- Like the odd tantrum?Yearn for some privacy?
- Why should your kids have all the fun?
- Awards seek to honour nation`s "real mums"
REAL mums rather than supermums are being celebrated this Mother`s Day.
Real mums drop their kids to kinder on pupil-free days, throw a few tantrums of their own and celebrate when they get to go to the loo without an audience.
The national Real Mums awards are now in their second year.
"We are not aiming to glorify or encourage `bad` behaviour of mums, but rather to normalise the day-to-day misgivings and mistakes every mum makes," award convenor Amanda Cox said.
Ms Cox, a Moonee Valley mother of two, is known by her online persona of "Mad Cow".
"The women nominated represent what it means to be a real mum - not living up to the supermum expectations.
"Rather, they admit mistakes but don`t beat themselves up about it," Ms Cox said.
There are five finalists from Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. They include Chantal Fleming, of NSW, whose five-year-old daughter isn`t allowed out of bed until 7am.
Chantal once "purposely put the clock in her room back 30 minutes so we could have a sleep in".
One of the Victorian finalists is Warranwood mother of two Katrina Hedderwick, 34, who runs an online business from home.
"We are the ones who put all the pressure on ourselves to be the perfect mums but then feel guilty when we freak out," she said.
"For me I just want to feel good about juggling working from home and looking after my kids."
On her nomination form, she confessed to the time she answered the phone while on the toilet and was in conversation with a potential customer when her son Xavier shouted: "Mum, you forgot to pull your pants up."
Another Victorian finalist, Jodi Gibson, 39, of Reservoir, who has two young daughters, works part-time as a disability support worker.
She`s a finalist for admitting she once "pulled a sickie from reading duty at school, citing `I don`t want to talk to my own children, let alone 41 others`."
Chrystal Rankin, of Queensland, admits she`s a real mum "who has flushed more than one pair of her son`s undies down the toilet" because they were too disgusting.
The awards will be presented at the Mums Night Out on May 16.
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