Forever young

image from google images

My second child turned 10 yesterday. The second child to reach double digits in our family. One more to go. It only feels like yesterday she was a screaming baby on my chest. Now she is almost a teenager. Looking at her yesterday with her long blonde hair, hot pink shorts and pre-teen top made me want to cry. Where has my baby gone? The fact that she wanted 'make up' on her birthday list makes me cringe (I didn't buy it of course!). It got me to thinking just where does the time go? How is it that I am already 36 and have three kids, a mortgage and a dog? How did that happen so fast? It was only yesterday that I was living the dream in suburbia with my brother and sister and the kids in the neighbourhood.

When I think back to school holidays I remember endless sunny days spent making cubby houses in the bush with my friends, cabbage patch parties, hours and hours of riding bikes up and down our neighbourhood, ice blocks and hot chips, falling asleep in the back of the car and pretending to stay asleep so that dad would carry me into bed. Time was endless, so were the opportunities and the fun. 

As an adult looking in I feel very different to how my kids see the world now. Time seems short, opportunities seem limited and they act bored. I feel guilty that maybe, I have let this happen. That we have allowed them to be 'gadget kids'. Always needing something to keep them happy instead of them just finding their own joy in everything around them. Is it a sign of the times or is it a sign of our bad parenting? 

I want to start creating more of these opportunities for my kids. I want them to explore what they love and find who they really are. I want them to stay kids for longer than society wants them to. 

I just need a way to to do this. Does anyone out there have an answer?