Top
See All My Books

Childrens’ first moments are memorable – but not always for the right reasons

When I was pregnant with my first child I remember feeling excited about all the wonderful ‘first’ moments I was going to experience. In my fantasy I would teach my child new skills as she grew – passing on my knowledge and experience to her – and it would be a wonderful bonding experience for both of us. . .

I thought about this when I was trying to teach my middle child how to ride her bike without stabilisers. ‘Am I supposed to be enjoying this?’ I thought to myself after about an hour. I was feeling sweaty, my back hurt and my patience was wearing thin. To be fair, she was doing quite well, but I was finding it difficult to comprehend how she could ride on her own one minute but then would wobble and fall off the next. In my head I was screaming ‘surely you’ve got it now?’, as I smiled enthusiastically through gritted teeth, trying desperately to calm my fraying nerves. I confess that I wasn’t able to marvel at the wonder of my daughter learning a new skill at all.

This is not the first time I have felt this way. I recall vividly the struggles I had with my eldest daughter when she was learning to read. ‘Here’s a book for you to share at home,’ the teachers would say, when in reality I had to force/bribe her to read them, and when we did try to read them, the majority of the time it would end in tears and tantrums. I am the first to admit that patience is not my strong point and I know for a fact that I could never be a teacher. So why do the teachers expect me to teach my child at home? Isn’t that what I send them to school for?

Of course you do have those ‘moments’; the first steps, the first time they go to school, the first time you see them perform in a concert. But the pride you feel at these moments comes more from the realisation of how much they have grown in confidence, not from anything that you have taught them.

I realise through having three children that no two experiences are ever the same and whilst my elder daughter had a wobbly start to school, my second child sailed through it. Whilst my younger daughter has found riding her bike a struggle, her elder sister had no problems whatsoever, so I guess it’s all just a balancing act. I am waiting to see what ‘treats’ my youngest has in store for us as he develops. Am I ready to go through all this again? Probably not, but perhaps this time around I will be able to adopt a more relaxed stance and take it as it comes. After all, he is my third and final child, so I have to enjoy every moment, knowing that once it’s done, that’s it.

Comments

  1. Perfection Pending says

    I do find I’m more relaxed about a lot of it because of my 3rd. He is so different than the other two, but I just don’t worry about some things like I freaked out over with the first. And, I don’t enjoy all the first either. I can totally relate! 🙂 Thanks for linking up again! Maybe you will help keep my little blog hop alive.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

What Others Are Saying

"You're an amazing author. My daughter has read all your books 3 times. Thank you for inspriring her!!
Nikki Young
2020-02-28T13:14:40+00:00
"You're an amazing author. My daughter has read all your books 3 times. Thank you for inspriring her!!

"Nicola listened to and understood our wish to evolve our message along with our brand. Her copy was always succinct,...
Nikki Young
2020-02-28T13:13:38+00:00
"Nicola listened to and understood our wish to evolve our message along with our brand. Her copy was always succinct, accurate and grammatically correct and we were able to upload it to the new site without significant revision."

"Nicola is responsive and intuitive while delivering projects in a timely manner."
Nikki Young
2020-02-28T13:13:54+00:00
"Nicola is responsive and intuitive while delivering projects in a timely manner."

"You have really inspired her to write and create stories. She was very taken with your book the Time School."
Nikki Young
2020-02-28T13:14:06+00:00
"You have really inspired her to write and create stories. She was very taken with your book the Time School."

"Nicola encourages the children to think about things in different ways and to be more creative and descriptive in their...
Nikki Young
2020-02-28T13:14:19+00:00
"Nicola encourages the children to think about things in different ways and to be more creative and descriptive in their writing style."
0
Nikki Young