Feeling sad about the passing of time

[herewego9]

Not sure if I'm being over dramatic but for the last few months I've been feeling wistful about the children growing up. It just seems to be happening so fast. Not sure if Covid made it worse in terms of the feeling of time passing but my husband just sent me a reel of the kids when they were 2 and 4. Land I'm now sobbing watching it!. They're 8 and 10 now and I have had this feeling for a while. It's not locating my daily life or anything but there is definitely a sadness there. Can anyone relate? I'm approaching a big birthday soon so maybe that's putting things into focus.

I get it!!

But truly I am thankful for their health and happiness, for the new things they do and try, for us being a family.

I try to make sure we're connected... meals together, games, films, walks and bike rides, hopefully we'll do all of that forever.

I get it. DS is 23, working, independent and I'm missing almost every 'him' even the teenage years and university days. I look at his picture age 4 by my bed and want to weep some nights. Such a privilege to watch a child grow to an adult but how gut wrenching!

I understand where you are coming from.

My eldest will be 30 next May and now owns her own small house in London (we live just out of it in Essex). She's just slightly older now than I was when I gave birth to her.

My middle daughter turned 26 today and my youngest is 22.

It all seems to have gone in the blink of an eye. It seems like just yesterday that they were babies and toddlers. I have to pinch myself to think that they really are adults now. I'm even quite a bit smaller than they are too now. 🤣

I get it too. My kids are grown ups (two at uni, one doing A levels) and at the opposite end of the scale, my mum is in her 80s and sometimes I stop and wonder how I'm suddenly a fifty year old with children ready to leave the nest and not many years left with my mum. I'd love to slow time down a little, just to soak it all in. I've enjoyed every stage of parenting (apart from them learning to drive, hated that) and although DH and I are beginning to have our own lives back now they're older, I do feel sad when I stop and think that they aren't really 'mine' for much longer.

My youngest becomes a teenager next year and I hate it. They've grown up so fast when I look back and I hate the fact that I didn't love every moment. I want some of that time back to appreciate it more.

I was going to say this.

Enjoy all the advantages brought by things like not being woken up in the night, and not having to change nappies !

There are pros and cons to every stage - don't let pining about the past, or worrying about the future mean you miss this very lovely stage you are in now.

Mine are 14, 16, 18 and I frequently well up looking at pics of when they were little. It seems to go quicker and quicker every year. 😭

I'd love just one day with my 19 and 20 year old as they were at 4 and 5. It was hard work but the best of times. Youngest is 14 and I'm doing a much as I can with her everyday because there's not much time left. The poem pp posted is so moving

Thank you. I absolutely love Holly McNish. A particular poem of hers was very important to me when my child was tiny and this just reminded me of it xx

I kept finding when mine were 10-13 ish that I'd see lovely events for little ones advertised and think, 'oh I'll take the kids to that' then realise they were too old!!

Mine are 31, 20 and 16. Only the youngest permanently at home. In 18 months she will be gone. You’ve got a decade at least, enjoy it, still plenty of time. The days are long, but the years are short. Never a truer saying. I love the adults relationships I have with my DC and I have a very busy life of my own. But yeah, some days I cannot believe i’m sat here, the parent of almost 3 adults.

My younger DC is 6 and I agree with the pp who said it's the last "little kid" age. I have definitely got more sentimental since having my second child and aware of the passing of time. I even got sentimental about not needing purple Calpol any more or being able to buy the Boots clothing ranges.

Hard relate.
Damn you apple and your photo montages...

This is so lovely ❤️

Wow, love this.

Thanks for all the great replies on this thread. And very much noted about enjoying the here and now - after all, in a decade I'll be wistful over these very years now.

I feel you op - my dc are 10 and 8 and I frequently miss wistfully the baby and younger years, whilst very aware that one day I'll also look back and miss these times.

That's a lovely poem a pp posted - eyes welling up. There's also a Welsh word that captures how I feel - I think originally meaning a yearning for Wales, but how I feel about dc sometimes, its such a strong feeling.

Well, reading this has made my eyes go all soggy.

My babies are only 3, 1 and yet to be born. But I already understand what you mean. I can’t believe my eldest will start school in September. It doesn’t seem possible! At the same time, I look at my wonderful grandparents becoming elderly and I remember them clearly when they were younger than my parents are now.

In a sense, it’s quite frightening. It’s also a huge privilege to experience all of these seasons.

I’ll try and think of this at 4pm tomorrow whilst solo parenting and trapped indoors by the weather…