It wasn’t all that long ago, that time in my life when I listened to my mum saying “My house, my rules”. I remember thinking “It’s alright, one day I’ll have my own place with MY own rules”. I couldn’t wait to be an adult. It’s something we all go through.
We were all told that being a grown up isn’t as fun as we thought, but we didn’t listen to that! It’s one of those things that we only learn when we reach that stage ourselves.
This only makes it more frustrating when the tables are turned and we are the ones saying it.
My daughter is 8 and she tells me that she can’t wait to be an adult, and I give her the same speech that was given to me. I watch my words go straight over her head and I imagine her having this conversation with her kids in the future.
Do you ever look at your kids and try to imagine them as adults?
I do, and it’s totally bizarre. I can’t picture them being taller than me, going to work and booking holidays. It’s so strange. I look at them all and try to save the mental image, because they really will be adults one day with their own lives. There will come a time that they don’t need me anymore. They won’t run to me with a grazed knee, or come in to my room in the middle night to tell me about their nightmares. I won’t be presented with cold tea and soggy toast on Mother’s Day. I won’t see them every day when I wake up because they will have their own homes and families
You only get one chance to be a parent. Once the kids have grown up and left home, they are only equipped with the life skills that we have given them. If they can’t wire a plug, it’s because we never taught them how to. If they can’t cook, it’s because we never took the time to let them help in the kitchen.
When I left home, I had never used a washing machine and didn’t know how to iron clothes. I didn’t know how to cook a roast dinner or use a drill. I didn’t know much of anything. But my mum did. Why didn’t she teach me? If a shelf needed to be put on the wall, she would just get on and do it!
My husband tells of how his granddad used to weave baskets. He never passed that skill on and it died with him.
If you can cook, sew, knit, paint, make, weave, wash, iron, clean, darn, play the drums, speak another language, or anything really, share it with your children! If you don’t, then all of these skills and things that probably seem quite simple, will go to the grave with you.
Life is precious
MissesCee. My shit, shared. 