One mother has opened up about being a parent suffering a mental illness

As a 22-year-old spoiled brat still living at home, I can only imagine how hard it must be to be a parent these days.

Mothers and fathers alike must feel so much pressure to wash, clothe and feed their children in today's trying times - as well as work at their own career and provide for the future of their children. It's enough to get your head in a bit of a spin, never mind coping with a physical or mental illness on top of those responsibilities. One mother who has shared her story of coping with her children and her own mental health is Cierra Lyn Fortner. The mother of two shared a photo on Facebook of her and her son and recounted a tale of a cashier at Walmart commenting on her parenting skills. Cierra wrote:

"Today I was at Walmart doing my weekly Friday shopping when the cashier says to me "I see you in here all the time, your kids are always dressed cute, behaving and you just seem to have it all together" at the time I just thanked her and giggled because that's far from the truth but as I drove home there was more I wanted her to know about me.

Appearances aside, Cierra wanted to point out that the reality to a photo of a 'perfect' family can be much different.

"I want her to know I battle a personality disorder everyday with anxiety and depression mixed and I'm a two times suicide survivor. "I want her to know that I can't always get myself up off the couch to feed them anything more than frozen pizza and cereal. "I want her to know that my son is late for school 3 out of 4 days because I regularly forget what day and time it is, despite the toddler size calendar in my kitchen. "I want her to know I have those "I'm losing my shit" moments when I have to lock myself in the bathroom and cry. "I want her to know I wasn't always the most active mom because I use to work 80 hours a week and go to school full time and Jayce spent many days and nights with his grandparents. "I want her to know that I hadn't washed my hair in 3 days and my kids hadn't had a bath in 2. "I want her to know that I was trying to hurry out of there because I had forgot the diaper bag at home and Brenton was hungry. "I want her to know that once we got to the parking lot the "well behaved" child decided to stand up in the cart and I wasn't paying attention and barely caught him as he almost hit the concrete."

While Cierra pointed out all the things she wanted people to know before they looked at her and her children, she also reminded mums everywhere to not be so hard on themselves.

"But most importantly I want her to know I don't have it together and may never have it all together. I don't know a mother out there that has it all together but everything we do is done with love for our children and that right there makes you the perfect mom and in our children's eyes we most definitely have it all together. From one exhausted mom to another, you're doing great, have that melt down, let your kids eat the crap out of that cereal and take care of yourself always."