Kate Waldron just can't help being judgemental about her mother.

My mum is such a stress-head. She needs to have every second of the day planned out. She never sits down. She's always rushing around doing something. She always makes us do silly chores like helping to put on the doona covers or emptying the dishwasher. Can't she do them herself?

Ah, such were my laments to my friends when I was a teenager. I cringe now when I look back and see how critical I was of Mum. I could never understand why she needed to know the night before what time we wanted our shower in the morning. I got so exasperated at being constantly reminded to put my towel in the dryer after my shower. I complained about having to do jobs the way she wanted, when she wanted.

I was proud of the fact that I wasn't like my mum - I was the easygoing one; I didn't need a plan in advance.

Of course, looking back, I realise that my mum - with three children to get off to school and herself and a husband to get off to work, all from a one-bathroom house - had to be organised. It actually seems inconceivable to me now that I was too daft to realise that at the time.

I was so judgemental.

The other day I apologised to my husband for being the last one to be ready for an outing. I justified it by saying that I was the one who had to get two kids organised first, so I don't actually take the longest, I just start last.

Bling, light bulb! I always used to think my mum took an eternity to get ready. I was proud of the fact that I could get ready quicker than you can say self-obsessed teenager. Now, of course, I realise that Mum didn't actually need to get up at 5am because it took her three hours to get dressed for work, but because she had a family to organise. Once again, how could I have not realised this at the time?

My mum is a fantastic grandmother. No-one can make up pretend games like Grandma can. No-one can make trains and tunnels out of soup cans and biscuit wrappers like Grandma can.  

But you know what? I still judge her. She tells me she's tired and I think to myself - you don't know what tired is. You don't work, you don't have to be up at 5am to tend to your kids, you don't have family and work pulling you every which way every minute of the day.  

So I guess, based on precedent, I'll be sitting in my rocker in 30 years' time telling my daughter I'm tired and thinking to myself, now I know what Mum meant.