Enjoying my children

Recently I have come across a blog which may be my new favourite: finding joy (thanks to my cousin Sarah).

Basically everything I've read on this blog is awesome, but some of her posts that I've read so far and enjoyed are: three mom goals for the week; 20 motherhood tips; 20 {more} motherhood tips; and how to find joy -- in motherhood; starting at the top

Some of the posts that I read got me to thinking about the time that I spend with my children... and I realised that far too much of it is spent getting ready to do the next thing... or checking on them every so often while I do house work... or with other people around who have my attention while the kids do their own thing. Don't get me wrong, we do have wonderful and sweet moments each day, but I have made a commitment to myself that I need to set time aside where my attention is wholey and solely for them.


I'm talking moments in each day where I show them that I have an interest in what their doing and that I delight in them... but also a longer period of time (a few hours) once a week where everything else gets put aside and it is time I spend just enjoying my children.

Because, frankly, relationships with your children (particularly toddlers) can be strained by mundane things like poop in the knickers for the fourth time in the same day, screaming matches over not being able to do a specific activity, or how difficult it is to teach them how to play nicely! On the flip side, I'm sure Natalie (and in time Hayley will) gets sick of hearing things like, "be careful", "are you sure you don't need the toilet","what have you got there" etc. ;) ... and so I figure that it's a good idea to invest time in our relationship that will be positive and remind each other (specifically mummy) of the love we have and that it's all worth the difficult bits in the end.

Today we went to a new playground I discovered on a website playgroundfinder.com: Heywood Park (in Unley Park). We had packed lunch with us, and as Natalie had fallen asleep on the way there I parked in the shade, wound the windows down and sat for a while, while I focused on Hayley and fed her lunch. About the time that was done Natalie woke up and we got out. Natalie decided she wanted to eat lunch first and then play, so we sat at a picnic table, looked around and chatted. Mostly Hayley sat in the pram while we followed Natalie around and helped her on the equipment when needed, but I also carried her for a while...

Anything worthwhile is worth the time spent nurturing it!