But being a Mum is a long term endeavour which can draw on all our skills, all our experience and all our creative imagination. And we may never quite be sure if we're doing it right! After all, the expectation of our role changes regularly and often includes hidden surprises noone told us about.  

We each come to our roles as Mum with our unique backgrounds and ideas. However, it is our individual children who start to shape who we become as Mum. We learn to adapt our role and the way we do it to the needs of our children. Within reason - usually we remember at some point that we have needs too! And that balancing act is the subject of a whole other Roots and Wings.

So what kind of Mum are you?  I've put on the left hand side a few of the current "categories" of mum which I found on the internet and seem to be commonly used nowaday (although most I hadn't heard of!) - and have added my own, for a little variety and fun. Of course, I don't see at all that we Mums do or should fit into a neat box - we're all just doing the best we can with what we have right now.  

Many of the Mums I talk to feel pressure to keep things running smoothly in the often frantic times we have. I feel the same pressure too, before I remember that I am not Swiss Rail - and then I decide which of my trains I'm going to let crash splendidly into the sidings or, better, draw slowly to a halt while it waits for a better time to continue on its journey!  

When I asked my children what kind of mum I was, they told me I was a Mud Pie Mum. Now I've looked that up on the internet and the only thing that came up was a blog from a lady who has a clean kitchen as one of her top three things. And I don't think my kids were thinking along those lines at all - in fact, probably quite the opposite!

Well, I didn't really expect to be Cookie mum, so am pretty content to get some reference to food in there, even if I haven't prepared it myself. 

Mud Pie, anyone?