Not Such Bad Parenting After All

There is another post before this that went up on Tuesday so skip back one if you haven't been up to date with the lesser than rosy side of parenting.

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you will know by now that I don't like to dwell on the negative. I love my little horrors to bits and realise that whilst these moments of CRS as I like to call them (Child/ren Related Stress) are hard at the time, they are MAJORLY outweighed by the joy these little darlings bring.

There will always be times you have self doubt as a parent, the secret is not to show it too much in front of others, especially the kids. The morning I wrote the last post I was feeling particularly tearful and a bit weighed down by it all so I thought now is the perfect time to raise my good parenting skills.

On Monday, Liams playgroup had a visitor from the local Childrens Center. They were doing a singing and dancing activity morning and will be doing so for the next 3 weeks. All parents were invited and if not parents then grandparents or child minders could attend. Of 18 children in the playgroup, how many parents do you think attended? One. That was me! I was the only parent who could spare an hour to do something to join in with my little person. In all fairness, some people work, some have younger siblings to take care of (siblings were invited too) and I DID have to dash off halfway through to collect James from nursery but he took part in the second half an hour and loved it. I feel bad for the playgroup. They are a lovely little bunch of people working there but there just isn't the support it needs. Liam is going up to nursery in September for the simple fact is he HAS outgrown it. When they were doing the learning journey parents evening a few weeks back I was the only parent who came in for that too. The way I look at it, is that this may be Early Learning but it's such an important stage for kids. The skills they learn now will be needed for life and I want to be part of that. I can go through the next stage of parenting know I spent the same time and attention on all 3 of my boys when they were in the initial stages of independence.

We're ahead in the system with James and Liam's speech problems. We have an official appointment with Liam at the Speech Therapy Clinic on July 6th and on July 11th we have a Health Visitor coming to the house to talk about their speech and see if they can offer anything new to try. They have both improved so much in recent months but they are both shy at speaking in front of others from time to time. This is James biggest problem. Speaking of which...........

Yesterday  I actually got James to take part in a conversation between me and his teacher! He has NEVER spoken in class to any of the staff and is very quiet among the children. I'm pleased he took part and was able to show her that I'm not just saying that he can talk fine at home. We think it's a confidence thing and we are trying to get to the bottom of whether he is a little nervous, worried or even scared of anyone or anything in his nursery. That's the next step. I have also promised him a reward if he can speak to his teachers for just a couple of minutes every day. He again spoke to the same teacher then engaged in a conversation with his other main teacher today too. I feel we are getting there FINALLY.

Also yesterday, Matthew conquered his fear and hatred of the violin lessons and his whole class did a public performance along with some other schools. I am SO proud of him to give it a go. Unfortunately due to the two younger boys I couldn't attend as it was limited to 1 seat per family due to a small venue and a total of 180 kids taking part so a neighbour took him and her daughter there and bought them back whilst I walked her other daughter to school in Matthews place. I have taught Matthew that sometimes in life, we have to do the things we don't want to. We have to take chances, we have to do things that scare or worry us but we cannot overcome problems without tackling them head on. We can't always avoid things we find unpleasant and have to battle on. In the end I think he quite liked being out of school even if the class performance did only last 15 minutes.

Completing the set, Liam made me proud as well yesterday. He still has a nappy every night at bedtime and that is the only one he has. Sometimes in the afternoons he has a little wee accident when he falls asleep on the sofa. The nap results in a little wet patch. We have been combatting this by laying him on a towel or throw so it can easily go in the washing machine should a spillage occur. However, yesterday Liam woke from his slumber, went to his potty, did a quick wee and swiftly went back to his sofa to continue his sleep. Liam is finally showing signs that he may soon be ready to stop the bedtime nappy. He has never woken up ready for a wee before so this once again is progress.

Liam has been making me laugh this week too. He has been accentuating his feelings. In the middle of a dramatic cry he's been wailing "I'm Crying. Liam is crying!" which is funny in itself. Then on Sunday, the ice cream van came up. Daddy went out to get everyone an ice cream and Liam was so excited. Hopping, bouncing and galloping in excitement around the living room Liam is rejoicing "I'm Dancing. I'm Dancing for Ice Cream Mummy. I so excited I'm dancing." Bless him. He really is funny.
I had a couple of down days but feel like I am back to winning the battles again.

Finally, tomorrow I am going to do something I said I would never do. I am going to be one of "THOSE" parents. That's right, I've signed up for the PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) so I can go along to meetings and discuss ideas for school funding, the swimming pool, school disco's and the such. WHEN did I become like that? It must be something about the whole village life idea. I also have 8 more years of the boys attending that school in one capacity or another so I am in for the long haul. I do have a little idea myself. Matthew is really into his drama and arts so I am going to ask if they could possibly start up a drama group or after school choir to do a summer performance. The Christmas performance always does well so why not do another one at the end of the school year if there were the kids that want to do it?  We could do it to raise money for the school. Say £1 per ticket to watch, a raffle and refreshments available to buy so that the school can get a little something out of it.

Well, that's my idea anyway.