I know this may sound strange, but it’s an honest question - how do you as a parent cope with your kids growing up so quickly?
I have three children aged 14, 13 and 11, but I feel like I have just blinked and we’re at the preteen/teen stage! Honestly up to about a month ago it’s not bothered me at all, every stage has had its fun and its challenges. I’ve been grateful to move away from nappies and sleepless nights and on to family days out and more recently into meaningful conversations and shared interests. But these last couple of months I have really struggled with the fact that they are on the cusp of being adults and moving on to more grown up things in just a few (probably short) years. I can’t think of anything that’s happened in that time to trigger this, I literally just woke up one day feeling so sad about it all.
I know it’s what kids are supposed to do, I’m so very proud of them, hugely grateful I have them in my life and that they are happy and healthy, but I just have this overwhelming sadness I’m struggling to move on from. I can’t even properly put into words what exactly it is I’m sad about! I suppose I just wish I could rewind the last couple of years and do them all over again, or at the very least pause where we are now for a while longer. I don’t feel ready for the next chapter. Photo memories don’t help as I look back at things from years ago and it feels like yesterday, and it reminds me there are things I’ll never do again (good and bad), like pushing them in a pram, carrying them on my shoulders, battling with car seats, holding hands out in public.
We make lots of memories together, we all get on well (the usual bickering and family chaos aside) and I’m lucky that they still enjoy trips out as a family - shopping, cinema, theatre, even the occasional day out to a castle, zoo or theme park, plus family film nights and board games at home. So it’s not even like they are shut up in their rooms ignoring me that’s making me sad. I’m happy and sad at the same time if that even makes sense.
My ‘baby’ will soon be starting secondary school and entering the days of mobile phones, bus trips to school, more grown up conversations etc and I just miss the simple naive days when they could just experience the joy and magic in the world with me there holding their hand each step of the way. They are very independent kids and I don’t hold them back or show them my sadness about this, this is just something I’m currently battling internally.
The few friends I do have and my siblings/siblings in law all have much younger children, and I find myself feeling slightly jealous of the years/stages they still have ahead of them. They also don’t really understand how I’m feeling, other than to suggest maybe it’s a hormonal or vitamin imbalance thing (I’m approaching 40).
Hopefully someone else has felt like this and can tell me this feeling doesn’t last, or what might help me work through it. I don’t want this sadness to overshadow life and I end up missing out on even more. I know I just need to focus on the good stuff and keep making memories, but I can’t help feeling how I feel.