A NEW DECADE IN PARENTING

Aaah….and breathe. A new decade in parenting begins but first there is just one more hurdle to get over tonight before we can all collapse in a heap. We more than survived Christmas this year, we all had a lot of fun, bringing together the entire family and a few friends and partying our little heads off. Suffice to say we played a lot of silly games and consumed far too much alcohol and food like as per a lot of the rest of the world.

Starting off the food-fest with my daughter’s blinis:-

My mother pretty much sums up our Xmas:-

You should try the After Eight Game, it’s a lot of fun…

Partying with my children…nothing better:-

It’s been beyond hectic in my house, party after party for the various children, which has meant not much sleep for days and musical beds. I now have a house that needs to be put in the washing machine.

So. A new decade emerges tomorrow and it’s incredible how having children helps you focus on the amount of time that has passed and how much has changed. At the beginning of this decade my children were 9, 13 and 17 and now I’ve got three young adults to admire. In that time, two of them have completed university, travelled for months and found full time jobs whilst the youngest one is just starting his tertiary education. This next stage will be huge for them as they continue living their own lives and maybe even start families of their own. Meanwhile I sit and wonder where the time has gone and grow more wrinkles and wobbly bits.

This is what they looked like then – when I was queen of their castle:-

Now they all tower above me:-

A comparison:-

What I have learned in the last decade of parenting, with the massive ups and downs of managing three very different children, is that the best you can do is support them at all times and let you know you love them no matter what, but understand that you can’t fight their battles for them. They need to learn to build up their own resilience and inner strength. That way they find their own ways to stand on their own two feet and work out what it is they want to do and what it is they don’t want to do. We as their parents are there to advise and guide, but not to try and live their lives for them. Ultimately all we want at the end of the day is happy well adjusted children who can make friends and be considerate and loyal. That’s all I ask of them and for each one it’s been a different journey.

My life has been child-centred for the last 27 years and now it’s time to start looking ahead to my own future. What to do once they’ve moved onwards and upwards.

I’m working on it….New Year’s Resolutions and all:-

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