Isma describes herself as a cake eater, biscuit baker, kebab lover and comedy maker. We think she is also a beautiful writer. In this post she explores life as a mum to three children with a large age gap – her older two are aged 26 and 21, her youngest son is just 7. Her wish for Mother’s Day is something we’re pretty sure most of us can relate to.

My one mum’s wish would be to have a day off. A day off from cooking, cleaning, laundry, working, looking after kids; basically, a day off from any responsibilities. 

I want a day off, because I’ve had one before, and it was GREAT.

I have three kids aged 26, 21 and 7. Last year, for Mother’s Day, the older two ‘gifted’ my partner and I, a day off. An entire day to ourselves. They looked after their little brother for the day, and had dinner ready and waiting for us on our return. My partner and I decided we could implement one rule each for our day off. I went first and suggested we shouldn’t talk about the kids. To my absolute horror and disgust, my partner suggested we stay off social media for the day. I thought this grossly unfair as my partner would have no issue with this rule; she’s not on social media. No Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook; nada, zero, zilch. 

What was I supposed to do whilst we were waiting for our food? Or during the awkward silences where we would invariably, run out of things to say to each other, (given the main topic of conversation between us is, ‘the kids’).  One of the main motivations for my ‘no talking about the kids’ rule, was that I could spend my day in peace, phone in one hand and a slice of carrot cake in the other. 

Had I known this was going to be my partner’s rule, I’d have suggested something that really hit her where it hurts; no listening to KD Lang or no browsing of the power tool section in the Argos catalogue. I clarified what time our day officially started and did consider getting up an hour earlier, just so I could check in with social media land. But then, on the day, I decided a lie-in was more important. And shockingly, our day went really well.

My partner and I went out for breakfast, then we went to an art gallery, where I even read the name of some of the pictures and the blurb that tells you what the damn thing is.

We had tapas for lunch, a mooch around the shops, whilst stopping off for coffee and cake about five times in between everything.  And what surprised me most about our day? I didn’t miss my phone. In its absence, we talked, laughed, shared jokes and we reconnected in a way that we hadn’t done in years. That day has clung in my memory and it’s now archived under, ‘gloriously, happy days’.

So, this year, for Mother’s Day, I’m hoping we are gifted another day off. I have lots of ideas about what we can do and how we can spend our day. My only condition; when it comes to setting the rules for the day, my partner tells me hers first.  

You can buy tickets to see Isma on stage with her new comedy show ‘About a Buoy; adventures in adoption’ at the Soho Theatre in London on 16th, 17th and 18th April at 7.15pm. Go to her Instagram account @ismaalmas for more information and tickets.

Ahead of Mother’s Day, we’d love you to share your ‘one mum’s wish’ – it could be something life-altering or something simple, it could be funny or poignant. It’s completely up to you. We just know that it is always good to share, to celebrate how some things make us feel empathy, some less alone, and some make us laugh. 
If you share your #onemumswish on instagram you will be entered into a prize draw to WIN one of THREE Bestsellers Packages with five of our most popular products.

To enter the giveaway, what you have to do is:
1. Post to your *own account* on instagram with your #onemumswish. It can be light-hearted or serious, an image or a video – the choice is yours.
2. Include the following sentence in your caption ‘I am posting my #onemumswish to enter a @dontbuyherflowers giveaway’
(if your account is private just DM us and we will request to follow you so that we can see your entry). Find out more on our Instagram.

Win a £250 Spabreaks Voucher for your someone special

We’ve teamed up with Spabreaks.com and over the next week will be randomly placing two Golden Tickets into Mother’s Day Packages which will entitle the recipient to a £250 spabreaks voucher. See here for more info.