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I have a big complaint...when writing parenting magazines and books, they tell you all those wonderful milky first-smile moments. They highlight the fact that you are consistently surrounded by love, how every sleepy moment is worthwhile and how your baby's first 'mommy' will make you smile for a year.

Fast forward ten years. This is when you have to fight for your sanity. Don't get me wrong, motherhood DOES change your life for the better but like everything else in life, you need balance. And when it comes to kids, balance is not even a word in the dictionary. The word 'balance' sort of 'poofs' off into the sunset like the Malboro Man.

The endless number of chores, breaking up fights, feeding, wiping, cleaning, tutoring, worrying, fetching to and from classes, nightmares of zombies behind the door, cut on the knee....that is motherhood too.

Here is a tip from a mother who lost the second half of her twenties to life as a mother – always check your sanity. Get a punching bag, a good carton of wine and a regular masseur. You are important too, in the larger scheme of things, because if you are not a happy mommy, there will be NO happy little ones.

And it takes practice to learn how to just blow on a dropped pacifier and then pop it back into the baby's mouth. It takes practice not to feel like choking another well-meaning mother when she lectures you on how to parent your own child because your child said a....not-so-nice word. It also takes patience to just look the other way when your kids are tearing the sofa apart.

Some mommies really DO take their jobs pretty seriously but this is not to say that I don't. I do. *cue insane crying, hugging knees and rocking back and forth* but here's something that I learned along my journey that I wished some parenting book (or my mother, at least!!) told me. Oh, lighten up!

Kids are wonderful teachers to too-serious mommies – that is because they are the most carefree creatures in the world. They know that dirty socks under the bed don't kill. They also know that humming a song while mopping the floor is actually therapeutic. They believe that running around wildly in the house is perfectly OK.

So, please mommies out there...laugh a little, make jokes with your kids, pull a funny face, admit that you have it wrong sometimes and that you are learning. Accept the fact that things do not have to be perfect all the time. Everything is probably going to work out in the end. If it doesn't, whatcha gonna do about it?

Turn back time? BTW, if you eventually know how to turn back time, please let me in on it. I kind of...well...have a few things I wish to fix too.