During the 2020 lockdown, there has been a big focus on us parents teaching our children.  We’ve got this, parents.  We teach them, albeit of the non-academic kind, every single day!

Parenting is a funny thing; we are always trying to equip our children new skills and habits to bring them on in life.  But I’m sure I am not alone when I say that there are times when we wish we could UN-TEACH those skills.

From the moment our children were able to, we encouraged them to; roll over, to crawl and then to walk.  But as soon as my two independently became mobile – I regretted it instantly!  I had given them the ultimate tools required to ruin my home in seconds!  Why, oh why?

And then came talking.  Wishing their gurgles would soon be words.  “Mum-my, Mum-my” I would say, longing to hear them repeat after me.  Fast forward a year and their gorgeous little voices simply became background noise.  Non-stop random chitter chatter.  I didn’t think it could get worse, but then we discovered the ‘what if’s’ and ‘would you rather’s’.

“What if I had sixteen arms and four legs?”

“What if it rained for 365 days?”

“What if noses weren’t a thing?”

“Would you rather be a wasp, or an elephant”

Direct quotes from my two crazies.  Again, I thought it had peaked, until my darling daughter tried to tell me a story about her day.  Four days later, I was still listening!

I thought that while they were talking, I should probably make sure that they were speaking correctly.  Every now and then, correcting their grammar.  But now the tables have turned, they pick up on every mispronunciation I make.  Even worse, they try and correct my Southern accent, thinking that I should use their Northern accents!  No kids, that is not how it works!!

More recently, I thought I would be really clever and get them to do more for themselves, some chores, small jobs, things to help me out.  HELP ME OUT!?  What was I thinking?

My daily routine now includes of a couple of extra tasks as a result of their ‘helpfulness’ including scraping dried up toothpaste off the sink and sniffing their laundry to see what actually needs washing and what was just tried on and rejected.  My visits to the kitchen now involve wiping up copious amounts of spilled water from their own drink making.  I won’t even mention the carrier bags I find full of items that they had previously stuck in a bag and stashed, oops, I mean ‘tidied up’…

I’m sure that we are still at the beginning of this journey and that while it is funny now, someday it will be sad.  As their independence grows and they will need me less and less.

So, I will embrace the madness and keep on teaching them each day, slowing it down where I can.

Baby steps, right?  They’re a long time grown.

Thanks for reading, take care and stay safe xx