger. It’s more of a rhetorical ‘Do you need a village to raise a family?’.
Back in the day there wasn’t so much pressure on parents to be everything. I deliberately use parents rather than mothers as my other half works really hard then comes home and does most of the house work. Just to be clear I’m not sat on my backside doing nothing. I do the majority of the childcare. I’m not just on Instagram looking at everyone’s pictures. Well…I might be… whilst I’m also standing in the wee one’s room waiting for him to fall asleep. That’s just multitasking though right?
I think we do need a village, or I certainly do, but for us that’s less so in the practical sense, as in someone to help with an emergency collection from school, looking after the boys if I need to go to the doctors etc, as we pay for childcare for both boys.
For me, my village comes in the form of friends I can rely on for support through chatting, sending randim gifs that make me laugh etc and not necessarily related to the children at all.
I’m lucky enough to have lots of groups of friends who I have met throughout my life. Some are friends from before the boys were even a twinkle in our eyes, some through having had children (either through NCT or our child minder/nursery), some through running and now new friends through chatting to people online.
All are important friendships and all offer something different. But all offer support in one shape or form.
To all my friends…thank you for being there for me. Thank you for listening to me wang on about the various trials and tribulations that come with raising children. And thank you for making me feel less of a numpty when I ask whether your child is also doing the same thing as the boys. Thank you keeping me sane (well partly sane).
The Running Mumma 
Oh lovely, I totally agree. Sometimes we need a village even if that village is there supporting us as mums. I consider myself so lucky to have met you and I hope that I can be there for you like you have been for me since we met. You’re an amazing person and such an inspiration!!! Xx
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Aww thank you lovely. You know where I am if you need me too xx
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I love what you have written and am in so much agreement with you! We parents definitely need a village!
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Thank you for the lovely comments. Bring on the parenting village
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Amazing! It’s always nice to have reliable assistance from friends and family.
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It makes such a difference doesn’t it
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I love this. I definitely found my village and it makes what can be a hard job even more pleasurable.
Great post x
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Thank you. It does makes it so much easier doesn’t it x
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Great post. When my kids were little my village consisted of family to help when needed. But with them being older? The village has grown into the friend groups that keeps me sane too. So glad we all have our villages.
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That’s so lovely that you still have that group of friends. It’s like you’ve all grown up together
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I totally agree with you on this post! We have no family to rely on where we live and I am so grateful for the many people that are helping us with our children along the way! I’m also happy to help others when I can. 🙂
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That’s lovely that you’ve got people around you who can help and vice versa. It makes life so much easier, especially when you have no family around.
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