My mother and I don’t have the greatest of relationships. Don’t think we have that mother-daughter bond I often hear and read about!

My mom and I constantly butt heads! Honestly, we just don’t get along. I’ve been telling myself that it is what it is…

However, last week I thought about my mom being a “stay-at-home” mom/gran since 2013, not by choice; cooking and cleaning. She also fetches my son at school, looking after him for 3 hours a day. The transition from school to home being most challenging. He really tires her out! My life would be a lot crazier without her help…

I don’t cook (unless I absolutely have to!), I’d rather leave the washing to the very last clean t-shirt before doing anything about it AND I don’t have to fork out hundreds of rands (that I don’t have) for aftercare.

With this in mind I decided to make more of an effort to change our relationship…and help with the domestic stuff.

I told my mom that I would do the washing on weekends and keep the kitchen clean on Sundays, giving her a break. She didn’t look excited, she just looked at me skeptically, as if I’ve been smoking something!

This morning (a week later) my mom had the washing going before 7am! Suppose she just can’t shake the habit OR can’t wait for me to do it at 10am…

I’m not bothered by people pitching up “uninvited” and the place is a mess, books on the lounge floor, toy cars parked all everywhere and dirty dishes all over the kitchen (courtesy of my mom of course!). Our place is well lived in…and if I do the cooking (pasta only) then dishes are usually done while I’m doing the cooking 😉

I’m quite happy for my son to stay in his swimming costume after his Friday afternoon swimming lesson and only change for Nippers on Sunday morning (my mom can’t stand this!).

I doubt that our mother-daughter relationship will change, but I will continue to try…biting my tongue is by far the most challenging bit of it all!