While Hope loves giving hugs, it's important for her to learn who she can and can’t hug for her safety and the comfort of others. In this post, I share our ongoing journey of teaching her about personal space, consent, and finding the balance between allowing her to express love while keeping her safe.
There Are Only 52…
“Let’s have a tea party mummy,” a little girl said with a smile on her face as she poured a pretend cup of tea. “Hold on a second” the mum replied as she scrolled through her messages.
“Are you having fun Daddy?” the little boy said to his Dad as the little boy pushed his dad on the swing. “Uh huh,” the dad grunted as he tapped away on his phone.
“Stay still for the perfect shot,” the father said to his son as he tried to climb the rope ladder “Then we are going”. CLICK! Upload! Post. “Time to go”
“Customer, your ten lollipops are ready. Customer? Customer!” I heard a little voice say. I looked down, Alexander was there holding out ten imagery lollipops in his open hands. “Thanks, Shop keeper” I smiled.
This was the situation that I saw at the park today, every single parent was on their phones. My heart sank, is this the society we are living in now?
I must confess I am by far the perfect parent and this has been me in the past, sitting on my phones playing games or on social media while the kids did their own thing. It is scientifically proven that swiping on social media releases dopamine in the brain, the magic chemical that gives you a feeling of satisfaction and motivation. It’s a scary thought that a phone can do this to you, I didn’t know it but it was happening to me, I was addicted to the phone and I had no idea.
This blog isn’t about phones, parenting or negative effects of mobile games/social media. I am basing this blog on the realisation I had months ago that “There are only 52 weekends in the year”.
This came to me when I was flicking through another useless video of “Best news fails” for the 10th time today, all while the kids played at my feet. I could have played, but I was exhausted, exhausted from work, from cleaning, from life in general. Then it hit me, hit me like a truck traveling down the freeway at 100 kilometres per hour.
“What am I doing?” I thought to myself. I put the phone down and played with the kids. As I played, I realised I don’t see these kids much during the week, I leave early, I come home late, they shower, eat dinner then they are in bed. My only real quality time I have with them is on the weekend. So, did I want to be addicted to my phone for these 2 days of the week? What do the kids think when they see me on my phone?
Kids grow up so fast, they are constantly learning and developing at lightning fast speed. The child that you look at today, in a years time, will seem like a completely different child. Bigger, taller, smarter.
A lot can happen in a year, and I don’t want to miss it!
My 52 weekends I have in my year are special to me. I have learnt to put the phone in the bedroom, play the silly games they want to play, watch their movies (not because you want to, because I am watching it with them), cuddle them tightly and tell them I love them every day. Why? Because they will not remember you playing imaginary taxi’s with you or pizza shop or hungry T-Rexs…. But they will remember you not playing with them. As they grow, the kids will want to start hanging out with their friends, going to work or play their own games and before you know it, that 52 weeks you treasure the most, will start to shrink faster than you would like.
So, I just want to spread the message to as many people as I can. Watch the cat videos and crush the candy, but do it when the kids are in bed, don’t do it while they genuinely want to spend time with you because remember, “There are only 52 weekends in the year”.
“What do you think? I heard a little voice say.
“These are the best lollipops I have had all day” I smiled. I sat with Alexander, ate our imaginary lollipops and gave him a mighty long hug.
Related Posts
This Post Has 0 Comments