Ups And Downs

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re doing a good job as a parent. Given enough food, care and exercise kids grow as naturally as house plants I guess, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on in their little heads sometimes and whether what you’re doing is the right thing. How often have I wished our boys came with a manual! Even just the Top 100 Tips would be a bonus, and don’t think I haven’t tried reading all the parenting textbooks out there.
Still, sometimes we get glimmers of hope. Niels had a friend over to play this afternoon and I picked them up from school in the car on the way home from work. They were both quite excited and buzzing about getting home to play when I heard Niels say “I’ve got a cool Mum, huh?”
I could have reached back and planted a big kiss on his shiny little forehead, except that would have blown all of my street-cred right out the window.
I felt particularly relieved because last week we had a rather fraught day which culminated in me sending Niels up to his room, while I narrowly resisted the temptation to rip off his sarcastic little head and drop kick it into the garden. He stomped up the stairs before spinning around dramatically half-way up and snarling at me “And I thought I had a NICE Mummy!”
Touché.