It is a warm Saturday afternoon as I write this. Jr#1 is hanging around watching a movie and Jr#2 is asleep and yes their dad is also asleep in another room.
It is also one of those days when I sit musing about life.
Jr#1 turns 10 this month (YES, He is the then-5-year-old cutie who is in the image you see at the top of my blog)- yikes he is officially entering the double digits :) He has grown up - in more ways than one. I can talk to him on a different level now and he understands more stuff than he ever did so far. He sort of knows the difference between fake emotions and real ones.
He also shows a great deal of interest in helping around at home and I let him do it. To illustrate, he washed a few dishes lying around in the sink this morning, for the first time. So far he had only been rinsing his cup or plate and putting it away. I really hope he continues to be responsible and will want to help around like this - I am sure as hell encouraging that.
I have vowed that I will never be THAT mom who ends up raising ungrateful kids because she didn't know what went wrong along the way. No parent does it consciously - it just happens. It happens when you don't correct kids when you are supposed to or you let them be slobs, whilst catering to their every whim and fancy. Before you know it - they get used to being treated as royalty and BOOM, one day they're adults and you can't do anything about it, least of all mould them anymore.
So it has been a decade of parenting for us :) Hubby and me have learned a lot along the way, made some mistakes and worked on rectifying it too. We understood very early that parenting is team work - and it only bodes well when both parents work in tandem.
The pre-teen is already starting to throw his weight around and I know that tougher years lie ahead - may it be easier than I imagine it to be. All that rebelling, slamming doors, 'you don't know anything' etc etc - GASP - I guess I'll never know what to anticipate :D
Wish me luck ! :) :)
