Give Me Quality Over Quantity Any Day

I think, as Mother’s, we often get hung up on this idea of being there for our children whenever they need us.  And to some degree there’s truth in that.  Children are completely and totally unpredictable.  So those heart melty, really connected moments tend to happen when it’s unscheduled and without any planning.  Which means that you need to be around for them to happen right?

But what happens when you’re spending an insane amount of time together but none of it is quality time?

This post is sponsored by Pandora

You know what I mean right?

You’re all home together but you’ve had a rough day and you just need five minutes without someone shouting in your ear or hanging onto your clothing.  So you do what any normal parent would do and switch on the TV while you just take 10 minutes to pull yourself towards yourself.  Or if you’re a better parent than I am, maybe you send them into their rooms to play.  Either way really.

But then 10 minutes turns into a whole movie and before you know it, you’ve spent the entire afternoon getting yourself together, making supper, hanging washing or whatever it is that strikes your fancy, but you’ve spent none of that time with your kids.

I feel like that every day.  I only work half days so that I can spend the afternoons with my kids.  In my head it’s an idealised time where we chat about every facet of their day – their friends, what they ate, how they felt when their friend said whatever, how their sports practice was, whatever really.  They open up and they share everything.  We laugh, we cry and we deeply connect.

But reality is always different.

I get home feeling drained after a day at work.  Usually I’m a bit late in fetching them.  Then we have to rush to some extra mural or other.  But it doesn’t end there.  When we get home there’s a mountain of homework for two out of three of the children.  I nearly always have to fob Knox off when he wants to play because I have to help with said homework.  In between that I’m making supper and trying hard to forget all the work stress while putting on my Mom face.

I’d say I get it right about 10% of the time.

But that couldn’t be right.  I feel like I connect with my kids much more than that and I realised that it’s not about the amount of time that you sit together and stare into each others eyes.  It’s about the quality of the time you get.

So yes I rush from home to extra murals but in that car ride, I have that kid all too myself.  We catch up on their day without interruption.  They can ask questions and get direct answers.  We hold hands as we walk to ballet or walk home from sports.  I’ve caught them in a moment where they’re still processing their day and are more willing to talk about it.  Even doing homework has become a time that I enjoy with them.  Seeing them learn and grow.  Encouraging them and helping them where they need it.  Seeing where they are at and meeting them there.  It seems weird, but I love being the person that is helping them grow into an awesome, functional human.

I hope that these moments stick with them and that they remember me and the time that I wanted to spend with them.  That they remember those moments of connection.  Or how they could snuggle in my arms when they were crying.  How they held my hand when they needed a bit of reassurance.  Maybe they even distinctly remember my hand curled around theirs as they fell asleep.

Even though my Mom is still alive and I don’t have to cast my mind back very far to think of things that remind me of her, a hand that is covered in rings will always be one of those things.  And I think it will be for my kids too.

Rings are my jam.  And earrings are my peanut butter.  Or for a more fitting analogy now that I’m all fun free, let’s go with rings being my rice cakes and earrings being my avocado.  But you will not find just anything sitting on my fingers.  Each ring has a story of where I got it and each one is a quality piece of jewellery.

The thing is, I cannot wear anything that is not silver or gold.  It’s my bodies way of trying to keep me worrying about quality over quantity in more than just my family life.  I once got my ears pierced with I don’t even know what and they swelled so big that the earring got lost inside my earlobe.  It’s not pretty.

So when Pandora asked me to be part of their #DOPandora campaign I had to thoroughly check them out first.  I couldn’t collaborate with a brand where my skin would go nuts.

When I did a bit of research I was pleasantly surprised – everything that they make is from pure gold or silver grain.  Each stone that is used is hand picked and hand crafted.  They put so much effort and detail into every item of jewellery that you can see that each piece is a keepsake.  And another huge plus for me is that they do more than just the charm bracelets, which although I think they are absolutely beautiful, are not my personal style.

While Pandora is obviously focused on quality, they are also focused on helping you embrace your own unique sense of style.  Helping you do you so to speak.  Their jewellery ranges from rings and earrings to charm bracelets and necklaces.  There are sets that you can purchase that all work together, but I like having a bit of an eclectic mix.

My favourite pieces are the front and back ball earrings – I like that they are understated but still have impact when I wear them.  Then there are the wing and pearl earrings that the girls and I have been wearing in rotation over the weekends.  But guys, the rings!  There’s a while new Spring range that is the most perfect gift for Mother’s Day.  Yup, it’s time to start hinting and nudging your man or your children.  The enamel “Hearts Of Pandora” rings are my favourite part of the Spring collections.  They are half enamel and half crystals which easily let’s you change up your look any time you like.  I chose the purple and cream rings because the purple matches my hair perfectly 😉

I’ve been wearing my new pieces for over a month now and I have received SO many comments about them.  All my girlfriends have noticed the difference in what I’m wearing and asked me where I got them.  And I don’t want to keep it all to myself, so now you all know where to find them.