Tell me about your perfect parent-child moments....

[ContessaIsOnADietDammit]

.....you know, the ones you thought would happen on a regular basis pre-children and which you now find are instead as rare as hen's teeth!

Today DS2 (7yo) said, off-handedly, "Mummy, do you know Shakespeare?" I said "Why yes darling. of course!" in delight (I am a massive English literature geek). Unbelievably, the conversation ended up with us sitting on the sofa watching the Cbeebies re-enactment of The Tempest (watch it on iPlayer, it's good!) with my copy of Shakespeare's complete works in front of us, quoting lines as we came across them. It was utterly wonderful. I am absolutely certain that nothing like it will ever happen again and that's my lot, parenting joy-wise

Please tell me your best moments :)

Chottie that bought a tear to my eye.

My three year old likes looking at the pictures on the back of books of others in the series, asking what they’re called and saying whether we’ve read it or not. She kept asking about Room On The Broom, and I spotted it in Asda and bought it. Her little face was so happy, and later that evening she said “you bought Room On The Broom, thank you Mummy” and gave me a massive hug and whispered “I love you” in my ear.

Reader, I went back to Asda and spent about £30 on all the other Julia Donaldson books we didn’t own

@Crunched

Chottie that bought a tear to my eye.

DS (12 and moody teenager and can be difficult at the minute) came shopping with me last night. We put the bags in the boot of the car and I went to take the trolley back as he headed for the front seat of the car. It was freezing and he suddenly shouted hey mum I've got this as he took the trolley off me and took it off me to return it. A small act of kindness but I thought to myself that's the kind of person I want him to be.

369 I think I'd die of happiness if DS1 did such a thing for me!

DS2 does come up to me for cuddles occasionally, but I suspect his motives; initially he was just being adorable but now I think he does it because it gets him into my good books. He's sneaky DS1 OTOH is allergic to any such subterfuge and just acts like a moody grump most of the time.... . I wish he would show human affection.

Me and my 11 year old DD spent our Xmas money on Bullet Journals and we sit down at night and do them together! ( Hers is way more fantastic and artistic than mine) she borrows my stuff and I borrow hers and I just love it.

DD was about 16, I was talking to her about stuff, and she said "I can tell you anything, you're like a girlfriend. But, y'know, fat and bald".

When she was six she suggested making a miniature plaster cast filled with Quality Street, after I broke my leg. Mil helped her, and she presented it to me with a big hug and a whispered "silly daddy".

369 cynic in me says he was after the £1 coin but I hope not!

Dd aged about 9 - had recently been gifted a beautiful traditional doll whom she called Rebecca. A friend asked if she was going to a mutual friends birthday party - and she said yes, and when then asked "who else is going?" She naturally replied that Rebecca was. She loved her dolls and regarded them as real friends. She still has Rebecca btw.

Ds - aged about 4, used to layout his wooden train track all around the living room such that you tip toed around it - he used to say "don't worry mum, I'm just laying some track" as if it was his full time job.

My 2 year old says please and thank you alot and it's so cute. He thinks he can have or do anything if he says please. I also love the welcome I get when ive been away. Last night it was a 20 minute shower and I came down and got a huge welcome and cuddle.

My 5 year old girl is more temperamental but this morning on the way to school I was telling her mummy and daddy are going to see Brian Cox and was explaining what science is. I dropped an object and said that science tells us why it falls to the floor. My daughter said that's gravity mummy. She was so pleased with herself after I looked amazed and impressed with her answer. She still doesn't think I know anything so of course the next question was did you know it was gravity mummy?
She gives impromptu cuddles and says I love you. Those moments are precious as they are getting rarer.
Sunday lunch is lovely as long as I don't get wound up about the kids lack of eating. It's probably our only family time where we just sit and chat.

It's those little gems that make the rest worth while 😀.

That made me laugh disgrace

I'll have to look up what a bullet journal is now!

We went away last weekend for a much-needed break after a couple of months of unrelenting misery (three bereavements). Walking down the street in the freezing cold on Sunday evening, DS (11) turned to me and sang 'Mammaaaaaaa', and I replied with 'Just killed a man', and we ended up doing a very out-of-tune Bohemian Rhapsody duet. It was fabulous.

My ds has always been like a 90 year old gent, he has to have been here before, we have had many wonderful moments throughout his nine years. We love to read together. He is great at reading and has the best voices for characters, knows when to change his tone of voice etc it's fab.

Best moment with dd was the first time she said she loved one of us. She has autism, it's been a long hard slog getting to diagnosis, she's 5 now and it happened on the school run, we were dropping ds off and I called the usual "bye ds, love you!" And dd just shouted "LOVE YOU DS" loud and proud for all to hear, another mum who knows about our journey and struggles just looked at me open mouthed and I burst into tears right there! It was a wonderful moment ❤️ She says "love you mama" daily now and it's still as amazing as that first time.

My son, Leonardical Howardson, ate so much grass the other day that I didn`t have to feed him. It was honestly the greatest thing. Me and the DH, Iran, had a scrumptious meal of 4 cough sweets and a sip of bath water with a bit of calpol to wash it all down. #happydays

Christmas was so good a many years back when i received my first signs of new technology being a Nintendo DS, i screamed so loud the roof fell off!!

DD is 3.5 so still quite small, but we get flashes of what mummy/daughter moments might be like when she is a bit older. Recently, we went to the zoo, just the two of us, on my non-working day (usually we go a the weekend with DH), and had the nicest day - she picked the animals to see, we watched them together, then ate lunch together with no tantrums or food on the floor, having a lovely chat about all the fun things we saw the tigers do. It was just lovely.

Yesterday my stepdaughter made her bed independently. I didn’t have to prompt her or anything.

One of the parts of parenting I was most looking forward to was reading to my child. I now have an 18 month old who absolutely loves books, and my greatest joy is snuggling up with him and seeing him absorbed in stories. Especially when I can make him double up laughing with funny voices, and when he says "gain, gain, gain" when he wants to read the book again.

My 4 yr old has suspected ASD, is not the most demonstrative, hates cuddles etc so those little moments when they do happen are really special.

The other day I was pottering in the kitchen and brought her through a drink when I came back. She said "Mummy, you always know just what I need." ❤

I said absentmindedly to my 3.5yr old DD "my beautiful girl", just as I was passing her in the hall and not really thinking about it, and she stopped and looked at me with some consideration and then announced 'And you're my beautiful mummy' (disclaimer - i'm not, i've got a lot of facial scars due to BCCs and am overweight etc - it was just so lovely and genuine because to her I am.)

angrymum
dh, dc3 and I had a really good frozen pea fight on Sunday, we couldn’t stop laughing.

The other night i was lying beside DS (aged 2 and with susoected ASD and GDD so non verbal) reading to him when he looked me straight in the eye (rare for him) and put his dummy in my mouth, laughed then took it out again. He did this for about 15 minutes and it was just lovely to have a proper connection with him.
On a side note, we now both have tonsilitis 😣

When dd(15) called me into her room, sat me on her bed and told me I don’t have to put up with the way her dad treats me, that I deserve better, and she’d rather have a happy and healthy mum than see me go though what I did just so she’d have a ‘normal’ nuclear family.
I thought I’d hidden it all 😩
It Was the kick up the bum I needed and we left a few months later.

There are some lovely ones here no, YOU'RE crying.

i had been out late on saturday, and on sunday morning my 3 year old twins came in with a mug of tea (made with warmish water from the tap) and some bread which they had dipped in peanut butter. it was a lovely moment, especially since they are both usually little monkeys!