Silence hits different when you're a parent.

I just went on holiday. Alone.

If you’re a parent, I bet you can guess the question I got asked on repeat: "Where are your children?" With their dad.

It wasn’t school holidays. We’d still have to pay for daycare. I was going to a kid-free wedding in rural South Africa. Flights cost the same as a small car and there's a #costoflivingcrisis. You get the vibe. 

The kids were FINE.

Once we’d established I wasn’t completely cold-hearted and I did, in fact, miss the kids (and husband), we were safe to continue to the second most common question: "Are you just so relaxed?"

Actually, no.

I couldn’t relax at all. It was far too… quiet.

As a mum to three girls under six, silence isn't golden — it's deeply suspicious.

At home, our family life is noisy and full of tiny people with full-sized personalities expressing themselves. At full volume.

Silence hits different when you're a parent. Silence normally means something has gone wrong, or mischief is afoot. These are the main reasons a hush falls over our house:

When the kids are sick.

The quiet that never fails to tighten my chest, is the unbearable silence of sickness. My girls, usually a whirlwind of babble and chat, go all subdued and droopy when they’re unwell. And if one gets it, they all do. I’m not sure if it's a sympathetic illness or that they’re constantly trying to put their snot on one another (who said girls can’t be gross too?).

The only sounds from our plague house are the opening of ice blocks and Bluey on repeat, punctuated by the occasional trip to the chemist.

When sickness hits, Children’s Panadol is Australia’s go-to pain relief brand. Children's Panadol can start to relieve fevers within 15 minutes, helping kids bounce back to their brilliant (but still Bluey-loving) selves, whether you're dealing with pain and fever associated with teething, immunisations, cold and flu, earaches and headaches in children. 

Image: Supplied. 

Parents know: kids might be quiet when they’re sick, but they’re just as fussy about flavours and my kids aren't the exception. That's why their one-to-five-year and five-to-12-year variations are great, because they come in both strawberry and orange. It's a win-win!

When they’re redecorating.

With a chaotic house full of children, my husband and I decided to decorate our home in calming neutrals: lots of warm caramels, soft greys and natural wood.

Clearly, the kids disagree with our design choices. Their chosen aesthetic would be something between a Barbie Dream House and an explosion at the LOL Surprise Doll factory, they take any opportunity to make it happen. A long period of silence is often punctuated by me walking into a room to discover it’s been stickered, stamped or coloured in.

Image: Supplied. 

When they’ve found the scissors.

Okay, so (fingers crossed) this hasn’t happened to me yet. However, with three girls I feel it’s only a matter of time.

True story: in the middle of writing this article, I checked Instagram (for a lil' treat) and BAM, there’s my friend’s story featuring a quiet moment with her freshly shorn toddler and a very guilty-looking older sister which resulted in a callout for an emergency hairdresser. So I may have accidentally anti-manifested this one for her. 

Sorry, Hayley.

When nap time is going wrong. 

Quiet means they’re asleep, right? Wrong.

There’s normally a bit of protest at the start of nap time, especially from my older girls who share a room. If it’s quiet too soon, it means they’ve turned the lights back on to play instead of resting. Or they’ve taken things a step further and they’re halfway down the hallway, on a mission to wake up the baby for an impromptu playdate with her stuffed toys.

Image: Supplied. 

When there’s a tech failure. 

The first time our middle child slept through the night in her own room, my husband and I high-fived — literally. We were smug at our excellent parenting skills; we’d mastered sleep training on night one. 

Turns out, we’d forgotten to plug in the baby monitor. We’d had a peaceful night's sleep, but who knows if she’d been up half the night yelling for us. It took a few days to claw my way back from that level of parental guilt.

When they’re taking care of business.

While I’m currently trying to discourage my poo-and-wee-obsessed children from indulging in too much toilet talk, I’d be lying by omission if I didn’t mention: the quiet poo.

The phrase "silent but deadly" was designed for my toddler. Blame daycare food or the fistfuls of sand she consumes at the park; the contents of her nappy are foul. We always know we’re in for a truly disgusting one when she stops her usual chatter and heads into a private corner to crouch down. 

She doesn’t say a word; her little red face and the stench do all the talking.

When they’re snuggling.

In the chaos of parenting, silence has many shades — some hilarious, some a bit more stressful. 

There’s one time when it’s quiet and I can relax: when I have all three of my babies snuggled up in my arms. Those moments aren’t quiet for long; there will be a giggle or fart (cue more giggles) or some will get elbowed in the face, but that’s parenting and it’s bloody brilliant.

Shop Children's Panadol for fast and effective pain relief. 

Always read the label and follow the directions for use. Incorrect use could be harmful. 

Children's Panadol can start to relieve fevers within 15 minutes, according to a case study by Temple, A.R. et al. Clin. Ther. 2013; 35:1361-75.  

Children's Panadol is Australia’s go-to pain relief brand, claim based on IQVIA™ & NielsenIQ© RMS Sell Out Service for the Pharmacy & Grocery Database, Pain Management Category, Kids Segment for the MAT period ending 28/11/2023 for the Australia Grocery and Pharmacy total market, client defined product hierarchy.

Feature Image: Supplied.