Five things my kids love but I hate
I love my children; I honestly do. They are my (almost) everything. I adore how happy and crazy my house is when they’re all home, and how there is never a lack of cuddles to go around. That said, there are some things that my four daughters all love, which, as a parent, send me around the bend.
1. Tomato sauce
What’s with the tomato sauce on everything? Do they not realise that the food underneath has its own unique taste and flavour? OK so maybe on second thoughts … they do, and perhaps that is why they are so generous with its application, but come on, children. It’s not like I’m a lousy cook! Maybe we’ll just “run out” one day … for good.
2. Mind-numbing kids TV shows
There are two types of parents: the ones who enjoy kids TV and the ones who don’t. And if you ask me, the latter is by far superior. Sure, you’re entitled to enjoy watching whatever you like and if you’d prefer Shrek over anything else that’s available – then that’s your choice. But you honestly couldn’t pay me to sit through most of the stuff my girls watch during their screen time. Good thing it’s for kids, huh!
3. Not wearing clothes when it’s cold
We don’t get much of a winter here on the Sunshine Coast, but when the colder months do whisper for a while, you’ll find me snuggled up on the couch with my woollen cardi, ugg boots on my feet and a scarf around my neck. But where will you find my daughters on the cold winter mornings? Prancing around in the nude, most likely. The other day it was 12 degrees outside and I had to remind my seven-year-old to put on socks and a jumper. Like, seriously!
4. Having a floordrobe
Whilst I have embraced the Kondo method of keeping all my clothes relatively organised and tidy, my children have not. And let me tell you – four daughters equals a helluva lot of clothes! Instead of rolling their clothes, as the darling Marie Kondo says to, my girls prefer to maintain a steady floordrobe, preferring to store their clothes all over the floors of their bedrooms. It’s beyond a joke now. Instead of fighting them on it, I scoop up the clothes a few times a week and place them on their beds ready to be put away. Only they don’t put them away, and they end up sleeping with their clothes strewed around them like an extra doona. #fail
5. Expensive tiny plastic toys
I don’t know what it is about tiny plastic toys that are so appealing to young children, my daughters included. Even though I do not buy said plastic toys, my girls somehow manage to accumulate them from well-meaning friends and family. I’ve finally come to a place of peace with cohabiting with them, though. Mostly because of how delightful the tiny pieces sound when they zzzsssshh up the vacuum cleaner. Ahh, bliss!
It really is a good thing that parents and children are so different because it means we can continuously learn and evolve from each other. And at the end of the day, if we can all aim to meet somewhere in the middle, it’ll all end up OK. Having differences expands our perceptions and perspectives, as well as our understanding of the world as individuals, and it’s not only children who get to do all the learning, either.
But enough with the tiny toys, OK?
