Don’t you just love it when you see admiration in your kid’s eyes?
When you can tell they are soooooo impressed with something you can do, something they think is cool, something they hope that one day they will be able to do too?
That happened to me today with Miss E and it made me smile.
You see I always wanted to be the cool mummy, the mummy all your child’s friends really like.
The one who makes them laugh, who they can talk to, who they want to emulate in some way when they are older.
And sometimes I think I manage that, when they come to my house and we do fun stuff like making masks, or puppets or weird stuff with play dough.
Or when we have cool picnics in the garden with tiny sandwiches for the 8 million teddies they set up on the blanket.
Or when I am silly.
But I am also sometimes a little but uncool.
I make them tidy up before they go home. I try to make sure they include Miss M (3) a little bit, which isn’t always cool if you are seven going on eight and are very much into H2O, High School Musical and Hannah Montana, and NOT Minnie Mouse or Dora The Explorer.
I’m not saying I want to be my kid’s ‘friend’ over being their parent, I don’t think that always works. All my friends who have ‘cool’ mums seem to miss the ‘mumsy’ stuff. The cuddles, the warmth, the forgiving, the nurturing. You don’t seem to be able to have both. But I want to be the mum who does it all.
So as I sit with Miss E, demonstrating a skill she has not yet accomplished, I bask for a moment in the admiration and wonder in her eyes, the smile on her face, her small hands clapping with glee.
And as the large bubble pops all over my face I giggle with her and enjoy the moment when I am the coolest mum ever.
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May 24th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
My goodness, you really are a cool mum…I love the stuffed animals at the picnic…teddy bear picnic perhaps? Lovely post!
Sandi
May 24th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
jo jo jo…..stiving to be looked up to by 7 year olds….sigh….is that really something you should be admitting? Sounds alittle like you need some help. a little.
okay…so I am kidding. I get it. I want Sugar and her friends to like me…especially over hating me.
Hold on to that bubble….before it bursts though. Someday…we all just might be pretty uncool. sigh.
May 24th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
You are cool!! I hope I am too.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I am much lauded for my bubble blowing skills as well. I’ve retired though, after being smacked in the face one too many times.
I think if anyone can be a good mum -and- a cool mum…it’s you.
May 25th, 2008 at 12:27 am
Well, I’m impressed too! I can’t blow bubble gum bubbles – at all. I can talk about the brake horse power of a Lambourghini Murcialago until the cows come home – which impresses my little Sprog no end. Horses for courses!
Mya x
May 25th, 2008 at 5:50 am
I love that look on my grandkids face when I teach them something they don’t know. It’s the best!
May 25th, 2008 at 6:05 am
Jo…for someone like me that can only manage little bubbles that pop…that’s cooooool xxx
May 25th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Sounds like you are striking a good balance. I try to have fun with my boys but like you I see the dangers of being pal first and father second.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
it’s true. you are the coolest mom! my sister sent me a book last mother’s day. “secrets a cool mom knows” it is awesome. i didn’t know a lot of the stuff in it (although i so ROCKED on the how-to-throw-a-softball one), but i’m sure you do.
May 25th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Sandi, I try.
Corey, I just don’t want her to be embarrassed of me. I know this will happen at some pint, but I want to stave it off for as long as I can.
Maria, you are THE coolest.
Mya, I can’t even say Lambourghini Murcialago. You are cool.
Akela, it’s lovely isn’t it? I bet you teach your grandkids so much cool stuff.
21st CM but there are so many other ways that you are cool my lovely.
Holl, shhhhh, I may need to see that book.
May 27th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I totally get this. It’s getting harder and harder to be the cool mom the older my kids get, but I think I accomplish it a fair amount of the time. One thing that always works, being willing to embarass yourself in front of their friends!