Dear Mummy…

We’re sorry for the mess we left everywhere, but do you like the painting we did for you? The painting is of you being busy. You are always busy, but we like that you stop to give us a hug and play with us too. We’ve painted different colours for all that you do.

Racing red for the way you rush around the house putting things away.

Ocean blue for your hands that are always busy washing and scrubbing.

Yellow for the sunshine and the games we play in the garden.

Green for growing together and planting seeds to bring food to our table, joy to our hearts and colourful flowers to make our noses crinkle in delight and our eyes twinkle.

Brown for the pages of all the books we read and learn from. Brown like the earth and the trees from which the paper came.

Purple like a cloak of midnight darkness. Even when tiredness gets too much for you to bear, you are still there for us in the middle of the night.

Black for the musical notes you play on the piano and sing from your heart. We like it when you are really happy Mummy, that is when you sing the best. We love it when you dance with us too.

Pink for skin, because touch means a lot. You bath us, make sure we’re clean (even when we don’t want to be), feed us, carry us and love us with your touch. And pink for your brain too Mummy, which is always thinking. Sometimes it’s busy some place else, thinking of adult stuff. Sometimes your brain doesn’t seem to be there at all; when you tell us you are tired and need more sleep. And sometimes your brain gets muddled up and you get our names mixed up or give us the wrong drink or something we don’t like for dinner.

There is a little bit of grey on the painting too Mummy. We all feel grey sometimes. We don’t like it when you are angry, when you shout or scream. We know we do that sometimes too. But we like that you teach us how to say sorry and to put it behind us. Each moment is anew, for us to make things better.

Mummy, we hope you like our painting. Can you see we left some of the paper white? That white is for you. We know how busy you are doing things with us, for us or because they just have to get done (like cleaning the toilet – urgh!), so we left some white for you to make your own. Fill it with your words Mummy, as we know you like to write.