Guest Article from Martyna Wiśniewska author and illustrator of The Very F*cking Tired Mummy Book
This article was kind of hard to write. I was supposed to finish it over a week ago but then, mummy life happened and I was running late. And after that, it took me way too long to finish all the drawings. Because I had to draw endless dogs for my kid instead.
After that we had to self isolate thanks to covid tests, so back to working with my little angel shouting -Mum!- every 5 minutes. And here I am, over the schedule and panic- writing, while juggling my life and wondering- how do other people do it?
I have one kid and sometimes even this is too much. Parenting is hard and it’s also hard not to compare it to others. Seeing those perfect, smiling families and wondering – what am I doing wrong?
It took me a while to give myself permission to not be perfect. As women, we are told that we should be able to do it all, with a smile on our faces and that it should be easy. Well, it’s not. And I`m so happy that finally, we are able to say it out loud. Parenting is hard and struggling with it is OK. We all kind of just hang in there, doing our best. Especially after COVID, when our lives got turned upside down.
For me, the lockdown was hard. I just moved to London with my family. My daughter started reception and I felt like finally, I`m getting my life back. And then, COVID hit and I was back to entertaining my kid all day long. And it was draining and frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kid more than anything, but being with her 24/7 is draining.
For me, a way to survive this time was to write a book about it. I also wanted to prove something to my husband, who said I won’t be able to finish it. Now, a year later, the book is about to finish its crowdfunding campaign and be published!
The Very F*cking Tired Mummy (the original title was Fucking Tired LockDown Mummy) is a hilarious picture book that captures every parent’s struggle of balancing life’s admin, work and entertaining their children. Born from my own experience of taking care of my daughter during COVID-19 quarantine, the parody of the beloved The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle was my way of documenting my frustrations and the sheer exhaustion of taking care of a toddler while stuck in isolation. Now, after becoming an online sensation, the book is finally on the way to parents all over the globe!
Please pledge to get a copy here: https://unbound.com/books/the-very-f-cking-tired-mummy/
You can also follow the author’s social media: Instagram and Facebook.
