Please Don’t Let High School Take Your Sparkle

It’s that time of year again when the children are returning to school to start a fresh year of new and exciting challenges…for some it might not just be a new classroom it could be that big jump from preschool to reception or primary to secondary school.

In our house it is Izzy that will be taking that big leap to high school and to be honest she is taking it all in her stride.

It can be a huge change for both the child and parents with so many unknowns for everyone.

With Izzy being my third to take this step I don’t really have any anxieties about the whole process as it is a familiar school for us both and something I’ve had many years of practice with.

I am however getting a sinking feeling that the pressures of fitting it will cause her quirkiness to disappear and she will feel the need to conform and follow the crowd.

My little bare footed hippie certainly knows her own style but as she has got older the thoughts of others have been swaying her a little and as I’m sure we all know the pressures of a such a big change and that dreaded teen angst creeping in can have such a huge impact.

I know with the older two that I found the move to secondary school the biggest change as their it is such a tricky age. They are really trying to find themselves and this means much less parental involvement is needed in their day to day goings on which can be pretty hard.

They look to others for recognition and this is where I noticed a change with my older two as my opinion moved down the pecking order and their peers were not the people they wanted to please rather than me.

With this in mind I really hope she doesn’t loose  her huge zest for life, her don’t care attitude towards everything she does and her individual style. I hope she learns to withstand everything that it thrown at her over the next few years and let her inner sparkle continues to shine bright and be that one that stands out in the crowd.

Thank You Camp Bestival For Finding My Little Boy!

No we didn’t lose a child at Camp Bestival as the title may suggest, in fact quiet the opposite happened and as cheesey as it may sound this wonderful festival bought our family closer together than ever, and my teenage son that has become so distant was a changed child!

For weeks number two had been making up excuses as to why he didn’t want to go away to Camp Bestival.  We had a birthday party that if he didn’t attend would ruin his life, a sleepover the entire class was going to and he would be the only one not there to a whole host of illnesses that suddenly appeared every few days!

Even as close as the night before he was complaing of crippling stomach pains.  To be honest I had to admire his staying power.

We didn’t crack and piled him into the car dreading what lay ahead as I had visions of him ruining the entire trip with his strops and temperamental attitude.

We made our way down to the entrance with him moaning about the lack of Wifi and KFC and telling us how we were ruining his entire summer holiday.

It didn’t take long for reality to set in and for him to realise this would be his home for the next few days and he may as well just get on with it.

He got stuck in with helping to put up the tent and blowing up the many air beds, helped my with the mammoth task of getting everything from the car and loved getting the little kitchen area set up so he could help prepare our food.

He happily played hide and seek with the little ones around the campsite and became a bit of a magnet to the children in the neighbouring tents who all loved playing football and Nerf gun fights with him.

He got involved in everything at the festival from excitedly jumping on all the fairground rides to helping his brothers and sister with quiet crafts.

Don’t get me wrong he was still mortified with me when I started dancing to Bananarama and was not enthralled with having to endure Mr Tumble but that care free, happy child was found once again and I absolutely loved it!

The lure of the XBox had been taken away and he found pleasure in simple childhood activities once more.  He bought a diablo that he spent hours perfecting tricks on and got such pleasure from allowing the little ones to bury him completely in the sandpit.

What I loved most though was the walk to and from the campsite where we would have chats about nothing in particular as these moments at home have been lost to the technical world and the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Camp Bestival has pulled him from the shell he had become encased in and I will be forever grateful for that.

           

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

My Captured Moment:My Handful Off To Nursery

I’ve not linked up to My Captured Moment with Heled at ‘Running In Lavender‘ for a few weeks now.  With all the children off on holidays I took a bit of a back seat and enjoyed some time with the family.

This was a special holiday as the new term was starting with number four’s first term at nursery.  It is now just me and the baby now and our mornings are now a lot quieter without this little guy around.
  

Image Of The Week:All Grown Up

  

Children are a challange at every age.  Sleepless nights with newborns, tantrums with toddlers, strops and arguments with teenagers; but none of us would have it any other way.

Children growing is a learning curve for both the children and parents.  They are experiencing things for the first time as we are as parents.

With my eldest turning 18 next month I can say that we have taken on every challange along the way and both got lots of them wrong!

I’m sure there are many more challenges to come but for the most part we have got through all the big milestones together and they given us the parent/daughter relationship we have today and I wouldn’t have it any other way X