Parenting since 1992.
This is me with my 1st born, aged almost 3 months old. The day this photo was taken, I got on a plane to Barcelona to go on holiday for a week.
That baby is now 25 and boy doesn't he go on about how I abandoned him. When he reached 18, he left home and 3 months later we moved to South Africa.
25 years on, he has emigrated to Australia.
I had 2 more children in 1995 and 1999 and in 2000 I inherited a 10 & a 11 year old when I remarried.
I think I've done ok as a mum, hubby hasn't done too bad either, as a dad. All 5 of the kids still speak to us. We visit them regularly and they come to visit us in Dubai for their annual holidays accompanied by their girlfriends.
Each one of my 3 boys learnt different things at different times. the eldest was 13 months when he walked, the 2nd was up and running around 10 months and youngest........oh I have no idea, I stopped recording every single milestone by then.
For the eldest child I have a perfectly completed 'my first year' book, complete with lockets of hair, first teeth etc. Nothing other than the red book for child 2 and by the time the youngest was born, I hardly visited the health visitor so the red book is half empty other than dates of inoculations.
Things that seemed important at the time, but have no relevance now:
Dates, days and times of birth.
Eldest Friday 7.29am
Middle after Eastenders, narrows the day down to a Tuesday or Thursday
Youngest 3 4.40pm?????
Age at first tooth.
No idea
Potty trained.
Eldest At the expected development time
MiddleBefore starting school
Youngest Sometime after starting school
Breast/Bottle/Weened
Eldest breast fed 6 weeks, bottle fed till aged 1 and weened at 6 months as per the health visitor.
Middle Breast fed till 4 months, bottle fed till 1 year and weened
Youngest Breast fed exclusively 4 months and then breast and bottle fed till 6 months and weened at 6 months also.
You see the thing is they are all now adults, they can all read and write. they all have different interests and hobbies and personalities. They have favourite foods, music, football teams, political opinions and different views on Brexit.
It doesn't matter now at what age they took their first steps, said their first words or even rode a bike. They are who are they are now and there is nothing we can do about it.
Raising kids is hard, but you don't have to make it harder on yourself, try not to over think it, don't compare yourself to others with any milestone for your child.
Every stage is a challenge, every stage can be stressful, every stage is the hardest thing you've done, but raising kids is like giving birth, once you've done it, you forget all about it, until the next one comes along, let your child go with the flow and trust me, if you're relaxed, they will be also and milestones achieved with greater ease.
Have you read my post on Parenting without Social Media? I do believe parenting was much easier back then.
