Posts tagged - Britmums

Things Mushroom *might* be asking…

Earlier this month, I read a great post by Leoarna (from Not different but interesting) over at babyhuddle.   The title, ‘Things my daughter would ask me if she could,’ is pretty self explanatory. Leoarna imagined herself on the panel at Question Time, with her almost-four-year-old daughter asking questions from the audience. The questions are great – some I’m sure we all ask ourselves at times, and Leoarna’s answers are considered and honest. Go and have a read of it and them come back (please). I’ll wait for you. Shall I put the kettle on?

You came back! Thanks. Here’s a cuppa.

Is herbal tea ok..?

Ok, I’m not going to try and write anything as deep as what you’ve just read, but I am going to Kind of ‘steal’ Leonara’s idea (hope that’s ok!). My angle is more like that of Redpeffer’s recent laugh-out-loud blog post, ‘A morning in the life of my two year old.’  I have just discoved Redpeffer’s blog via Britmums, and will be back for more!

If you’ve been following me, you may have read last month’s post ‘Look who’s talking,’ about Mushroom’s limited vocabulary. So, I often imagine what he’s asking me (if I can’t figure out what he’s actually saying) and then answer that.  It makes for some curious conversations…

Mushroom (upon waking): ‘Oh no! Dee dee boo, duck!’ (Starts lifting covers and throwing pillow out of cot). ‘Mummy, duck?’ (more urgently)
My translation: I dreamed that I lost my duck! Help me find it!
My answer: That’s a funny dream! I think your ducks are in the bathroom though, they sleep there don’t they?
Mushroom’s response: Confused face. ‘No, Mummy…’ (Sighs and gives up no the whole duck thing.) ‘Up!’ Starts trying to climb out of cot.

Mushroom: ‘Banana!’ (Points to fruit bowl)
My translation: Can I have a banana? (a reasonable guess, right? I thought so)
My answer: ‘Of course you can. Here you go.’ (Hands over banana)
Mushroom’s response: ‘No!’ Cries hysterically. (Turns out he wanted an apple, which he can say. Hmmm)

Mushroom: Points and CD player (kept under the TV) and dances a little. ‘Mummy? Peas?’
My translation: I want to listen to music and dance. Can you put some music on please?
My answer: ‘You want music? (nods enthusiastically) ‘Ok, let’s dance.’ (I put a CD on)
Mushroom’s response: ‘No!’ Throws himself dramatically on the sofa and cries (turns out he wanted to watch his Baby Einstein Baby Beethoven dvd. Took a while to get to that one! He did dance to it though. That was new)

Mushroom: As we walk along the street ‘Mummy, duck! Da da dee teef… lalala (singing) a, b…. one… Mummy, woo woo?’
My translation: ‘Do dogs ride bikes Mummy? With their teeth?’
My answer: No Mushroom, not usually. Although we might be able to find something on Youtube.’
Mushroom’s response:’…’ (A long sideways look and silence for the next five minutes)

Mushroom: Whinging ‘Maaaameeee. Dar, dar?’ (signs ‘car’)
My translation: Are we getting a lift with our friends to go to swimming this morning?’
My answer: ‘Yes we are. They’ll be here in a minute so we had better get ready
Mushrrom’s response: ‘Yeah!’ (runs off to get shoes). Yeah, sometimes I get it right.

Perhaps I will come up with some more serious questions – like: ‘Why must you change my nappy as soon as its dirty?’ ‘Why can’t I cut my own apple with that super sharp knife?’ and ‘Why can’t I eat the soap?’ next time…

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Proud parenting

One of this week’s blogging prompt over at BritMums was to write about one of the seven deadly sins. For those of you who need a reminder, they are: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony.

I’ve just started reading 50 Shades of Grey and was toying with the idea of writing about lust but a) I hope Mushroom reads this blog one day so perhaps that isn’t appropriate and b) something happened today that made me think about pride. So, pride it is…

This afternoon Mushroom and I were playing in the local park. He has just learned how to kick a ball and we were playing football. Sort of. After about 15 minutes he got a bit fed up and ran over to the bandstand where another boy was running around in circles. The boy was a lot bigger than Mushroom but, as it turned out, he was only 2. Mushroom just wanted to follow him around and do everything he did so I let him, for the most part, and had a chat with the child’s Mum. She was complaining that the local nurseries ‘are no good.’ I told her that Mushroom goes to a good local nursery and she frowned when I told her which one. ‘Really? But they don’t do anything with the children!’ I said that her comment surprised me, as Mushroom is always coming home with artwork, or sometimes something he has ‘helped’ to bake, and that they do a lot of structured play during the day. She was less than impressed. ‘They don’t teach them to stand in a line, or sleep in a row, or anything! They just play all day!’ This was when I realised that this Mother and I are worlds apart. Firstly, they do learn to stand in line and take turns – it’s probably not listed as something they ‘teach,’ as it’s just part of the socialisation process. They also do learn to sleep in a row. As for the fact they ‘play’ all day? Well, they’re just children!  She didn’t seem to believe anything I told her about the nursery so I decided just to drop it.  I wasn’t enjoying her company much by now but Mushroom was still following her son around so I just let her talk some more and stayed quiet.

After a while, her son jumped down from the bandstand and ran through a muddy puddle – as kids do – at which she ran over to him, grabbed his arm and shouted in his face ‘If you do that again I will slap you in your face!’ She half turned to me with smile on her face. Perhaps I was misreading her but it looked to me like pride. I wasn’t about to ask. Her son didn’t seem bothered by the threat but he did immediately move from the puddle.

I don’t know whether judgement is considered a sin but it is something I usually try to avoid, however, in this instance, I judged her. I judged her parenting style and didn’t like it and I felt proud of the way I am parenting Mushroom. I have never hit him, or threatened to hit him, and I don’t intend to. I would hope that if I ever did, it would be to protect him from impending danger and that I would apologise and explain afterwards. I certainly wouldn’t even think about hitting him in his face.

What do you think? Am I wrong to judge? Obviously there is a lot about this woman I don’t know – perhaps she was doing what has been done to her in the past and doesn’t know any different. Maybe her pride was in her son’s good behaviour rather than her threat of discipline… I know all this and yet, I judged her and if I’m honest I still do. Would you/have you hit your child? Do you ever compare yourself to others and feel pride in your parenting? I’d love to hear your views so please do comment below!

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Puddles

Mushroom has just discovered the joys of jumping in dirty puddles…

Think it might be time to buy some wellies!

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Supermums save time – a short story

A large group of children born in recent years have taken over the mantle of stealing time from the generation that preceded them. This collective have managed to reduce the number of hours available to their parents in the day by at least half, in some cases stealing so much time that there is none left over for basic personal needs. As in previous years, these time stealing bandits are mostly taking from their Mothers, although many Fathers have also been affected. This week, Supermums – a collective of women who in between raising their children, also manage to retain some semblance of professional and personal lives, write interesting and informative parenting blogs,  feed an unhealthy social media addiction and put the world to rights in their ‘spare’ time – made some progress in the fight to steal some of their time back. Having been the among the previous generation of time stealers, this group have more weapons in their armoury than ever before. These include: online shopping, online banking, smartphone apps – for email accounts, WordPress blogs, social networking sites such Twitter and Facebook, and even YouTube, as well as various websites that will compare prices for everything from car insurance to shoes across a number of websites so that you don’t have to trawl loads of shops to find the best value. With these time-saving devices, the Supermums are managing to find little pockets of time for themselves. Mushroom’s Mum says ‘My favourite timesaver has to be the WordPress app – it means I can draft blog posts while I commute, so that I can spend quality time with my son when I get home, and then with my husband once the baby’s asleep.’ Some progress has been made but the fight is ongoing and the babies still have the advantage.

This short story is my entry to BritMums #BGSaveTime Competition, sponsored by British Gas, who have launched a new smartphone app to help save time when it comes to household bills. If you’re on twitter, you can read other entries by searching for the hastag #BGSaveTime

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