{"id":329,"date":"2021-02-13T12:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T12:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annabelwrites.com\/?p=329"},"modified":"2025-02-24T12:34:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T12:34:26","slug":"how-to-parent-with-a-sense-of-humour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annabelwrites.com\/?p=329","title":{"rendered":"How to Parent with a Sense of Humour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nothing prepares you for parenting which is a shame, how has no one written a book about the truths of parenting? How children can drive you insanely angry one minute and in tears the next. Well actually many have written books, blogs and recorded podcasts. But the one thing you really do need when you\u2019re a parent is a sense of humour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought I was ready for this part of my life, and only now I feel that I actually could be ready and William is five years old. I\u2019ve been surrounded by children my whole life, both my elder brothers now have adult children. My best friend has children both now both adults. I have friends that have children, and I feel that they have all turned into responsible and caring youngsters. So in my head I know what to do, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been working on a new book and recently told my mum, her face looked so worried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis new book you\u2019re writing, is it about parenting?\u201d I have never laughed so much in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Closed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong I will write in my blog about parenting, and share tips and entertain to help other parents going through similar things but I could never write a book about it. I mean, what would it read?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have all been there<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t matter how many times you say it to yourself, you will still feel like you\u2019re the only parent that has cried in the car, toilet or shower. When they\u2019re a baby you think it\u2019s hard work then, until one day a fellow mum says those fatal words it gets worse.<\/em> Or you see a post on Instagram that feels like it has been written about you or for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"young<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t forget our parents have been through this, I am always asking my mum questions about what I did when I was younger. William at the moment is going through the \u2018I-can\u2019t-believe-you-said-that\u2019 phase. By this I mean the various moments when I literally have to write it down somewhere, because this will be told to him again at some point in his adult life. When I tell my parents these stories they laugh, then when I ask them if they ever had that from me or my brothers they laugh even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They know too much<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know about other children but I feel that somedays I wonder if he knows too much? It was funny at first but now when he says things I wonder if I want him to know so much. Every day stuff like \u201cMummy what does retirement mean?\u201d Then after explaining the cycle and getting to retirement, he tells me that retirement sounds fun and that\u2019s what he wants to do. Funnily enough William it sounds attractive to me too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was an incident a few months ago we were over at my parents and my mum was spelling out chocolate to me, asking if it was ok to give him some. See this is why I love my mum because she asks first! I couldn\u2019t hear her properly because I was the other side of the room and William was sat on my lap being noisy. For a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSorry mum I couldn\u2019t hear you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMummy, grandma wants to know if I can have some chocolate!\u201d I am stunned and my mum tries not to laugh, so my mum also knows how to parent with a sense of humour!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rocket Science<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least with rocket science you can try and understand it, but parenting is another story. It\u2019s very intense work. Working out why one night they sleep twelve hours and the next night only nine, did they eat the same both days? Were they more active on that day, what did they do? I was taking William to the beach some days or a walk around the block thinking it would mean he would get a good nights sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did not make any difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Beach\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even what they ate, one day he can just go non-stop eating and then the next he hardly eats. Then I worry, I think there\u2019s something wrong because he\u2019s left food in the house, maybe he\u2019s even coming down with something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the things I learnt is don\u2019t ever make food an issue because he will use it and do you know what? He bloody well did! If he doesn\u2019t eat all his dinner you can guarantee that my husband will say; \u201ccome on William eat your dinner up.\u201d He also gets a; \u201cwell done!\u201d from him when he eats the whole meal. Don\u2019t do that, it\u2019s the worst thing to do. Why? Because now he has control of us, and it\u2019s like a debt; long and painful and you feel like you\u2019re never going to get to the end of it. If he eats all his dinner and I have to say something it\u2019s normally, \u201cwow you were hungry today!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My thing is not to worry even if I am. What I\u2019m trying to say is, I can worry, but I don\u2019t let William see that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing I\u2019ve come to realise that works is reverse psychology, however I feel that he\u2019s starting to cotton on to this so I need to tread carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know he is more than capable of doing a lot of things, but he\u2019s become lazy. When I\u2019ve asked him to get undressed for a bath he says he can\u2019t, but what he actually means is why should<\/em> I undress myself when I\u2019ve got you to do it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair he does have a point (if that is what he is actually thinking). I will end up doing it for him, because I don\u2019t have time to wait for him to mess about and his water will probably get cold if he takes too long. And he will complain about the temperature of the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take control<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s very easy for me to sit here and write that having the upper hand and control is the most important thing in this, but it is not easy to even get to that stage. I am only now on certain days realising that I can actually take control of the situation, and this is a huge strain on my mental health issues. Talking to other parents, however has given me the confidence to realise that I do need to and I am capable of taking control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Little<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We all know that not all children needs this type of parenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I really dislike the labels of parenting and think that all parents should do as we choose. At the end of the day we are the parent, and we make the decision. We just need the extra support and a sense of humour!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just don\u2019t let the children make the decision because we all know how that turns out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


YES DAY<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing prepares you for parenting which is a shame, how has no one written a book about the truths of parenting? How children can drive you insanely angry one minute and in tears the next. Well actually many have written books, blogs and recorded podcasts. But the one thing you really do need when you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53221594,"featured_media":331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5309],"tags":[406,124,3785,774471755],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parenting","tag-family","tag-life","tag-love","tag-parenting"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgmcKn-5j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":201,"url":"https:\/\/annabelwrites.com\/?p=201","url_meta":{"origin":329,"position":0},"title":"How to parent children that become independent when you\u2019re not ready","author":"Annabel","date":"04\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Within a few years some children can become quite independent. 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