Tough Mother

I was playing dentists with my daughter (her choice!) and she was showing me how to say ah (so relieved she has confidence in my abilities!).

During her demonstration, I noticed she had an adult tooth starting to peep through behind her baby ones. After a bit of excitement and some awkward contortioning for a selfie so she could see, we booked a trip to the dentist.

All good, nothing to do but wait for the baby teeth to fall out. Let the anticipation commence…

About a week later, eating an apple after school, she discovered that a tooth was wobbly. The excitement! I think half the school heard her news! There were smiles, lots of experimental wobbles, and her brother offering to help take it to the next step!

However, a few hours later at dinner she was distraught. Turns out she didn’t want to get big teeth.

It is hard to tell whether that was pain in the moment or something else – fear of growing up? Do 5 year olds consider such existential issues? Tooth fairies and the potential for money were no comfort (not sure I blame her).

All I know is that almost two weeks later, the tooth was still wobbly and no apples have been requested!

Have you been faced with a similar crisis?

A friend recently had a baby and I was sharing ‘birth stories’ with another friend. There’s a slightly macabre satisfaction in explaining how bad, or not, it really was…

Anyway, part way through, my son asks why we paid more for his sister than for him.

This was greeted with stunned silence – what on earth was he was talking about?

It became apparent on further questioning.

She was 9 pounds and he was only 7 pounds.

More expensive indeed…

“Best day ever” is not how I would usually describe the experience of watching the Titanic. But for my 7 year old son it was apparently a dream come true.

Said son is obsessed with the Titanic.

At current count, we have seen two lego (re)creations, one model incarnation (mostly glued by patient husband) and multiple renditions of ‘my heart will go on’ – with at least one recorded should he (I) wish to show his friends in a few years.

Watching a movie is a different experience when you know the story. I can say that I have not experienced the intensity of living it before as I did that day seeing it through my son’s eyes.

A classic moment of light relief occurred during the love scene. “Why have they got no clothes on?”

Guiseppe Murabito from unsplash.com

I was pondering how to respond to son’s question, when Kate said to Leo “You’re trembling”.

Son immediately responded “Well, he wouldn’t be cold if he had clothes on”.

Wise words son, wise words indeed!

 

Have you had a lucky escape when comes to explaining the facts of life?

I grew up on a farm in New Zealand, one of a (very) large family. It is therefore pretty tricky to get many details about my early years.

When it was my turn to have kids, I decided to keep a bit more of a record and started diaries for both my children (now 7 and 5).  Unfortunately, life happened, other things got in the way, and they got consigned to the back of a drawer.

However, finding the diaries inspired me to try again.

I had a pretty straight forward childhood. We were expected to muck in and get on with things. Being transplanted in the UK, I’ve found that not everything translates, so I hope you bear with me while I find my way in this parenting business.

My starting point is that we’re all basically making it up as we go along so if you’re looking for advice, this isn’t the right place (I relied heavily on the fact that kids can’t remember their early years)!

I find parenting hard work, but there is gold in all sorts of moments (when I take the time to notice them).