My son is a very active strong willed child. He loves to hug people and is totally fearless. He loves cars, everything with wheels on it really, noisy toys, trains, lego and dolls,teddy bears, kitchen and food stuff, singing and drawing and painting. not to mention jumping on the furniture, bicycling and running (away).
One of his favorite outings is to the zoo.
It can be exhausting to keep up with the pace of a four year old. It involves a lot of coffee and deep breaths and silent counting to ten in my mind.
But it is also very rewarding. From the early days when he was an infant, he has been a sheer bundle of love. Always smiling, happy and easy to be around. Maybe I am biased. you have to be as a mother. Otherwise you would not put yourself through the lack of sleep in the begining. Or the temper tantrums later on at the checkout line when you are doing the daily groceries. No is a very charged word in his life. He does not like it and his reaction is often very loud and physical.
But you can not say yes to everything they want. as the adult you have to be the repsonsible boring one. You have to be the brickwall that your child needs to feel secure. You have to set boundaries. For his own safety and for the sake of his environment. It is f…ing hard, but you have to do it.
Parenting is hard. Its soulwrenching hard. Often I feel tired, tired in my bones. The mental load is overwhelming at times. But it is a labour of love. And I love it. Most of the time.