My three-year-old is deep in the ‘mummy, watch me’ phase.
It’s horrendous.
Every time she wants an audience, the expectation is that I’ll be there. And for the most part, I will be, BUT she’s not reciting Shakespeare, playing Mozart or doing backflips.
So, as you can imagine, it’s gotten pretty mundane fairly quickly!
I think most parents can sympathise, it’s hard to stay enthusiastic on anything when it’s the 50th watch of a hop, a wiggle or a bum in the air.
She keeps on insisting I watch her as she leans one arm on the sink and the other on the bath. She’ll then lift both feet off the ground and swing her legs for a few seconds.
Impressed yet??
Now, it’s a fantastic demonstration of balance and it does show some good control. BUT she’s insisting on showing me this whilst I’m either on the toilet or relaxing in the bath. And she’s only truly satisfied once I provide a raucous round of applause at the end.
The invasion of space is bad enough but having to display the same ‘mum’s impressed face’ every time she does it, is deserving of an Oscar.
It’s a difficult balance, giving your child enough encouragement to thrive and be confident whilst not creating a narcissistic monster. I mean you have to make sure that they’re confident but never arrogant right? A kid that thinks that everything they have to say is gold dust is a tad insufferable because let’s face it, a lot of it is utter shite!
I often look at my kid and ask, am I raising a monster?
As the youngest of three, she gets her way with almost everything. She’s super smart, she learnt from a young age how to play most situations to her advantage.
But she is also incredibly neglected. Being the youngest of 3 siblings, and the youngest of 8 cousins has meant that she’s really fought to get listened to.
Parent guilt is oh so raw.
We continue to overcompensate, often believing that we’re not giving enough to our children because of X, Y or Z.
The reality is we can only give what we can give.
I know my kids have a fantastic life – we can’t do or give them absolutely everything but who really can?? And to be fair, if we gave them everything that they asked for they’d be total arseholes. We’d have a house full of VR sets, chickens, tortoises, axolotls and a few unicorns…..someone’s got to say no every now and then!
I’m currently giving myself a break and ignoring the ‘mummy, watch me’ tirade. I will not feel guilty as I hide from her, drinking tea, sneaking biscuits and writing this blog.
The brief respite won’t last long, but just long enough that I can take a moment to stop the extreme method acting that I seem to have adopted!
Samantha x