It's back to school time for many Kiwi kids this week, which means a lot of parents will be getting back into the school grind - making lunchboxes, ironing uniforms and doing the dreaded yearly school shoe shop.
There's a lot of pressure on parents to prove themselves during the school year - no doubt partly due to the rise of the Instagram-perfect 'Mummy blogger' with their picture-perfect families shown through expensive preset filters.
If you're feeling overwhelmed in having to provide a wholefood lunch for your little one, or volunteer at every school disco and sports day, you're not alone.
One Australian mother has revealed the things she's not allowing herself to feel guilty about this school year.
Writing for Mamamia, parenting columnist Shona Hendley said her New Year's resolutions this year are not about losing weight or getting fit - instead, they're about a change of attitude as her kids head back to school.
"Ultimately, these are the changes that will make my life better," writes Hendley.
Some of the parenting commitments Hendley is nixing from her life include joining parenting committees, or volunteering at any "fete, concert or working bee".
"This is something I have done multiple times before [and] simply put, I don't have time," Hendley writes.
"Once, I offered to help with the school concert's marketing and promotional posters and material... Who knew that a volunteer position as graphic designer for a primary school would involve more drafts and hours of design work than a major ad campaign?"
Hendley also says she's resolving to stop beating herself up if her child's lunchbox "isn't 100 percent nutritious or 'nude'."
The 'nude' lunchbox is a popular recent trend that excludes any plastic packaging or 'junk foods' from school lunchboxes - but Hendley says she's not going to be militant about it in 2020.
"Yes, on occasion there will be plastic packets in my children's lunchboxes – bags of popcorn or pretzels, perhaps a Stringer will make an appearance," she writes. "I’m sorry. It's true, they like these plastic-wrapped snack items and they are somewhat nutritious."
Hendley also says she's going to stop "freaking out" if she forgets to iron her daughter's school dress, or if her children are wearing odd socks.
"I'll be embracing the iron-free method (entirely made up) and the same-colour-range sock pairing approach (also made up) and not feeling like a negligent mum if my kids go to school with creases in their school dress or two socks that aren’t from the exact same sock family – white and beige are at least sock cousins, right?
"After seeing my kids on holidays picking their own 'matching' outfits, clearly they don't notice this sort of detail anyway."
You can see a full list of her guilt-free resolutions on the Mamamia website.
