Becoming a Mum

I often wonder if one day I'll wake up to find several small bodies nestled in my bed, a household strewn with children's clutter, a shopping list dominated by school items and birthday party supplies, and realise that I've become the super-woman I once admired.

It seems to me, as a naive and childless young adult, that the act of becoming a mother (or father) mysteriously grants you the super powers necessary for rearing young and transforms you into this admirable super being. You can sleep, but still hear everything. You can tell the weather without reading any forecast. You can detect the invisible emotions of your own children, and often others' as well.

On school camp this week, my lack of these skills was very apparent. Some kids got up around 3am to get up to some innocent mischief. I, the uninitiated, peacefully slept right through the sound of doors, footsteps and toilet flushes, while my experienced-parent colleagues, intuitively attuned, promptly rose to deal with the matter. It seems to me that I shall have to wait until I have become a mother myself before I'll ever be a good camp leader... unless anyone knows another way to train yourself to sleep lightly?