When I look at my four kids, I often wonder and marvel at who they are turning in to. The quirks that I see today, will they be there in a decade? Ten years. Wow. They will all be teenagers. Can I even imagine having four teenagers under one roof? The food they will eat; the hormones that will be raging; the different temperaments that will have to learn to live together; the bedroom allocations/sharing arrangements that will have to be considered. 

As long as I always have my own room, I’ll be leaving that one up to them.

Friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, house parties, sleepovers, birthdays, mobile phones, tablets, video games, texting…. And that’s only what I know about! Technology will be completely different in a decade. I realise it will be a gradual induction, but yikes. So much that I will have to learn. No doubt my kids will be the ones teaching me, all the while rolling their eyes, impatient when I don’t get it straight away. 

Thinking about them in the future really makes me focus on what I want to teach them now; kindness, love, patience, acceptance, courage, generosity, integrity, compassion, humour, empathy, resilience, vulnerability, commitment, trust. And then there’s the practical stuff; how to clean up after themselves, how to cook a meal, how to clean a toilet, how to sew a button on a shirt, how to use a power drill, how to touch-type (properly), how to apply for a job, good health and hygeine. And what about sport, music appreciation, how to dance?

What have I missed? What else makes a good human? It’s enough to send any parent crazy.

The sound of Julius playing behind me with his trains brings me back to my current reality. Julius, my youngest at 3 years old is in the middle of toilet training which is kind of doing my head in, but I finally believe that it will actually happen and no he won’t be wearing nappies on his first day of school in 16 months time. Chance, Quinn and Darby are all at school, all loving their classes and teachers and friends and are generally really happy, healthy and settled kids. I’m truly grateful for that, every single day. 

And I’m not just saying that. Obviously it’s not all day every day, but there are moments literally every single day that I can step back and see things to be grateful for, even if it takes until 8:15pm when all the kids have gone to bed with no fuss and I have an hour or two to myself. 

That’s pretty incredible. 

So here I am, back in the blogging world after a brief hiatus. Head to my About Renae page for info on how I came to start this new site, and how I named it.

It’s so great to be back.