Another step on the road of life

I WAS given a book to record the milestones of our eldest child Bella when she was born.

To be honest, at a time when you are trying to work out how to keep another human alive and get some sleep at the same time, the number of events that were regarded as milestones needing to be recorded was pretty overwhelming.

Your child’s first step or the day they start school are known moments worthy of note and celebration.

Sometimes, however, reaching a milestone can be frustrating, mundane or even require a debrief and giggle with friends.

I was speaking to a friend this week who was very excited that her family had reached a milestone.

Her youngest child was about to start school.

This moment truly marked a new chapter in her life and the lives of her family.

For her, this meant an opportunity to increase work hours, which she hoped to do in the coming months after spending some mornings re-engaging with herself, and, in particular, her fitness and health goals.

In discussing my friend’s milestone, I realised my family had reached a couple of recent milestones that were not necessarily worthy of celebration, and nor would they, in themselves, allow for re-engagement with fitness goals.

But, in what can often be the mundane world of child rearing, they are indeed worthy of note.

We have finished swimming lessons.

I cannot tell you how happy I am. Each of our children started swimming lessons at about six months of age.

As they were all born almost three years apart, as one was able to hop in the pool without me for lessons, the next one was ready to start in the pool with me.

For nine years, I would get into the pool for lessons and then hop out of the pool with a sopping wet child and try to work out the most efficient and least revealing way to get the child and myself, undressed, dry and redressed in a change room. It was torturous.

For the next seven years we have sat poolside, watching and encouraging each freestyle stroke and tumble turn until they all completed swimming lessons.

If the dictionary had a photo next to the word “persistent”, it would be me at a swimming centre for the past 16 years, chanting in my head that it is really important that our children can swim competently. My hair would become Marge Simpsonesque because of the extreme humidity, and I’d walk out with a wet bum because no matter how diligently you inspect the bench before you sit, it is somehow wet.

Not pretty, but definitely a milestone worthy of note.

Another milestone was reached in our family last week. I have always had a rule that our children are not allowed to sit in the front seat of the car until they turn 11.

As a personal injury lawyer, I have always been nervous that if they were in the front seat and an airbag was deployed, it may hit them in the face rather than their chest and cause injury.

The other unforeseen benefit of the rule, however, was that the inevitable competition between children to sit in the front seat has been staggered and somewhat stalled.

This week our youngest child turned 11, unleashing a milestone that allows for all three children to race from the house to the car to secure the front seat. According to what I have observed, the child who gets to sit in the front seat of the car is the one who hits the passenger door first.

Seemingly, if there is a tie, there is wrestling until the parent, frustrated and cranky, decides the winner by barking at all involved.

It is far from a glamorous moment in our family’s history, but it does indeed mark a milestone, recognition of a moment when the youngest has climbed into a new category of growing up.

A moment also of nostalgic remembering of the days where we had three car seats across the back seat, and how many times I jammed my fingers in the seat belt holders while trying to buckle them all in.

Whether mundane, joyous or spectacular, milestones are an important recognition that life is moving forward, and that really is what life is all about.

IF THE DICTIONARY HAD A PHOTO NEXT TO THE WORD ‘PERSISTENT’, IT WOULD BE ME AT A SWIMMING CENTRE FOR THE PAST 16 YEARS.”