Don't leave me just yet
Well, I did manage to get out into the day after all and spend some time photographing my daughter playing in the yellow maple leaves. We didn't have much time because the window between her meals was narrow and where we were had nowhere available to heat food and the stuff that we have that is ready to eat, doesn't constitute a meal. One day it will be easier to move around once she can have a slightly wider range of foods available but for now, we manage as we do.
The day was very, very warm and it might have even hit 18 degrees today which is almost unheard of at this time of year. I think that the warmth is part of the reason the leaves are so yellow with hardly any red to be found, at least as I have seen in this area. Some years it seems like the trees are on fire they are so red and orange. Gold isn't a bad colour either.
She loves being outside though and loves playing around with whatever she can find and this is the first year where she is really comfortable running and jumping around by herself in the leaves. She is not the best at throwing the leaves high into the air yet though :D Despite having some sniffles still and a cough, she has been a good mood lately and today she was an absolute ball as she sang songs in the car and made jokes with words that rhyme.
My biggest fear for her when it comes to growing up is that she loses her sense of humor and becomes too serious with life. She spends a great deal of time thinking through things and she notices even the slightest changes in the environment which is great but, I think it means she will also see negatives in the world before she might fully be ready for them. Kids are much more aware than we give them credit for and they soak in everything.
She is starting to read the alphabet now and knows the numbers to 10 by sight so as we drive along and see signs she calls out the letters she sees and then attaches them to some words that she knows. There is no way I was doing that at 26 months old and I wonder where it will eventually lead her. I could read before going to school and I credit that with not paying any attention to school because in the early years it was that easy, I didn't have to learn anything or develop any kind of study habits. I needed them later though.
Parents nearly always overestimate the abilities of their children and have the tendency to brag about their accomplishments which generally annoys me but, I do it too. I can't help it, she is awesome. Of course I and my wife are biased in our opinions of her being parents but at the same time, neither of us are prone to embellishing too much.
Being the fourth of 5 children with the last being the only girl, you can imagine that my parents didn't necessarily invest a great deal of time into my personal development. This has pros and cons because even though I am relatively unskilled at everything and self-trained, it also means that I am independent, non-reliant and proactive in my approach to things. I think this is part of the work ethic conversation as if I didn't do what was needed to get something, there was very little chance of me getting it.
I think this is the challenge of parents of every generation though as all want a better life for their kids but giving it too easily leads to spoiling and later entitlement issues. I don't know where the best line is but my wife and I are trying to find a balance where our daughter is independent and willing to kick leaves to see what is underneath and carry the understanding that if she ever really needs help, she has us at her back. I don't want her to rely on me, but I want her to know she can. I also want to have the personal resources in myself to be here if she ever needs.
Playing in the autumn leaves and sunshine with my daughter counts as a pretty good Sunday I think.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
My daughter wrote her name in the snow with a stick when she was 18 months old. (That's all she'd write for a long time.)
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She can write her name but we haven't done any writing really yet. She likes the reading and enjoys counting things a lot so w will play those games for now.
😊 what's her name?? It might be 4-6 letter word from my guess.
Milla
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Now that is most definitely something that must be avoided at all costs. Believe me, I speak from experience. My daughter, now 27 yrs old, seems to have practically no sense of humour at all. It upsets me, hurts me really, to see her struggling with life like she does. I tried everything I can think of to help her, but at her age all you can do is advise... as the saying goes 'you can take a horse to water.... '
I know her life needs to change for her to be happy again, to find her sense of humour again. But how do you force a 27 year old to change her ways?!
Sorry... I'm gonna go, I don't mean to put a downer on your beautiful post. Those photos are magnificent!
This is the challenge of life these days as they don't realize they are addicted, they think they are free.
According to my mother I was concerned with my cholesterol levels and wanted to limit scrambled egg consumption at 3 years old.
Kids absorb everything. Even if most don’t seem to notice.
Pity it didn't hold up into adulthood ;)
Yeah, absolutely everything. For the last year our daughter looks at her clothes in the mirror and turns to check her butt. I will pretend she learned it from my wife.
I think you being independent and can give that to a child is really a blessing for every child.
How adorable. Thanks for the pictures that bring smiles. :)
You raise an excellent point in saying that parents want their kids to have a better life, but if they do too much to try to ensure it the kids wind up spoiled (and either miserable or people who make others miserable).
That you and your wife (what's her name btw?) realize this and are trying to balance for it goes a long way. I think that's all any parents really can do, their best within that eternal search for equilibrium.
Her name is @momone but she hasn't posted recently as too busy with study. I don't think she has her real name on the blockchain.
It is a struggle for parents these days as it is easy to spoil and hard to find suitable difficulty. In the past, farm life guaranteed enough hard life.
Well, there's always volunteering I suppose. It will mean you and your momone will have to also make time to do it though. But having children getting involved in helping others once they're maybe 5 or so does build character. It helps them to actually appreciate how much their parents are doing for them. Even just volunteering with hurt animals does that, doesn't have to be poor people or anything like that which may be too complex to understand/emotionally process at a young age.
The problem is that Momone would adopt them all. She was once late for a date because she saw a seagull that looked thirsty so went to a shop and bought it water....
LOL! You may need to pick your charities very carefully!
I don't think, the trend was not like it is today at that time. When we were kids, our parent did not have this feeling to invest time on us, because that was not the culture. And I am sure, we even did not feel like they should invest time on us as well. Because, we had our own ways of playing with other kids, and never troubled them.
Over time, the culture has changed, because now we see families which are mostly core and self contained. All our kids have now is TV or Laptop or a cell phone, and they get bored soon of these.
What I mean by the invest is the skill development area. No one ever checked to see if my homework was done (it wasn't) or even if I was home. My mother taught me to read though and that served me well a then I could source my own information.
Kids these days need to be bored more so they can explore their creativity.
But don't you think, that taught you one very good thing, you were becoming self sufficient. I am not saying, they should not have invested time. All I am saying is that, it was the case for almost all of us in that time. Even for me, my father probably never asked what I was doing, till I completed my 10th :) It was Mom who did as much as she could.
Oh my god your daughter it's so cool, cute!! I love her coat and your photos are amazing..By the way the only girl in a family of five? An hell poor girl :P By the way invest time in children it's an important moment i think and it is helpful for them, make them feel less lonely and loved and this is much important <3
She is awesome and definitely gets enough love if there is such a thing :)
My sister had good and bad being the only girl.
Spending time with your daughter, that is really cool, something a lot of parents are not doing but should do more often.
Some parents are not fit to be parents but almost anyone can have a child.
Unfortunately.
I wander where she gets the overthinking part from lol.
Lol. Me too. I'll have to think about it.
If she think about everything then it's a good sign it may save her from bad people as we know is much needed.
I am going to teach her to trust no one.