HOW ARE WE HERE ALREADY?

Written by Sheree Hoddinett 

It’s that time of year again. We are in the midst of the silly season. We are approaching the end of another, well I definitely wouldn’t say glorious year, but it’s certainly been…interesting?! No one really knows what day it is, if they’re supposed to be somewhere and even the last time they ate a proper meal, so pretty much experiencing life as per normal for kids! While I’m usually a bit of a Scrooge at this time of year, I think we needed Christmas to look forward to after what can only be described as a year full of wave after wave of disappointment that continually rolled in. It has been a crappy year, so 2021 you have some serious making up to do!

I guess you could say it’s been a year of learning. One of extreme patience (which wore extremely thin at times!). A year where I truly experienced being part of a situation that I think my kids adapted to a little better than I probably did, haha! When you hear about how resilient our kids can be, there is some truth to it, obviously depending on what’s happening. I feel my kids aren’t very reasonable when told no for the umpteenth time but when told to wash their hands, off to the sink they trot without even a whimper. I suppose we can thank COVID-19 for making 2020 the cleanest year ever!

What else can I take away from this “joyful” year that was 2020? Oh I’ve got a good one. How many times have I thought “I just love talking to myself”? No mother ever thinks this! I swear I have multiple conversations to no one in particular on a daily basis. Who’s with me there?! I’m not talking to myself on purpose (well, most of the time anyway, there’s work meetings or choosing the right chocolate, haha). I’ve even considered getting my children’s hearing checked just to make sure there isn’t anything going on. But if I ever mention that, it’s like magic and suddenly they can hear me again. Or if I threaten to throw away something important to them and again it’s like magic and their ears pick up on all the words. And to think I don’t even have teenagers yet. 

Do you ever look at your kids and think how? How have we managed to get to this point? The end of this year for one thing but also just keeping them alive in general, I guess. I often think how has this happened, have I done something right for a change? Or possibly wrong, depending on the day and their attitude and whether they still like me or not! My girls are now 5 and 7, which I know is still quite young in the whole scheme of things, but on some days it feels more like an eternity has passed since I brought them into the world. But with my baby girl getting ready to start school at the end of January, it’s amazing to think how quickly time has passed since they were tiny babies. Although I think I’ll still be calling them my babies when they’re even bigger than me. I can hear their reaction already, I’ll be the worst mum ever! Bring it on!!

I often think about how my girls will turn out once they become adults, even more so after watching them handle this year’s crazy events. What direction their lives may go in and where they may end up one day. They are still little but growing at a rapid rate, in attitude as well as height. We all have hopes and dreams plus goals that we want to achieve. We can work hard and aim to reach as high as possible but never really know if it will actually happen. Sometimes it feels the same when raising your kids. You can guide them. You can show them paths to follow for their potential. But overall, you really have no control over how your child will turn out. It’s a hard concept to grasp. No one wants their child to become a thief or worse yet a scary clown, but if it happens, there is no way you can stop it. I guess, much like our own parents, we can only sit back and watch it all unfold and be proud of what they achieve and what they become – minus the scary clown of course!

As 2020 draws to a close (with many thinking, thank goodness!), I hope that there is some good to have come out of this year for you and you made the most of what you could, even if your kids drove you crazy! Read more of how my offspring drive me crazy over at www.shereekim.com.

Enjoy the festive season, however you choose to spend it and here’s hoping 2021 is a better year for all of us!