Didn’t post yesterday as I couldn’t face it – lovely days away and less than 24 hours back and I’m screaming like a fish wife again. Aargh! And then I read the guardian article that implies all of this is my own fault anyway, so that just rounded off the day perfectly. (And I know that there are other ppl who’ve gone through this sort of behaviour patch who didn’t put their children in nursery, but it’s kind of like the breastfeeding thing – if you didn’t breastfeed for whatever reason, it’s an area you can feel touchy about – mine is nurseries, logical or not). Don’t think there was a lot of learning went on anyway, except for me in that I discovered Small needs more exercise than he is getting (so I chased him round the garden for a while 😉 ).
Got up in good time today determined to do better. More hugs, less shouting, fewer expectations all round. We had to be up early as it was Big’s swimming lesson – she did fantastically. The trip during the week appears to have allowed her to figure out quite a bit of it – she didn’t want armbands today, and managed well without them, then the teacher gave her a kind of float belt thing and that was it, she was away. And when it came to jumping in without being held she did that too. I was so proud of her – and made sure to tell her, and to tell Tim as well.
Came home before the library as Small had done a really horrid nappy and there’s nowhere at the baths to change him. Then the library (book list to follow when I find the bag!) and both children behaved well right up til the end, when a touch of selective deafness set in and I had to go and fetch them from the reference section. Home again for lunch, and another horrid nappy – then Small looked shattered so I took him to bed. We both stayed there for four hours! Hope he isn’t coming down with something 🙁
Tea time just now, and it will be a late bath (although I suppose we could skip it as Big showered after swimming and Small was bathed after the second nappy).
Comments
3 responses to “Coming down.”
Well you go ahead and feel touchy about it my love. We all have our flashpoints. Whatever is the truth, you did the best YOU could AT the time WITH the information and parenting knowledge you had available to you. We presumably all have things we look back on and feel we could have done differently, but hindsight is a “wonderful thing” – knowing what i know about Maddy now, i certainly wouldn’t have done the brief childminder/.nursery stint i did for her but you know, we eeded money.
Love and hugs to you. No one is perfect, i don’t think you are perfect, i certainly don’t think i am perfect, i have friends whose parenting i emulate but i still don’t emulate all of it. I think you do great – chin up.
Ditto love Karen xxx
I have only recently let go of the guilt I had about sending Davies to a day nursery for nine months when he was 18 months old – it was only for two (very short) days a week but it haunted me for a long time – and every little quirk in his behaviour I put down to the nursery – but it * was* done for all the *right* reasons and if nothing else it led me to explore the idea of HE, so let it go and know that you are doing and always have done the very best for them 🙂