Morning madness

It’s funny to compare my mornings as a mom in Namibia to Canada. It felt as if my mornings were less chaotic at the SOS Village! In Canada, I am a mom to two-and-a-half-year-old twins and a six-year-old. At the SOS home, the youngest child is six and the rest are between the ages of eight and 12. Most of the children are at an age where they don’t need constant supervision. That being said, mornings were still pretty intense in Namibia!

Each morning the SOS children iron their school uniforms. The little ones needed my help with their ironing, which was the most challenging part of my morning. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I never iron clothes. I typically purchase clothing that you can throw into the dryer and it comes out wrinkle-free. When the time came for me to iron the kids’ clothes, I think I took too long and didn’t do it exactly the way they would have liked—but at least no clothes got burnt!

Asides from ironing and shoe shinning, most of my morning tasks in Namibia are things that I do each morning in Canada. However, when you have eight kids – all asking you questions and working on a tight timeline – things do become hectic.

On my first morning, I had a sense of relief that everything was under control after I walked the children to meet their classmates. It was only when the eldest child, who goes to school last, reminded me that I still had to check if all the beds were made properly, clean the toilets, do laundry and make sure the youngest child got his morning egg that I felt a bit overwhelmed. It was nice to experience life as a full time mom!