Happiness Comes in Small Packages

Lola has been at home for five days suffering with chicken pox and whilst it has been a long few days, it also makes me appreciate how lucky I am.

The whole message behind me setting up Montessori Stories is that children come first; they are our future and need to be nurtured and cherished. It is at times like these I am reminded of why I write silly stories about our life then bring them into relevance with creative activities.

Since Friday, I have consciously had to be “on call” with Lola which means none of the usual, “in a minute” or “hang on a sec”. She has needed me and there is nothing more I can do than care for her.

The question is, why should this be any different on any other day? Yes, we do have to cook dinner and clean the house, but those things can wait. When we have young babies the advice is always that the housework can wait, so why does it change?

Stepping back to appreciate the time we have with our children is often a gift that we don’t give ourselves… but we should. Why wait until they are sick to spend precious moments cuddling them?

We strive to create independence in our children which is wonderful, however they still need us. It seems that often-times our seven-year-olds have expectations set upon them from adults to behave like a grown up. They look old enough, therefore they must be able to handle emotions easily – they have all the answers. This, of course, is not the case.

A child at heart should be a bundle of happiness, curiosity and joy. We, as adults, can sometimes forget to enjoy them. They grow so fast and before we know it the precious moments of being needed are gone. So please, next time you feel that you wish your child would stop asking, remember that it’s not forever. 

Take time to enjoy every moment.