Kids grow up whether we like it or not
WHEN your kids start to call you “embarrassing” you know they’re growing up.
For years I’d bemoan having to get down to their level playing with toys, now they don’t want me playing with them.
They say I don’t know how the game works and they’d rather play together.
I yearned for the day they could entertain themselves – now that they don’t need me, I feel empty.
We’ve a teddy called Fluffy Amber who speaks in a funny voice and suddenly it’s “embarrassing” that I’m the one making him talk!
This was my cute time with the kids – now it’s almost over, but they still like when I make him talk before bedtime!
It’s OK to be childish in the house but I daren’t mortify them on the way to school.
I used to make a heart shape with my hands as my seven-year-old Erin walked through the school gates. Now she shakes her head as we near said gates, pleading with me not to do the love hearts anymore claiming I’m “so cringe”.
Calling me “weird” is a new development. I should womanup but it’s hurtful even if we are the grown-ups.
I tell her that we are all “unique”, that weird is a derogatory term, to which I get an eye roll!
When did they get so mature? Eila is only five and she’s coming out with phrases like “actually mammy” and “it’s so frustrating”.
I blame Youtube and Minecraft for their extensive vocabulary but is it not a good thing that they sound like dictionaries? I concede maybe TV is enhancing their phraseology.
There’s a lot of cognitive dissonance going on for mammies – we want them to wise up but we don’t want them to grow up.
The fact is peers are more intriguing to our kids as they age and it will only get more heartbreaking as they become adolescents.
My stepson now wants to join another gym to be with his friends and is not as keen on hanging with dad in the gym, a bond my partner holds dearly.
Parenthood is like a long goodbye – they need us so much at the beginning and then they slowly need us less as they become their own people.
When did we suddenly become so uncool?
My phone sends me beautifully crafted memories of my children since the day they were born, a constant reminder that these little people are forever changing.
They’re getting bigger now and need us in a different way.
I guess having kids is like a long break-up – they grow up when we’re not looking and without our consent.
I yearned for the day but now that they don’t need me, I feel empty