Happy Fathers' Day!

Is it just me, or are celebratory days becoming less about celebration and more about buying expensive stuff?

Why does love have to be measured by the size/expense/complexity of the present you get for someone?

Just wondering. Once upon a time, Mothers' day used to consist of running out to pick some Chrysanthemums growing in the garden. Now we have to buy the present, the wrapping paper, the card, and the flowers or else we're just not quite cutting it as far as familial love goes.

Believe what???

Quick postscript to the new toddler bed (see post below):

It's one of those pink plastic ones (chosen for budgetary reasons rather than taste) with pictures of princesses on the headboard. We bought it out of a catalogue and it came in flatpack form, so it wasn't until we were constructing the thing that we discovered its little "slogan for life"...

Believe in your dreams...

So many problems with this. So many. For a start, the bed manufacturers' notion seemed to be tied up with "your dreams" = "swanning around in pretty coloured dresses with white petticoats", which was a problem for me to start with. The bigger issue, though, is that at my children's age, their "dreams" seem to = waking up screaming in terror at 2am. I don't know whether I want to encourage belief of that sort!

Signs of Growth

Funny how things change.

When we were new parents, eagerly watching our firstborn for signs of growth, we couldn't wait to see the next stage. "Ooh, look! He's walking!" "Aaaw, doesn't he look like a big boy in his new toddler bed." "Wow! Aren't you clever brushing your hair all by yourself!" It seemed that we were always anticipating, always encouraging, always watching for the next step.

I feel differently now.

Yesterday, we put our baby girl into a toddler bed for the first time. Yes, I was proud of her growing up. I was also relieved that she managed to sleep right through the night in it. But my overriding thought was "No! It's too soon! Where did my baby go?"

Yup. I'm Pathetic. Obviously I'm doomed to be one of those blubbery mothers who tearfully watches their kids at school events, embarrassing them horribly and scarring them for life.

Doing Nothing for Fun

Having a holiday was disastrous for my waistline, but it was great for everything else. Experiencing warm sunlight, getting toes sandy at the beach, actually finishing several books. The best result of the holidays, though, has been the discovery of the joy of unstructured time.

As parents, we're threatened with the devastation of having a child "behind in their development", as if there is some golden standard of excellence to which we can and must push our toddler. We're supposed to maximise their learning, so any play they have is to be educational, not just fun. Toys can't just exist, they have to have some teaching component to them (even if it's just ABC-123). Our children have great expectations thrust upon them: they have to expand their vocabulary, they should learn to count to 20 before preschool, they must learn their alphabet and how to read, and above all, they must, must, must BE CLEVER!

It's a big burden to place on a small child. It's also a heavy guilt-trip to lay on parents. And it really isn't necessary, because sometimes it's better just doing nothing.

We did a lot of nothing this holiday. Nothing, that is, except spending time with each other giving our full attention to the children, and letting them be themselves. No agendas. No pressure-cooker flash cards. No super-engineered educational toys. No "Sorry kids, I just have to..." Just us listening to them, interacting with them, and experiencing life together. And you know what? In two weeks our daughter's vocabulary expanded quite considerably. Our son can now ride without training wheels. Not because we forced these things to happen, but because we slowed down long enough to let our children be themselves.

It doesn't take much. Tonight, I delayed dinner by half an hour so that I could sit down and wrestle with the kids. It was only half an hour, but we were all giggling at the end. It also meant that I didn't have to say "Sorry, honey, Mummy just has to..."

I highly recommend doing Nothing. It's a great way to discover who your kids really are.

Back Again!

We're back. It's been a great time away, and the weather was lovely. We were even able to go swimmming!

I've been told previously that I'm the optimist in our family, so in trying to live up to that reputation I'm looking for positives in our return home...

• The rain is helping our vegies to grow
• The cold helps us to appreciate our central heating all the more
• We're back to work, so I'll be able to get back to SRE and KFJs in the next couple of days
• I can log back in to Facebook again
• We get the dogs back this afternoon
  
• Um...

Can I go back on holidays now? ;)

Holiday time

Two sleeps until our family holiday. I am feeling mixed emotions about the whole thing:

• Excited - we've been feeling very run-down, so a rest is in order.
• Guilty - our jobs involve term-time teaching and other responsibilities. I'm feeling guilty at leaving those responsibilities mid-stream.
• Thankful - our two-week flu seems to be settling down now, so I'm grateful that we won't be travelling with an illness cloud over our heads.
• Stressed - I wrote down a list of things that I needed to pack for the kids. It took up two A4 pages. I know I'm going to forget something.
  
• Anticipation - we're going to catch up with my Grandmother while we're away, which is both a responsibility and a blessing.

We'll be away for two weeks, so this blog will be silent for the duration. See you when we get back!