Sussex columnist: Why the weather this month is snow joke for stressed-out mums!

​Not the most promising of starts, but as I write this column the sun appears to have finally come out – hallelujah!

I say that as I sit in my igloo – sorry, I mean house – wrapped up in a ridiculous array of clothing to try to keep warm.

The crippling cost of energy means it isn’t possible to heat my house all day long, so in mega-cold snaps like this my work-from-home uniform has had to become layers, upon more layers, finished off with an Oodie with hood up, blanket across my legs and two pairs of socks with fluffy slippers.

Not exactly smart, but certainly necessary when it’s so cold. (And if you read my column about being cold towards the end of 2023, you’ll know that I really hate it!)

But I digress (is it obvious this column is based on a somewhat loose idea?!), as what I specifically wanted to talk about is snow.

When winter comes, we all seem to wish for it. Most Christmas songs have us dreaming about it. But when it’s here it’s almost – dare I say it – annoying.

When I saw it had started snowing with a bit of gusto before the school run last Monday, I was initially quite excited.

I knew my children would want to walk home, so off I set to collect them. However, beautiful as the snow looked as it came down from the sky, what wasn’t so much fun was it hitting me in the eyes as I squinted my way to the school.

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They came out in a flurry of excitement (little snow-based pun there for you to enjoy!) and immediately started scooping up the white stuff and throwing it every which way.

By the time we got out of the school and down the road, there was snow around my neck, down my back, in my face.

It was lovely to see the kids having fun and enjoying what is a pretty rare occurrence in the UK, but OMG, brrrrr!

Other parents just seemed to go with the flow, but I have to admit to finding it a little bit stressful after a while.

‘Be careful not to slip’… ‘Don’t scoop it from the pavement in case you pick up a dog poo’... ‘Don’t throw it in people’s faces in case it’s got stones in’... ‘Don’t get too wet, you might get a chill’...

I want to be the carefree mum. The one that just lets go and allows her children to have unreserved fun. But I find it so hard to let go of my instincts to keep things orderly and safe.

I can hear myself saying these things and in my head I’m thinking ‘what an absolute bore’, and yet if you were in Worthing last Monday afternoon, you would have seen me inadvertently sapping the joy out of the unusual weather. (If I could put emojis in print, I’d definitely use a face palm one here).

Despite my cautious nature, the children continued enjoying the snow for about half the walk home but as we peeled off from their friends, and the cold set in, the reality of snow was stark.

They were cold, they were wet, and they couldn’t feel their hands. There are only so many snowballs you can throw before the pain becomes unbearable.

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But we still had to walk home, so that meant a little bit of moaning. Oh, and the dodging of brown, snowy sludge every time we crossed a road. (Snow is definitely better before cars and people have got their feet/tyres on it and ruined the picture-perfectness of it).

The disrobing process was also slightly traumatic. As we took off our costs, hoods filled with snow emptied down our backs, onto the floor and onto our feet.

My hair was practically frozen solid at the bottom, and all our coats, bags, shoes, hats, gloves and scarves were soaked through.

An epic drying operation ensued, and a hot bath was run for the kids. I blow-dried my hair for the second time that day (why does it always rain or snow on a day where you’ve washed your hair?), and with a lot of layers put onto everybody, we eventually warmed up.

For something seemingly so innocuous as some frozen water, the snowy school run sure was a process. But would I do it all again? Ab-snow-lutely! (I’m here every week, guys!) Anything to see my children’s faces light up with joy like that, even if it does result in a slightly stressy and mega-cold mummy.